The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:

/snip/

I know there are more experienced gardeners than me out there. What
advice can you give? Should I stick with all glass, go for brick base,
opt for aluminium? I don't need it as a very warm greenhouse as I just
want to heat it to a few degrees to get seedlings on and to over winter.


The best greenhouse I ever had/worked in was a GRP (glass fibre) one.
The sections were (inverted) 'U' shaped, and bolted together. There was
a flange on the bottom which was buried to prevent the wind uprooting
the whole thing.

It had sliding GRP doors.

I divided it into a large middle bed and two narrower ones down each
side and dug two walkways to a depth of about eighteen inches below
ground level, thus raising the beds by a similar amount. This made
working the beds and working in it much easier, and more pleasant.

I had to dig a trench round it and put in corrugated iron to keep the
damned moles out. I grew tomatoes and cucumbers (for farm gate sale) and
underplanted with strawberries and catchcrops of radishes, and trained
two grape vines along the top.

. .
. . |
' ' into the trench
/ \ |
| | v
| |
| | | | -- corrugated iron
__| | | |__ with the bottom bent
| | out to foil the little
|~~~~· ·~~~~~~~~· ·~~~~| men in velvet weskits
___________ | | | | | | __________
| _| | | | | |_ |
|____: |__| |__| :____|

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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In article , Rusty Hinge
2 writes

The best greenhouse I ever had/worked in was a GRP (glass fibre) one.
The sections were (inverted) 'U' shaped, and bolted together. There was
a flange on the bottom which was buried to prevent the wind uprooting
the whole thing.


Was it a particular make? I'm not sure I'm up to building my own!

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:
In article , Rusty Hinge
2 writes

The best greenhouse I ever had/worked in was a GRP (glass fibre) one.
The sections were (inverted) 'U' shaped, and bolted together. There was
a flange on the bottom which was buried to prevent the wind uprooting
the whole thing.


Was it a particular make? I'm not sure I'm up to building my own!

Yes, it was. But I don't think I ever knew the maker.

However, I bought it secondhand about twenty years ago, and the bloke
who sold it to me emigrated to Canadadadada five or six years after
that.

He'd just weighted the rim with bricks, and the wind got up and played
with it, so I bought what was left, always meaning to afford to get
extra hoops.

I'd buy another if I had the wherewithal - and somewhere sensible to put
it. As it is, I intend building one over the septic tank, and one of
those just wouldn't suit.

It's the principle which matters, though - bolt-together sections, two
ends and two doors. I'd guess mine was a good ten feet wide, but only
about eighteen or twenty feey long.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...

The best greenhouse I ever had/worked in was a GRP (glass fibre) one.
The sections were (inverted) 'U' shaped, and bolted together. There was
a flange on the bottom which was buried to prevent the wind uprooting
the whole thing.

It had sliding GRP doors.

There's a swimming pool at a school in Coleshill, West Midlands (near where
I live) with a similar structure over the top of it. The pool was originally
open-air. The easiest way to cover it was to use GRP sections fixed to
foundations around the edge, and bolted to each other as each new section
was moved into place. It's huge - a much bigger span than I would have
thought GRP could cover.

The message
from "Crazy Dog" contains these words:
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...

The best greenhouse I ever had/worked in was a GRP (glass fibre) one.
The sections were (inverted) 'U' shaped, and bolted together. There was
a flange on the bottom which was buried to prevent the wind uprooting
the whole thing.

It had sliding GRP doors.

There's a swimming pool at a school in Coleshill, West Midlands (near where
I live) with a similar structure over the top of it. The pool was originally
open-air. The easiest way to cover it was to use GRP sections fixed to
foundations around the edge, and bolted to each other as each new section
was moved into place. It's huge - a much bigger span than I would have
thought GRP could cover.


I had this idea a while ago, when I had the smallholding. Dig a swimming
pool, insulate the pit, line it, cover it, and then build a large GRP
greenhouse over the top.

Heat the water using radiators in triple-glazed panels to collect solar
energy, and rely on the greenhouse to retain most of the heat. Have a
big roller-shutter which will cover the pool - probably with a
quickly-assembled frame under it to support it, and grow tropical or
sub-tropical stuff which likes humidity all round the sides.

"Swimming pool? No, of course not! It's agricultural - it's a heat and
water reservoir and humidifier to keep the environment in my greenhouse
right for the crops. Not rateable, oh no."

?

"I'm in my swimming cossie 'cos it's so humid in here, why else?"

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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