Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden Podcast
-EP251 What Is The Best Greenhouse For My Garden? Choosing the Perfect Greenhouse for Your Garden: Tips and Considerations
What if you could transform your gardening experience extend the growing season and grow warm loving plants and crops. Discover the secrets to selecting the perfect greenhouse for your garden, inspired by a listener's inquiry about choosing the best option. Whether you're battling the unpredictable weather of Ireland or simply seeking to extend your growing season, this episode promises to equip you with the knowledge to make an informed decision about your greenhouse investment.
Explore the myriad considerations that come into play when planning to install a greenhouse. From budget constraints and location to aesthetics and intended use, each factor plays a critical role in integrating your new structure into your outdoor space. Learn why opting for a slightly larger greenhouse than initially planned can prove beneficial, and consider the pros and cons of materials like cedar wood, aluminum, and polycarbonate. With insights into heating decisions and ensuring your greenhouse complements your garden, you'll be ready to create a space that meets your unique needs.
Compare and contrast the different types of greenhouse structures, such as polytunnels, glasshouses, and polycarbonate tunnels, as we highlight their advantages and limitations. Delve into advancements in polycarbonate designs and discover why they are increasingly popular for withstanding harsh conditions. From budget-friendly pop-up greenhouses to the often overlooked but durable cold frames, we guide you through available options, ensuring you select a solution that perfectly suits your gardening journey.
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
how's it going, everybody, and welcome to episode 251 of master, my garden podcast. Now, this week's episode is it's covering a listener's question and it's something I've covered before, but it's been a long time ago since I covered it so it's probably worth going through it again in a little bit of detail. And it's it's a question that comes in in relation to a greenhouse and the question is a little bit vague. Someone says they love the podcast, listen on a on a regular basis and they're considering getting a greenhouse for the spring and want to know what's the best one for them. And and yeah, as I say it's, the question itself is a little bit vague, but we'll cover all the possibilities and hopefully, you know, get to a good answer for this listener but also for anyone else that might be listening and considering a greenhouse or considering a change for a greenhouse. Maybe some of you know know some of what we talk about will be useful in helping you make that decision. And you know, especially here in Ireland, and I know you know we've listeners all over, all over the world, but here in Ireland, a greenhouse, you know, when you want to grow food, when you want to grow your own flowers.
Speaker 1:A greenhouse, you know, when you want to grow food, when you want to grow your own flowers, a greenhouse is kind of I won't say it's essential but it's a really good addition to your garden. And it's a good addition for a number of reasons. We get, you know, so much kind of dark, cold, wet weather here that a greenhouse really allows you to extend your season here. That a greenhouse really allows you to extend your season and, you know, in terms of grown food, allows you to have crops earlier, allows you to have some form of harvest actually all year round and, at the other end of the season, allows you to extend and have, have, you know, crops right up until until until the until the late autumn and early winter. Um, my tomatoes, the very last of them I harvested this week and you know that was I probably would have got a little bit longer out of it had I not got a touch of frost a couple of weeks ago, which which kind of knocked them in their in their tracks. But it would have been able to kind of get another week or two out of it had that not have happened. But it's a great way of extending your season and then, as I say, you'll be able to grow some things over the over the winter months as well.
Speaker 1:So that's, that's something that is really good for if you're growing, if it allows you to grow things that you wouldn't be able to grow, maybe, outside um, I know people can grow tomatoes outside, but they're not overly successful peppers the same. So it allows you to grow things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do. It allows you to germinate and sow you know a lot of your own flowers and vegetables. Early in the year, and even over the winter months, you can, you know, sow your perennials, sow them in the autumn time, let them germinate and then pot them on in the springtime. And it just gives you, it gives you an extra something to work with in terms of, in terms of gardening, that you're not always battling against, against the weather. And then if you do get, you know, a really wet day that you're looking to, you're looking to do a bit of gardening and it turns out to be a really wet day, you can still get into your, into your greenhouse and do some form of activity. I suppose that takes you to your goal of having having a great garden. So there's so many, so many benefits. And I suppose there's lots of things to consider when, when you're looking to choose your greenhouse and you know the, the list of what you need to consider is long.
