The weather was wind-free and sunny on Friday, so I took the opportunity to assemble the new walk-in plastic greenhouse. Compared to all of the other plastic greenhouses I've owned, this one is 6-inches wider and 15-inches shorter in length, making it square as opposed to rectangular. It also has a higher pitched roof, which is good because this will allow the rain to run off properly instead of it forming into pockets of water near the eaves. This was a problem I encountered with some of my previously owned walk-in plastic greenhouses.
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse - 10th May 2020
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Floor View - 10th May 2020
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This greenhouse has four shelves on each side as opposed to just two shelves on one side. However, I never use the shelves because they don't support much weight and have a tendency to warp after a while. Also, plants on the shelves can be thrown off very easily when the greenhouse starts flapping around in the wind. Believe me, it's no fun being greeted by the sight of your beloved chilli plants upside down on the floor first thing in the morning!
Instead, what I do is use the poles from the shelves to help reinforce the framework. The good thing with this greenhouse having eight shelves is that the spaces between the poles on each side of the framework are smaller. The manufacturers can be very tight-fisted when designing the framework for these plastic greenhouses, and if there's too much space between the poles it allows the wind to blow the plastic cover inwards, which in turn hits the plants.
I used to reinforce the framework on all of my previously owned plastic greenhouses by connecting old poles together with bamboo canes and lashing them to the sides. This also helped to prevent the plastic cover from being blown inwards. With the new greenhouse this is less of a problem because the spaces between the poles on each side of the framework are smaller, especially now that I've put the shelf poles to good use.
This next photo was taken in 2014 and shows how I reinforced the sides of an old walk-in plastic greenhouse. As you can see, without the two additional horizontal reinforcements on each side there would have been large spaces between the original poles, allowing the plastic cover to be blown inwards. The second photo shows how I've reinforced the sides of the new greenhouse.
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Reinforcements - 22nd April 2014
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Reinforcements - 10th May 2020
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I've reinforced the back too. The top middle pole is the original one and the piece below is what I put in using poles and connectors from the shelves. I would have added another piece at the bottom but I didn't have enough four-way connectors. The bamboo canes are there to help reinforce the framework and to stop the cover from being blown inwards.
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Reinforcements - 10th May 2020
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The greenhouse has no guy-lines either, but then again they're pretty much useless and have a tendency to snap, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Fortunately, my greenhouse is situated between a bay tree and a small fence, and together with an old plastic parasol base these are the things I anchor it to, using rope. I don't apply much tension on the rope, just enough to ensure that the greenhouse doesn't get blown over into next door's garden. To prevent friction on the plastic cover I tie dishcloths onto the rope at the six points where it touches.
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Reinforcements - 10th May 2020
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Reinforcements - 10th May 2020
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This is also the first plastic greenhouse I've owned which has ties on the cover for fastening the sides of the door to the framework. With all the previously owned ones the sides of the door just used to flap around in the wind, which only added to my anxiety. The wind is the only element I dislike. It has a tendency to make me feel very uneasy.
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Walk-In Plastic Greenhouse Door View - 11th May 2020
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Hopefully, this greenhouse will become a happy home to nine plants, but if I utilise all of the floor space then I can probably squeeze in another one, possibly two. It sounds good in theory, but in practice it's another thing. Whilst on the subject of plants, it's getting a tad overgrown in the porch now and I'm seriously going to have to start thinking about re-potting the plants into their final pots. I may start doing this in the next few days because it's not very healthy for chilli plants to be packed too closely together.
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Chilli Plants in the Porch - 11th May 2020
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If the season goes according to plan and all the new varieties are well behaved then I should hopefully end up with lots of nice chillies. May the Chilli Gods bless HMS walk-in plastic fantastic and all who sail in her.
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