My first greenhouse (2ft by 6ft )

[acrylicspud]

Hello

I've purchased my first greenhouse (of sorts) from B&Q at the weekend. It's a 6ft by 2 ft plastic windowed greenhouse, with an aluminium frame. The price was very reasonable given the other price I'd seen for similar product. It's got a sliding door and it's possible to stand inside it (just!)

I'm still very new to gardening, and not entirely sure how things will fair in my new greenhouse. I imagine it will get very hot inside and if I'm not careful everything will die.....

Got to sort out some shelves, etc for inside. nothing was provided. And was intending to have one side with an area for potting things in all weathers.

Well if anyone can point me in the direction of tips for beginners that would be great.
Thanks

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Acrylicspud, i was hoping someone with your size greenhouse might have replied by now.

I have never used one this small but i should think all the same rules would apply as for a larger one, good ventilation, shading in very sunny weather and just grow the amount of plants that you need or you will soon run out of room.

I think it might be a little case of trail and error.

And don't be put off by a few disasters, i've had a terrible year with mine this year.

[Primrose]

I unfortunately don't have a permanent greenhouse (only a little four shelved plastic covered travesty of one) but perhaps if you start of modestly through the autumn with a few hardy varieties of lettuce (or possibly even spinach) in a growbag, you might have some modest successes which will encourage you to be a little more experimental next year. I don't know where in your garden it's situated. Does it get a reasonable amount of sun which I suspect would be essential now the light and sun levels are diminishing? Suspect you will just have to cast your bread on the waters and see what happens!! Gardening is a very inexact science and even the experts often get it wrong when unexpected weather intervenes. Just enjoy your new acquisition and go with the flow, being prepared to experiment - and often to get it wrong. If you some some very tender plants, buy some fleece as well and be prepared to use it cover your plants as well, in addition to the plastic outer cover.

[acrylicspud]

Thanks for your replies. The garden gets lots of sun as it's south facing, although my greenhouse is at the very end by the fence and next to shed so it won't be in full sun all day long.

Since my last post I now have some great shelves that my other half built inside for me! I am very happy with them, as I just lay slats of wood across and move as needed, so it seems ideal for a beginner like me. As I haven't a clue what I'm doing....

So far I've just sowed some swiss chard, which has started to grow. I know it's not really meant to be grown in Oct, but I was itching to try.
Apart from that, I just have my newly moved chill plant, and some baby tree onions, which I think are hardy - but put some inside just incase!

[Primrose]

acrylispud - just wanted to warn you about my springtime experience with my new Micro Mini plastic covered greenhouse. (Actually it only has 4 shelves and was one of those £25 jobs from a garden centre which just has a plastic cover). I'd set it up against the house wall where it's quite sheltered and gets sun for half of the day. It never ever occurred to me that it wouldn't be very stable in wind, but one day we had heavy winds and the whole thing was completely blown over, crashing all my seedlings into the ground and creating a horrid mess on our patio.
So I don't know how stable your greenhouse is against wind but if there's any secure way of anchoring it, it might be advisable to take precautions now before the winter gales arrive. I ended up having to anchor mine down with large buckets full of water on the bottom shelf of the structure.