Introducing myself (and a little advice)

If you're just starting out in the world of kitchen garden growing, then this is the place to ask for help. Our experienced forum members may have the answer you need!

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MelanieH
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Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:14 am

Hello all!
Just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Mel from Manchester,44 and a complete newbie to all this growing malarkey but enjoying every second so far.
Started in 2014 when I got hubby to build me a herb garden out of an old pallet from work and that progressed to last year getting him to build me a small raised bed for veggies (only 8 x 2 ft) but big enough for me to get veggies for us.
We had quite a successful year (well I thought it was :lol: ) I got cauliflowers, cabbage, potatoes, parsnips, carrots and in my 2 pop up greenhouses I got a very productive tomato plant, chilli and pepper plants, although the pepper plant did get a lot of whitefly attacks :(
I am now awaiting the delivery of my greenhouse (again only a small one 6 x 3) but for the time being I have converted one of the bedrooms in the house into a mini growing room :oops: and have just been sowing all my seeds - going the whole hog this year and am doing a variety of veggies again, bought a veg trug for salads, cucumber, tomato and chilli in the greenhouse, and have sown loads of flower seeds for the garden and hanging baskets.
So I suppose you could say the bug has well and truly bitten me!
So now you all know me, thanks for reading this far if you have, the advice I am after is heating the greenhouse???? There will be no electric in in time for this spring so am gong to have to buy a small battery/oil/paraffin heater and am looking for some advice from you seasoned growers. Its a traditional wooden greenhouse (the idea being, if I dont take to it we can convert it to a shed :shock: ) and I have heard that the paraffin heaters cause a lot of condensation, it does have a roof vent and I will be buying an automatic opener for it, but what would you suggest is the best way to heat it so I can transfer the seeds and seedlings into it and reclaim my front bedroom.
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dan3008
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Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

Hi Mel from Manchester, welcome to the kg forum.

I'm not a fan of heated greenhouses myself, however, if you have a Google search for candle greenhouse heater that's a good start. I also like thermal mass heating for my greenhouse... Google it for a better description, but basically I put a water butt in the corner, which gets hot during the day, and radiates heat over night
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Westi
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Welcome Mel

The only thing I would add with any knowledge is avoid the paraffin, unless you can be meticulous with wick length etc. After 2 disasters with black soot over everything I gave up completely. I have set up temporary benching in the back room along the window (old wallpaper table) & have 2 electric propagators in there & plenty of room for other things that don't need so much heat. It is south facing so pretty good light levels but have a grow light also. It does get pretty crowded in there but only for a couple of months then they go out into greenhouse, which by then is warm enough during the day to support the bigger plants with a bit of fleece ready for cooler evenings. Even though I'm down South I don't get guest until summer & they tolerate what is there (not much) if they come for Xmas!

Westi
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Monika
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Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:13 pm
Location: Yorkshire Dales

Hello, Melanie, and welcome to the Forum. You seem to have done very well so far for a "complete newbie"!

Yes, greenhouse heating. We do have electricity and use it for a short time in late spring, but for many years I managed without and did as Dan suggests: make use of the latent heat from sunny days to keep the temperature up during the day. Fill used large water bottles and line them up on the staging next to the glass (on the sunny side, if possible), store all the potting compost you are likely to use inside the greenhouse, even piles of dry newspapers. all these things will 'soak up' the day's warmth and release it slowly during the night, at least keeping it frost-free.

And, don't start sowing too early in the year! It's always so tempting to get going the moment the first warmish day arrives but late-sown seeds catch up and give you much less trouble than early-sown plants when warmth and sunlight is lacking!!

Good luck with everything - you will certainly find the folk on this forum helpful.
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MelanieH
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Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:14 am

Thank you all for your advice so far.
I do consider myself to be a newbie - last year was the first year growing and the majority of the things grown last year were grown from plug plants bought at the local garden centre, this year is the first year growing everything from seed........ 'gulps'.
I agree it is very tempting to start sowing early, I am at the moment just following the advice on seed packets until I learn different. I am sure I am making loads of mistakes, but I suppose you only learn as you go.
I have plenty of seeds thanks to gardening magazines and Ebay so if the ones sown now don't take then I can always have a go a bit later when the ground has warmed up and sow directly instead of trying to start plants off early.
Greenhouse arrives tomorrow so I am hoping to have it all up and painted in the next few weeks, then it will feel really serious :-)
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Pawty
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Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:12 pm
Location: Hampshire

Hi, I'm a newby too! I can't offer any advice on the greenhouse, but can gaurentee you'll get what you need here. Lots of tips, great advice and encouragement just when you need it!

I look forward to hearing how it's going.
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