Polycarbonate green house

treens2, Sep 29, 12:09am
Looking at buying one, any thoughts whats best to buy, temperatures still getting down to 3 at night, thanks for your thoughts

samanya, Sep 29, 3:36am
I love mine.
It takes a bit of working out, but you can extend your growing season a lot. Your temps are probably a lot like mine. I grow early zucchinni, basil, capsicums, cucumbers, eggplants & of course tomatoes etc. I even have a prolific crop of spinach in mine right now . mainly to protect from the birds, who have been starving this winter & have demolished my silver beet & spinach in the garden.
I wouldn't be without mine ,,,a 14' x 8' number & I'd easily be able to make the most of a bigger one. Go for it!

nchun, Sep 29, 3:38am
The light panels are very prone to blow out in windy conditions.

treens2, Sep 29, 3:58am
thanks for info, have a bird problem here also. good to hear from from someone local who has one.thanks

samanya, Sep 29, 5:12pm
Mine is well anchored (bolted) down to the foundations of a previous polythene green house, because of the strong NW winds we get. As nchun says, it's possible for a panel to blow out, so I'm wary & either shut it right down or make sure there's good air flow, depending on the strength of the NW. It's sheltered from a southerly blow.
It was a poop of a thing to put up because the instructions were a bit sketchy, but I got there in the end.

rocky92, Sep 29, 10:32pm
I bought a Winter Gardenz one and have it bolted to foundations also. I have been so impressed it has stayd put thru two realy bad nw winds that has lifted iron off other buildings close by! Dont go cheap. I have s.beet and rose cuttings and zucs germinating in mine now. I always plant one zuc and it gives a great headstart on the main garden :-)

treens2, Sep 29, 10:57pm
Thanks, get real strong nw winds here also, looking at listing 954630050,would the double bracing be an advantage in the winds, keen to hear your thoughts.

treens2, Sep 29, 11:08pm
Thanks rocky, like the idea off listing 954630050,has double bracing, get strong nw winds here. any thoughts

samanya, Sep 29, 11:36pm
That's a smaller version of mine . I don't think it matters where you buy them, they are all pretty similar.( & buggers to erect!) Got mine all but finished & couldn't get the spouting on . so had to go look at a neighbour's to try to suss it out & I ended up having to take one long bracing thing out as I'd put it on upside down! ;o) . fortunately it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be to fix.
It's definitely a 2 person job though.
It's the anchoring it down that's important imo. As I said, mine replaced an existing polythene house which was raised already, so it was relatively simple to bolt it down to the raised frame (a couple of posts high) if you get what I mean.
If it's well anchored it's more a matter of opening (or closing) windows/doors to stop any bad results in a strong wind.
You will get the same frosts as I do (-7) a few times last winter & l lost my beautiful lemongrass & other frost tender plants . so it's a learning curve. I started off thinking that I could grow wonderful sub-tropical things, but have come to the conclusion that if I can extend the growing season . that's OK.
ATM, the early things I have are Eggplant, cucumber, capsicums, zucchini & a couple of tomatoes . (.usually put 8 in & that's enough to freeze/preserve heaps to keep me going over winter). I don't even bother planting tomatoes in the garden, cos the birds get them first.
You'll be able to experiment & have major success's & a few flops as well . but you'll be pleased to have one, in our climate, of that I am 100% certain.
If you have the space to go bigger than the listing . I would because my 14' x 8' is always chokka! I do keep the compost/sheep shite etc up to it though.

samanya, Sep 16, 5:13am
Earlier on, I bought a cheapy TWH number & the 'strengthened' canvas stuff broke down after one season & in a big NW the covering ended up high in a tree on the neighbour's property! It's now covered in netting & is another berry cage!
Don't we just love our 'warm winds'!