Cold Greenhouse in winter
 

Hello everyone,
I have been reading with interest the posts here for a while now and have
yet to introduce myself. I am Dean from Southern Ireland and I am very
impressed with the wealth of knowledge on this newsgroup. So, if I may I'd
like to ask a question.
I have an unheated greenhouse and it seems so lonely and forlorn during the
wintertime having spent all summer active and productive. I'd really like to
make use of it this winter and wondered what exactly I could use it for? I
have lots of sweetpea seedlings coming up and geranium and fuscia cuttings
I've just taken. I wondered if I put cardboard on the floor (which is made
up entirely of paving slabs) and bubble wrap around the roof and walls,
would I get away with overwintering them in there instead of leaving them
out to the elements? Also, are there any seeds I could start now that will
overwinter in a cold greenhouse. One last thing, how often would all these
things need watering, I read in the books to keep things on the dry side,
but does that mean bone dry or watered once a month, week etc??
Thanks for the help
Dean

The message
from "Dean" contains these words:

I wondered if I put cardboard on the floor (which is made
up entirely of paving slabs)

You wanted to put cardboard on the floor to minimize heat loss through
the slabs into the ground I imagine. I'd guess that this loss of heat
is small compared with losses to the air through the glass and
metal (?) frame.

I can grow a wide variety of cacti and succulents in my unheated greenhouse,
slightly more than I can outdoors, probably due to keeping the plants dry. I
find an unheated greenhouse a great place to grow winter salad greens and
new potatoes ready for Christmas and New Year, admittedly this is a bit of a
luxury!! If I dont do this, I find the greenhouse dull between October (when
the last of the Tomatoes and Chiles are harvested) and late April (when the
new Tomatoes and Chiles are planted). With a little heat you can start
plants from seed 4 or so weeks earlier.

T

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"John McMillan" wrote in message
...

The message
from "Dean" contains these words:

I wondered if I put cardboard on the floor (which is made
up entirely of paving slabs)

You wanted to put cardboard on the floor to minimize heat loss through
the slabs into the ground I imagine. I'd guess that this loss of heat
is small compared with losses to the air through the glass and
metal (?) frame.

Thank you all for your replies, plenty of food for thought there. May well
look into heating the g/h for the following year. Btw, I am on the East
coast of Ireland and to be honest, having lived here for 50yrs I still dont
know what the weather is like, it could be wet, dry, windy, frosty, mild,
snowy......seems like no two years are the same anymore!!

Thanks Again
Dean

You don't say how big your green house is or how much sun it gets during the
winter. If it is big enough you could take large empty shipping barrels,
paint them black or dark green and line the inside of the green house with
them. They will warm up in the sunshine and release that heat during the
night. If your house is not that big, you could take plastic buckets and do
the same thing. Before doing that, you may have to dig a trench to below
the frost line, along the outer walls of the green house, and add some
insulation that contains a moisture barrier to that depth, before filling it
in. If it is close to your house, you might pipe gas or run electric to it
and run a heater on low during the time you expect a hard freeze.

Dwayne

"Dean" wrote in message
...
Hello everyone,
I have been reading with interest the posts here for a while now and have
yet to introduce myself. I am Dean from Southern Ireland and I am very
impressed with the wealth of knowledge on this newsgroup. So, if I may I'd
like to ask a question.
I have an unheated greenhouse and it seems so lonely and forlorn during
the wintertime having spent all summer active and productive. I'd really
like to make use of it this winter and wondered what exactly I could use
it for? I have lots of sweetpea seedlings coming up and geranium and
fuscia cuttings I've just taken. I wondered if I put cardboard on the
floor (which is made up entirely of paving slabs) and bubble wrap around
the roof and walls, would I get away with overwintering them in there
instead of leaving them out to the elements? Also, are there any seeds I
could start now that will overwinter in a cold greenhouse. One last thing,
how often would all these things need watering, I read in the books to
keep things on the dry side, but does that mean bone dry or watered once a
month, week etc??
Thanks for the help
Dean