The positives and drawbacks of cheaper greenhouses in Ireland - Gardening with Brendan

This year I purchased a big 6.2ft high x 4.5ft long x 6ft wide walk-in DIY metal-framed greenhouse with a reinforced plastic covering for £66.39. But you can get smaller ones for as little as £10-£15 if you shop around.

Putting a greenhouse up at this time of the year can be risky. Many a gardener will tell you tales of these particular contraptions being uprooted and disappearing overnight or being ravaged by strong gusts.

And over recent years in Ireland and elsewhere we seem to be getting storms and strong winds with increasing frequency.

But there’s a number of things you can do to try to make sure your greenhouse does not end up in a neighbours garden.

Most of the plastic greenhouses are very easy to assemble and require no tools (mine took less than a hour) and many will come with tent pegs and cable or twine to tie them down. These one pronged pegs are fine for less windy climes but if you want it to stay put I would recommend buying double pronged pegs, and elasticated twin to attach them to the greenhouse itself for a bit of flexibility in high winds. Once staked to the ground it’s a good idea to find some old bricks or big stones and pile them on top of the pegs.

Depending where you are putting the greenhouse, you might also want to consider ground cover. You can get permeable ground cover sheets for very cheap and these allow the rain to penetrate through to the ground but stop the weeds coming in the opposite direction.

One thing I did last year and I am doing again this year is spiralling some copper tape round the bottom poles of the greenhouse in an effort to stop nocturnal slugs and snails climbing up and chomping on the tender seedlings.

Copper can act as a harmless deterrent to slugs and snails, although some will always find another way and indeed I saw one tell-tale slimy trail in a tray of young alyssum ten days after loading the new greenhouse up with baby seedlings.

The mesh shelves the greenhouses come with are often flimsy and hold little weight. You can make them much stronger however by getting some cable ties and fixing the corners of the shelves to the poles they are sitting on. It’s amazing the difference this makes to what your greenhouse can hold.

The great thing about a greenhouse is that it lets young plants get the light they need to grow while slowly acclimatising to life outside. The cooler temperatures inside it will ensure your plants do not become leggy and weak, and nor will they be striving for the limited light available indoors.

So the greenhouse will likely result in stronger, sturdier, healthier seedlings.

As the greenhouses are usually a few degrees warmer inside than the air outside, the young plants should be protected from frosty mornings too, which are often a death sentence. They are also great for growing on heat loving plants like tomatoes and courgettes outdoors.

But there is a downside: they do not last. Of the three I erected last year, the largest one lasted all year through to the winter when it was ripped to shreds by various storms. Another taller one suffered a bit less damage, while the third small three feet one survived intact, so the height may have been a factor in the damage. But the frames on the two larger ones have survived fine so this year I’m using them to acclimatise and harden off young plants, so they can still have their uses a year on.

All in all I’d say the positives far outweigh the negatives. Happy planting!