Where to site the greenhouse

Hoping for some thoughts/discussion on where to put our new greenhouse - I've never had one before so it's exciting but a bit overwhelming!

The garden is long and narrow, about 50m X 7m, and south-south west facing. It slopes gently towards the back most south westerly corner. We're a semi, with the other house we're attached to sitting slightly up the hill to the north east of us; at the moment the garden of that property is very overgrown and chokes out a lot of our light, but it's currently being renovated by a developer so hopefully that will improve this year.

The way I see it, I think there are two options for where the greenhouse goes (apologies for the dodgy paint job, but the squares in the diagram are pretty accurate 1m squares to scale!):



Option 1 - Has by far the best and most consistant sun of any part of the garden. It's close to the house (the brown/black on the patio are decking steps leading down from the back door) and the ground slope is much less pronounced there. It also leaves a bigger area available for outdoor veg beds.

BUT, putting it there would cut off the rest of the garden from the patio/decking/backdoor, where we currently get quite a nice aspect looking down the garden. And I worry that it could actually be too hot in summer - last summer the patio was overwhelmingly hot at times, you couldn't stand on the stone in bare feet.

This is option one from the patio:



...and the current view from the decking/back door:



Option 2 - Has slightly less good sun exposure in the summer (it hits that area about an hour later and looses it 30 minutes to one hour earlier than option 1) and currently a lot less in winter (2-3 hours a day as opposed to 3-5). However, that is mainly due to the overgrown garden next door, which I do anticipate changing this year.

The main advantage to option 2 is that it sits as a natural divide to the garden, where it changes from lawn/flowers to production. It is further from the house but the chicken run is there, so we're going down twice a day anyway, and it keeps the "working" parts of the garden altogether.

Option two would go just beyond the edge of the chicken run, coming out about a foot further from the fence than the wire mesh does:



So I'm torn; I lean towards option two, as I worry option 1 leaves an overwhelmingly large structure very close to the house and patio, but then I also like the idea of having as much veg growing space as possible, while also maintaining a large-ish lawn and flowers area! With option one, the space not used next to the hens would probably be extra veg beds. With option two, the space adjacent to the patio would likely become the site for a pond/water feature of some sort, as it is the most level bit of the garden.

I hoped that writing it all out like this might help me make a decision, but no luck so far!

 

I would normally say the closer to the house the better as you would need to be regularly going in there to tend things. Option 1: There is another option here to swivel the greenhouse 90 degrees so it doesn't block so much of the view or move it to the other side. The big drawback is the sun's heat, you'll find you need to put up shading from spring onwards which is also ugly.

I tend to go for your Option 2, as you are going to that part of the garden a lot for the chickens it's easy to pop in and check your plants at the same time. How about moving to the other side of the garden which from the house would appear to block it off. But as you got closer there would be a path alongside the chicken run and greenhouse leading to the veg patch. It would add interest. Sorry more options!

 

Hi,

Sure you will get lots of opinions, ours would be the option 2 but on the opposite side of the garden, that way it looks like you would get maximum south and west light infront of a fence rather than behind it as in your plan.

Agree, think in front of the patio is not the best and with any kids bound to get regular glass breakages etc.

What type and size of greenhouse as you going for , have been a couple of similar threads on buyin greenhouses in the last week or two. Notice some of the main suppliers have just started their Jan Sales so you might get a bargain ..

While doing you garden renovations, don't forget to have a trench /pipe layed so you can have water and electrics down there.

 

Thanks both, I'm glad my gut instinct doesn't seem to be completely off-base this time!

Sorry yes, I should have said, it's a Swallow greenhouse, 6ftX10ft. A big part of having it jut out into the garden rather than have the long edge run along the fence is because it is so much longer than it is wide, and I was reluctant to loose so much glass to being up against the fence. The garden is sadly just too narrow to have it in the middle with full access all the way round like it "should" be.

Oddly I hadn't put much thought into it being on the opposite side - that's the side that is currently completely clogged with next door's jungle, many of which overhang quite substantially at present, so I really struggle to visulise anything there. The fence also needs replacing at some point, so maintaining good access is more important. But then the new owner/developer is planning to hack down the jungle, and the fence is his responsibility so will hopefully be erected from his side too... Dammit this was meant to give me fewer options, not more!

Kids/glass safety isn't an anticipated issue at present but something to bear in mind, if only when it comes to selling the house on sometime down the line.

And yes, planning for water and electrics, fingers crossed. Vague plan is to have a path running top to bottom with pipework underneath it, if I can figure out a budget friendly way of doing so...

 

Option 2, also my friend has chickens and the coop is next to the greenhouse and in the winter they are allowed in as she only grows seasonal toms etc they love it ... and with this avian flu about they can have more space ...


Spruce

 

As your garden is going to develop over time, ( no one gets such a layout right first time) think we would go for a more rustic approach that can be readily repositioned, be it a bark mulch, gravel or steppping stones rather than a concreted in affair, like blocks or paving.
Also going to take some time for the ground to settle where you have had that tree removed.

In most cases, the cost is in the labour more than the materials, will you be doing it yourself ?

Some ideas for types of path here -
Garden path materials - the good, the bad and the beautiful - The Middle-Sized Garden