The glass allows heat in and traps it - the well known Greenhouse Effect so outside shading prevents the heat reaching the GH proper. I have a small (8 foot) wooden greenhouse and my solution was to string two pieces of fairly stiff wire on either side of the GH, cut the plastic woven shading to a l...

Quotation #254 from Michael Moncur's (Cynical) Quotations:

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

Albert Einstein, (attributed)
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

Johnboy, there is no need to shout your prejudices. It is common advice that, if it is possible and appropriate, you should leave an existing garden for a season to find out what is already there. In allotment parlance, you wouldn't want to take out a well established asparagus bed by digging your n...

Hi Stephen, I agree with Adam that you should try to identify the tree first. if this is an old house you have bought recently, you may be lucky enough to find it is a small fruit tree that the previous owner planted and worth keeping and start a small orchard instead. Try posting a few pictures of ...

Thank you OH,
I am going to try using hydroponics next year to see if the compost and watering problems can be bypassed.

MikA

I have found this which people might find gives good advice against this pest especially the relationship to other affected crops which I did not know. m I now realise I should have binned all infected roots and most of the compost from the pots which was where I had most damage. The compost is sepa...

I have just calculated my yields from the greenhouse for this year and am staggered how much we have grown. 16Kgm of tomatoes and 5 Kgm of small tasty cucumbers. (see http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10232) The question "does growing your own save you money is probab...

A report on the first year using my small, unheated 6 * 8 greenhouse positioned on a patio next to the house. Spring was very good and judicious use of copious amounts of fleece enabled lots of seedlings to be grown on after propagation in a heated propagator indoors. Gloomy summer in the main, I ha...

Don't know much about raised beds in large plots but I would be a bit worried by the thought of the polythene liner. If you had a really heavy spell of rain you may end up with muddy ponds instead of good soil. If you want to prevent weeds coming through use a weed suppressant membrane instead. MikA

Ken, gave them a ring and I was assured they will take 3 tomatoes even though only 44 * 55 cms. I thought I would post a photo to show an extreme of the problems I have had with water and composts this year which I have asked about earlier in the year and is part of the reason to go for hydroponics....

Thanks again Ken, I'll definitely try this next year. Maybe family will get me one for Christmas.

Thanks Ken, I have looked at the website and I would need the solar version as I have no power in my small greenhouse. You say that you just top up but the web site says about the Hydrogrow NFT - "The planter reservoir is completely emptied and refilled every 3 or 4 weeks, so no elements are ev...

Ken

can you give more details of the hydroponic system you use. I have had problems with compost and watering in this first year of my greenhouse and would love to use something more reliable next year.

Thanks Alan, it's good to keep learning new things.

I had several Tagetes in small pots on the floor of the greenhouse having read about their use as "companion plants" to keep whitefly away. I can only report that I have had no whitefly in the greenhouse even though the sage and broccoli in the bed just outside have been infested. Is this ...