First ever greenhouse

Hey, if I'd been born over there, it would be a battle axe!

 

Thanks to you all for excellent advice. I'm glad I came on to this forum. I'm over 6 foot tall but wife is a lot less so space may be an issue for me but less for her. What do you make of Elite's greenhouses? They seem to be more expensive than Simplicity and Halls but would they be a good choice for total beginners or is there better value for money elsewhere?

 

Thank you Armandii. To be honest I'm a total novice at this (that's probably very obvious!) This is mainly for my wife but I suspect I'll get interested myself too so we'll need space, at least 6x8. We like the idea of higher ridge/eaves, toughened glass, and bar capping, and would prefer green coating to plain aluminium. I know this is a really tough question (sorry!) but what should we be expecting to pay for that kind of specification?

 

@DK MacPhee most greenhouse suppliers have a calculator to figure out the bottom line. I'd help you but I went with clear polycarbonate (kids with hockey pucks can't dent them) and my 6x8 was only about £500. The glass ones would obviously be a lot more.

 

Hi i have had both halls and simplicity, from my experience simplicity is far superior, i have two simplicity classic greenhouses which i have had over ten years ,with full sheet safety glass, they have withstood footballs etc.
I live on the north east coast and they have withstood gales without problems to which the garden shed lost its roof, it flew a considerable distance and chopped down my victoria plum tree. the halls disintegrated long ago. jmo
regards sandy

 

I bought a 8x6 from one of my clients for £60 I only had it for one year it just wasn't big enough like most people have found out . I bought a new 10x8 elite greenhouse after if I could of gone bigger I would have , it did come at a fair cost with TGlass - powder coated - extra vents and maybe some other bits and bobs think it come to around £1200 -1300. About 2-3weeks later after erecting it I had 6 full pane glass blown out ( 3 broke ) in a storm ( I am in a exposed site / wind tunnel and about 800ft up ) my own fault in a way cause I were being tight on the clips, I went into overdrive then and added extra supports hundreds more clips and bar capping which probably cost a extra £200 on top . I really do think the powder coating is worth it even though its like £400 extra especially if the GH is more a less on show.

I saw one almost the exact same as mine on gumtree weeks latter for £300 are so new house owners didn't want it .

I am happy with it now and don't fret as much when the weather bad now . Still wish it were bigger and one other thing Elite GH instruction are rubbish

 

@DK MacPhee are you both going to be gardening in there at the same time? Just curious.

I would have gone for a bigger greenhouse when I started but I wasn't confident about what I could put together. Plus I'm not as tall as some and don't need the extra height. These are not for year round use in Canada as our winters are too brutal, at least not without heating which would be extremely expensive from November to April. I did find that the 6x8 was lovely but as I expanded what I wanted to grow I simply bought 2 more little greenhouses to fit where I felt they wouldn't look ramshackle/hillbilly. Now each one has it's own type of plants in the summer. I think this year one will be "the onion house".

Whatever you decide, do keep us posted and if possible share pictures as we do love those!

 

best offers are on now ... come January all the prices go up .....

Spruce

 

I have a 12x8 Simplicity arriving in a few weeks time. Any opinions on the base I should lay? Concrete (we have a concrete mixer) or paving flags? I will be planting into soil so only need an empty rectangle to put it on.

 

We have always put ours onto a concrete ring about 250x250mm, so much more secure and even, though worth spending time getting the surface level and smooth.

Also worth putting a plastic pipe under one end before your pour, so you have a space for water or electric cables etc even though you might not think you need it now.

As you have a mixer so much easier though reckon you won't be far off using a ton /jumbo bag .

 

I agree with @ricky101. You could also put in the inner retaining partition if you are using raised beds. Definitely put provision in for water and electric. I put mine on sleepers, but wish I had used a concrete base. I think I will have to replace in near future.
Rusty