Winter, Garden And The Greenhouse
I lost most of my plants, especially the Indian vegetables to the freezing weather of 2021 winter. Germinating the seeds inside the house was easy compared to making them grow and survive a year. I thought I might have to spend some time to understand the weather pattern in the UK and then accordingly prepare myself.
I started reading the blogs of fellow gardeners around the area. Greenhouse was one of the major things that was required. I did have a greenhouse made of polythene wrap. This polythene greenhouse, I should say, did help. The real problem was this greenhouse is kept in our 30m garden and I hardly had any mood to insulate myself with jackets, to leave the house. Also, germinating the seeds and nurturing the saplings required constant monitoring. So having a greenhouse in the garden did not help.
After completing few ideas, I decided to have a miniature version of a greenhouse in my conservatory. (A conservatory is an attachment to the house, typically made of glass walls). I did some drawings and checked on the estimate online. Few websites gave me a quote of around £400. Will I spend that? No.
I had some timber in the garden. So, I took a saw, a pencil on my ear and a tape. I sawed them, nailed them (well, thats a mistake of a novice), painted them. I then purchase a polythene wrap from eBay for £5. A greenhouse is ready.
About my conservatory - This is built in 1970s, single glazed, which means it has no insulation. In the winters, the conservatory is extremely cold - we’ve kept our drinks in the conservatory to keep them cold. And during the summers, they are extremely hot - so hot that my mint plant turned crispy when we kept the doors closed.
And now to the solution. To begin with, the greenhouse is required only for the winters. So technically, I only have to keep the greenhouse warm in the winters and during the summer, I can move the plants to the garden. So, I started working on how to keep my greenhouse warm. I tried covering the base with cardboards - didn’t help. Moved the greenhouse away from the wall facing outside - didn’t help.
So, I designed a thermostat. Did it solve the problem?
Stay tuned.