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#1
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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 |
#2
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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. |
#3
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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 -- low price HL1 & HL2 servers for rental 10 player private clanserver 12 quid!! http://www.stressed-out.org - for details or #stressed on quakenet CS Public #1, 195.242.236.6:27015 ff=on, awp=off trial public server "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. |
#4
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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 |
#5
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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 |
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