Topic: Stupidest ever greenhouse question

[bupster]

I've been coveting a greenhouse or similar for a while now, as my windowsill gets asked to do a bit much, but I work in London all week and will rarely (and only in the summer) make it up to the plot at the weekend. Are there others who have to abandon their greenhouses for days at a time? How do you work the watering of plants in particular?

[Old bird]

I wouldn't do it - I am afraid to say.

Whilst you need to shut the greenhouse over night and open it in the morning.  They do need regular checking.  Watering is important - too much and the plants will rot and too little and they will die!

How would it be if you shared it with a neighbouring plot holder who would be responsible for all the day to day care with you having provided the greenhouse?

Good luck anyway!

Old Bird

 ;D

[bupster]

At the moment we're all in the same boat, unable to get up every day.

[Ceratonia]

Would agree it probably needs daily attention - watering in summer and if you use it to overwinter stuff, opening/closing/maintaining temperature in winter.  I've just taken one of my greenhouses down, partially because a lot of the wood was rotten, but also because two greenhouses was too time-consuming.

There are maybe ways round it, though?

You can automate watering to some extent - I've seen people who've built complicated drip irrigation systems fed from big tanks of water, but it's a lot of work to set-up (& expensive). You can put plants in pots in trays of gravel and use the gravel as a reservoir from which the plants pull the water which I've done when on holiday and neighbours only able to water every few days.

Have you looked at one of the plastic fold-up lean-to greenhouses you can get for £20 or less from B&Q or Focus. They're pretty useful in spring/summer. Probably more intended for next to the house than on the allotment? Or a cold-frame if it's just for seedlings in spring? Greenhouse does give you so many possibilities, though.

[bupster]

It was the automating of watering that I was curious about; my indoor herbs and plants managed fine when I recently went on holiday for a week thanks to being left in a reservoir of water, so I started to wonder about the necessity of daily watering in a greenhouse. Opening and closing doors might be insurmountable though.

[Ceratonia]

Greenhouse probably gets a lot hotter in summer than the windowsill, but also the plants are much bigger. Tomatoes get through a lot more water each day than a pot of basil or whatever and can still wilt even after being watered in the morning.

The hozelock website is full of amazing gear for computer-controlled micro-irrigation. Suspect there's only one crop that generates enough cash to pay back the costs in a reasonable time  ;)

Leaving the doors & vents open all night in summer probably isn't too bad, it's when the nights are colder or when it gets windy that you really need to do it.

[Stevens706]

Hi

This year I installed an auto vent / window opener that I got on ebay, which opens depending on the temperature, and tried using 2 ltr drinks bottles, with the bottom cut off and a small hole in the cap. This was then inserted into the grow bags. It seemed to work OK.

For next year I have treated myself to an automatic watering system I saw on QVC, it supposes to work on a system that allows more water to drip from a bottle reservoir when the temperature rises.

[tonybloke]

Several companies sell automatic window openers, I've got a couple, and they work! I would suggest a 200 litre/45 gal drum of water in the greenhouse! a tap, a length of perforated tube, adjust flow to suit.
rgds,tony, Norfolk

[Tee Gee]

A lot can depend upon how friendly your fellow allotmenteers are!

In my case an old retired allotmenteer looked after mine for me.

In high summer he would open up the doors of my greenhouses in the morning and I would call in on my way home from work in the evening and close them.

If I knew I would be unable to call on any given evening he would also close up for me.

Similarly;if I went off on holiday he would look after my stuff for me.

Sadly he has now passed away but as I am now retired it is not really a great problem for me now except when I go on holiday but we have an unwritten pact on the site that if you ask around someone will volunteer to look after your stuff for you.

So my message is; try and find a friend like I did.

Payment was generally not really necessary but what I often did was bring back some exotic seeds for him to try out and invariably he would give me some seedlings back so we were both winners in the end.

[Deb P]

I have a small allotment greenhouse, and a bigger home one; I can't get to the lottie every day (work keeps getting in the way...) so I grow different things in each greenhouse.

At home I grow mostly tomatoes, cucumbers and a few peppers. I check twice a day to adjust ventilation (have 3 auto openers in the roof windows, 1 side louvre and double doors) and watering.

In the lottie greenhouse I grew hot chillies, peppers and aubergines, which were either on gravel or capilliary matting. The greenhouse was mostly left with one louvre window open, and the door open just a bit from April onwards, and everything did really well in there! ;D

[bupster]

I'm increasingly tempted to try, if I can find the space for one. I expect from the replies I have received that it is possible to work out some kind of a solution - perhaps not ideal, but workable, much like the rest of the allotment!