THE greenhouse effect

Once you’ve had a greenhouse, you’ll wonder how you ever did without. So don’t glaze over before you’ve read KG editor Steve Ott’s top tips for choosing and buying your new building

- KG editor Steve

1: Automatic vent

2: Roof vents

3: Toughened glass

4: Double sliding doors

5: Guttering

6: Louvre side vents

7: Interior partition

8: Dropped sill

9: Firm, level base Photo: Two Wests & Elliott

When considering a greenhouse for your garden, you’ll rightly think about the cost and the fact that they demand space – often the sunniest spot where the rest of the family would love a patio. There’s no doubt also that you can grow a great range of hardy fruit and veg without one. Yet for any gardener worth their salt, the advantages outweigh any of these considerations.

A greenhouse can stretch the short UK season by as much as two months and help you to grow lots of tender crops that you could never attempt outdoors – even in the most lacklustre of seasons. Don’t tell everyone, but it also supplies you with some cosy all-weather gardening space so that you can enjoy your growing even on the rainiest of days! With heating you can grow a much wider range of crops.

GLASS HALF FULL

Of course, you do need to be sure that you’ll get full use of your structure before you commit – there is nothing sadder than an empty greenhouse or one used as a surrogate garden shed. But a keen gardener will always find ways to fill their greenhouse with tender crops in summer and overwintering plants in winter and if you add the luxury of heat, the sky is the limit.

WHY A GREENHOUSE?