Thursday, February 13, 2014

Building a Greenhouse



I can't believe it has been more than a year since i last posted, time really does fly by when your busy.
House renovations, gardening & work make Nicole a very tired person who would really love a get away to the sea to recharge my batteries, but alas no matter how much gardening i do i still cant find that money tree.


in 2012 my wonderful husband used his tax refund & purchased this for me a 6x3 Greenhouse.


after some thinking & rethinking we finally found a home for the new house. the boys had to dig quite a lot of dirt to level it up.


it took a few weekends to get this baby from the box to the finished house.


the directions were really difficult to understand (few words & fewer pictures), i think they were written for the person who has put one of these up at least a dozen times. we spent a lot of time undoing & adding more bolts sliding things around.


until finally our little house was finished.


all the staging & racks were purchased separate (still have 2 more in their boxes). added newspaper & cardboard to the floor & a couple of weeks after that wood shavings on top.
a few seeds in & we're under way. growing by seed is very rewarding, i know exactly what i'm getting with no chemicals or other sprays that you would normally get when buying seedlings from a nursery or hardware store & not to mention a lot cheaper.
i have just been reading a book called "New Plants From Old" by Jackie French & i have been inspired. Jackie talks about propagating plants that you pick up on your travels, walking about the neighbour hood or from friends & family. just pop it in a pot water & see what happens :o)
something else she talks about is, if it tastes good then pop the seed in a pot & see what comes up. 
this has been very successful for me & very exciting as i have had quite a few fruit seeds germinate & some that are ready to be taken out of the grow pots & potted up.
i find myself spending a few hours every week in the greenhouse its very relaxing & Sally Girl keeps me company. 

5 comments:

Meggie said...

I've been looking for your latest post...and there it was this early morning. Oh...I want one of these. What a sweetheart you have to buy this for you. In a few weeks, I will be moving again. This time to live closer to family. I already have my eye on my "next garden spot". Good to read your post...I do understand being so busy.

Chris said...

Welcome back. Nice greenhouse, perfect for growing your own plants, rather than having to buy them all.

I have that book from Jackie French too, and its wonderful for inspiration. I just kept sticking cuttings into pots and moved them around to find the optimum conditions.

I must admit, I haven't had much luck with greenhouses. I find they get too hot in our climate, but where you are in the Blue Mountains, its colder.

I notice the nice ventilation windows on the roof, which would stop it from becoming a complete hotbox. But I've heard greenhouses can do well with shade in the warmer months. Have you had a chance to experiment with it yet?

I think it looks nice though and all those empty shelves are begging to be filled. :)

Nicole and Andrew said...

over December all the shelves were filled to over flowing with pots now nearly empty again until i sew all the autumn seeds in a couple of weeks time. it gets part shade for some of the afternoon but it does get very hot even with the 4 window vents. we are thinking of putting in a spray system but it all comes down to cash that we dont have

Anne said...

Hi Nicole
Welcome back :) I love your green house where did you get it? I wanted to get one for my place for growing from seed I'm up on a ridge/hill and gets very windy in the upper mountains. I had this idea of trying to grow tomatoes all year round some in the veggie patch for summer and some in a green house for the cooler months and winter.
I can pop you back on my blog roll I thought you finished blogging. There been a lot of blogs finishing up in the last year . I almost gave up blogging too!

Nicole and Andrew said...

i know what you mean Annie,blogging was becoming a chore & it just wasnt fun any more.
as for the green house i cant remember where we got if from off the top of my head if you want i can have a look for the receipt. i dont really like the veg grown in the greenhouse it just does not have the flavour. but for starting seeds early its wonderful.