The Weekend Greenhouse Project

The benefits of gardening have been known for thousands of years. From Taoists in China building greenhouses to maintain their wellbeing, to medieval monks cultivating their kitchen gardens and the Victorian obsession with creating beautiful landscapes. Gardens provide that essential human connection to nature, grounding us and helping us to relieve stress and worry. It’s little wonder that gardening is one of Britain’s favourite hobbies. This week, we show you how to set up the gardener’s essential- the greenhouse- in a single weekend.

1. Friday afternoon. Most greenhouses aren’t huge spaces and that means you have to maximise every inch. The best way to do this is to have shelving along one side of your greenhouse which you can use to grow seedlings, plants and vegetables. So your first job of The Greenhouse Project is in setting up shelving that is sturdy enough to hold the weight of all that soil like the Urbaboxx Galvanised Shelving which is rust resistant and has a high load capacity. This type of shelving also has the added benefit of being adjustable, so when your seedlings start to sky-rocket in height, your shelving can alter accordingly, without any damage to your newborn plants. They also come in different depths, so choose one that has the right depth to allow you to be able to walk down the central aisle of your greenhouse.
2. Saturday morning. One of the best things about having a greenhouse is the ability to grow your own food year round. Salad greens, cucumbers and of course tomatoes are all ideal to be grown in your greenhouse. If your greenhouse is laid right over turf or gravel rather than having a concrete base, you could create a raised bed on the opposite side to your shelving by using timber to build a frame and filling with compost. If you’d rather you can use growbags and grow direct from the bags.
3. Saturday afternoon. Key to greenhouse organisation is clever storage that allows you to keep all of your essentials within reach. You’re going to need seeds, a mini trowel and rake, secateurs and gardeners twine at a minimum. For a rustic feel, you can take old wooden boxes and paint a rectangle on the front with blackboard paint, then when dry use chalk to write what is stored in the box like twine or seeds. Group a few boxes together and place on your shelving. Or for a chic no fuss solution, try the Urbaboxx Grid Mesh Shelving which comes with 26 accessories. Use the single arm hooks for your tools and seeds, double arm hooks for your watering can and heavier items, and the basket for things like twine.
4. Sunday morning. Now it’s time for the fun bit, the planting! Even though summer is already here, there are still lots of things you can be planting in your greenhouse like spring flowers (for next year), winter cabbage, cucumber, rocket, lettuce, spinach and beans. Plant the seeds in containers or trays and arrange carefully on your greenhouse shelving in neat rows. The other huge benefit of the greenhouse is it extends the growing season, sow some pumpkin seeds in July and they might just about be ready for Halloween!
5. Sunday afternoon. With your greenhouse set up, you can turn you attention to maintenance. All those plants and vegetables will need a lot of watering so placing gutters around the greenhouse draining into a water butt means you can use the rainwater to good effect. It’s also useful to place some garden slabs around the greenhouse so you can still easily access it during the wetter weather. Then all that’s left to do is to sit back and give yourself a pat on the back for completing The Greenhouse Project. Happy Gardening!

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