Speaker 1:I suppose there's a kind of a few few things that everybody says. So the one obvious one is that whatever size greenhouse you think you want, just go a little bit bigger, because inevitably you will fill that, because inevitably you will fill that, and you know it's, it's really it's something that people kind of think ah no, no, that that that size is going to be fine for me. And then all of a sudden, you have, you know, a certain you, you get success and you start to fill it, and you start to add it and next thing, you're thinking very, very quickly. You're thinking I should have went bigger. And it's a, it's a regular one, it's a you know lots of people say that and it's something that you know. If you can at all over, step over the size that you think you want today and and go a little bit bigger than that, and it just gives you more possibilities, more space, makes things a lot more comfortable. So that's, that's just the first thing. Always try and try. And you know, look at, look a bit bigger.
Speaker 1:Um, the other thing, I suppose, is several considerations before we start to look at the different types of greenhouse. So the considerations that would that you need to think about when, when choosing and they're not, you know, it's not something that's really really difficult, but just think about all of these things and, you know, work them out and then you'll be able to come up with the, the perfect greenhouse for your, for your setting. And, as I say, the question says what is the best greenhouse for, for my garden? And that very much depends on the answers that you will have for for these questions. So you're considering things like what's my budget? So what is the budget for for this greenhouse? Like, am I thinking I'm going to spend 500 euro? Am I thinking I'm going to spend 10 000 euros? And you know the, the budget there and the difference between those is obviously, you know, night and day. It's it's it's a huge difference, but it's it's an important consideration at this stage.
Speaker 1:So you're also thinking of things like is there anything I can do myself here is, do I want to do it myself? Um, is it something that you? Where can I position it? The location is very important. What size can I allocate to it in that position, the aesthetic of it? So how's it going to look in this situation?
Speaker 1:Because you know a really nice greenhouse with nice sort of red brick walls on the bottom or stone walls on the bottom, with the greenhouse sitting on top of that, can look fantastic, look aesthetically beautiful and a lot of the, the glass houses, you know the, the black frame glass houses, the green frame glass houses, the cedar type glass houses, all of them look spectacular and add to the aesthetic of a garden rather than take away from it. But then, on the flip side of that, you know something like the, the really sort of cheap pop-up greenhouse. They're aesthetically not nice at all. Um, even something like a polytunnel is not, you know, aesthetically particularly nice to look at. So the aesthetic and where it's going and location are another important factor. So that's the first two budgets location and aesthetic, or the first tree, should I say.
Speaker 1:And then you're looking at the purpose. So what is the purpose of the greenhouse, or what's my purpose for this greenhouse? So obviously people are gonna, you're gonna, grow plants in it. So whether that's vegetables, flowers, fruits, whatever it is, you're, you're going to use it for growing, you're going to use it more than likely for propagating at the earlier stages. So you're going to need a little bit of space for potting, benches or staging.
Speaker 1:But out from that, then a lot of people find that again on, maybe on a wet day or on an evening, a greenhouse is a really nice place to sit because it'll be typically, you know, for for us here in Ireland who are not blessed by by sunshine all that often, it's a lovely, lovely place to sit. So should you consider, or can you consider, putting a little little seating area in here. Doesn't have to be, you know, a full dining area, but is it somewhere where you might sit, have a cup of coffee, chill out, read a book or whatever? If that's the case, then just factor in that into it as well. Is it going to be a case of? I know a lot of polytunnels at this time of the year are used for drying clothes.
Speaker 1:Again, if that's, if that's the case, just factor in that into your, into your decision process, and you know, what is it going to be used for is really important and, as I say, a lot of people say, obviously I'm growing plants in it. Yes, you, you 99 chance that you're going to do that, but is there anything else that you might do in there? Just consider those things because they are they are really important and they will take a bit of space. So if you decide you're going to be, you know, putting in a little small table and chairs in there, it's going to take a little bit of space and if you've already undercooked the space that you might need, then it can get quite crammed in there. So allow, allow the space and allow for those things that you may not think you want but in time you could actually want. So allow that, allow that bit of space for that.
