A couple of those commenting on this blog recently have expressed surprise at how 'tidy' the greenhouse was, so this post is designed to shatter that misguided illusion. Firstly, I want to make it clear that what is shown above is not 'the greenhouse', but the Coop. Attached to the house, but only accessible from outside, it is more of a conservatory than a greenhouse and hosts a range of tender plants and bulbs, all in terracotta pots. No potting up, planting or propagation takes place here, so there is little excuse for untidiness although the wind blows leaves in, spiders weave their webs there and I splash water and grit around. The working greenhouse at the bottom of the garden, however, is exactly that, a working greenhouse:
Made up of a standard 6 x 8 feet with an extension of about 6 x 5 feet, cobbled together from a second-hand greenhouse bought cheaply from eBay, this is where I sow seeds later in the year (early season sowings are done in the house), prick them out and pot them on, grow on cuttings and plug plants, and grow tomatoes and early sweet peas. You can see what is left of the tomatoes in the above picture. On the left, the hydro propagator has only recently been removed from its spot in the bottom corner of the picture, and is awaiting cleaning before being stored under the staging. Also on the left, before you go through to the extension, next year's early sweet peas were planted last week in root trainers, and on the staging above are trays of some of the more advanced of the autumn sown seedlings - wallflower, campanula and verbascum. Under the staging are some ugly black crates store things like root trainers, fleece, netting for the cutting beds and other seasonal sundries, with a relatively small number of plastic pots below them. I only keep a limited number of the latter, used for potting up young plants once they are too big for celltrays, and the largest for starting off dahlia tubers.
In the extension section, the sowing, pricking out etc is done on the storage tray which is invariably home to a layer of excess compost but also holds labels, dibbers, tampers and other useful small implements. Under this are bags of compost as well as empty fat-ball tubs useful for storing compost from seed trays when seedlings are pricked out or potted on. Either side of this, the two-level staging (all made by the Golfer) have gravel trays with matting, most of which are currently filled with cuttings or seed trays. The floor in this part is very much in need of being swept!
Under the staging on the left are a large collection of cell trays (12, 9 and 6 cells), crates with vermiculite and perlite and a number of 9cm and 1 litre square (more economical in terms of space) pots which are used not just for my own purposes, but for most of the plants we sell when we open the garden:
On right are stored seed trays, mostly quarter-sized ones, a few half-sized ones which tend to get used purely for carrying plants, tomatoes or berries back to the house, and one of two max-min thermometers; smaller crates hold sundries like clips for attaching bubble wrap to the greenhouse in winter, with a larger one for horticultural grit.
And there you have it, the working greenhouse. Organised? Yes, probably. Tidy? Debatable, but it's all relative, isn't it?!
As the season is waning for many of us, Six on Saturday contributions for Jim's popular meme may involve a bit of head-scratching and barrel-scraping, so why not pop over to his blog and share their valiant efforts?
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