Speaker 1:The next thing to consider is the longevity of it, and again, you know some some greenhouses are not built to last, and again, that sort of power, you know, kind of links very closely with the, with the budget that you're intended to spend. So the longevity of it is something that you do need to think about. If you're talking about something that you want to have, you know, for 20, 30, 40 years, then you're going to have to go quality and you're going to have to go higher with your budget in order to attain that, and so that's, you know that's an important consideration. When it comes to polytunnels, polycarbonate houses, glass houses, they, you know, they all have certain levels of longevity. You know, if you're talking about something like cedar wood, that's going to last for a really long time. If you're talking about a material like aluminium as a frame for a glass house, that's going to last, you know, forever essentially.
Speaker 1:And all of those things are a factor another factor within that, in terms of choosing the material or the type, is their maintenance. That's, you know, again, an important factor. Typically, there isn't, you know, generally there is very little maintenance. I'll talk about some obvious maintenance that needs to be done or needs to be looked at on a yearly basis later on. But, you know, in terms of painting or that type of thing, there's very little maintenance on a greenhouse. But just factor in those things.
Speaker 1:Then the other thing you might want to consider is do I intend to heat this? So if I intend to heat this house, then you're better off getting something that has, you know, the best thermal properties possible. So in an example like that, a glass house will actually hold the heat a bit better and will be a bit warmer than, say, for example, a polytunnel with vented doors on the end of it. You know obvious things like that. So just consider that am I going, am I intended to heat this? Am I intended to grow crops that like a lot of heat? And if I are, that might be a factor in choosing the type of greenhouse that I'm going to use.
Speaker 1:And then the setting within the garden. Again, it sort of falls into the location and the aesthetic part of it. But the setting where am I putting this? And does it sit well within the garden overall and the space overall? And they are kind of obvious considerations. Does it sit well within the garden overall and the space overall? And they're kind of obvious considerations. So run through them again budget, location, aesthetic, the purpose of it, the possible longevity of it, the ease, the heat and the setting within the overall garden. And they're, as I say, your initial sort of considerations. And once you kind of get your answers for those, then from there you can kind of start to make an informed decision on which one might be good for you.
Speaker 1:So I look at the different types of greenhouses and, you know, give the sort of pros and cons on all of those and I suppose it kind of has changed. So when I covered this a couple of years ago on the podcast I covered it with Brendan from Deplant Horticulture, and Deplant specialise in polytunnels, and at the time, a few years ago, there had been and there was a lot of polycarbonate houses going up. So polycarbonate houses that you know look for all the world like a polytunnel, but instead of having a sheet of plastic over them they have these polycarbonate panels and they looked really really good and at the time it was sort of the early days of them really establishing themselves here in Ireland and I held a little bit of a reservation on those at the time because there was no evidence to suggest in terms of longevity, that they were going to last really long. And that has changed since because a period of time has passed. I've seen some of them quite local actually that have gone up. I've seen some of them in other areas. There's a company in Ireland called KSB Greenhouses. They seem to be getting recommended everywhere for greenhouses. I've never used them, I don't know them, I've never spoken to them, but just they seem to get a lot of recommendations now. So obviously, over over that period of time, people have, you know, got their their polycarbonate houses and they're really, really happy on them and it's funny enough looking at somebody like ksb greenhouses on their you, their social media. I've seen recently where they've put greenhouses out onto the Aran Islands, I think it was, or the Clare Islands, some of the islands off the west coast of Ireland.
Speaker 1:Anyway, the original polycarbonate houses that would have been in Ireland years ago. They were, you know, your standard six by eight glass house and you could get that with horticulture glass, toughened glass or polycarbonate panels. And those polycarbonate panels were sort of a double layer, kind of milky coloured, and they had a lot of pitfalls at that time and, as I say, as a result of that I would have held reservations around polycarbonate. But now it's clear, and when you're putting, when you're putting these out onto islands off the west coast coast of ireland, it's pretty, I'm pretty sure that they're going to be, they're going to stand up to the test, to the test, because in terms of wind they're going to get plenty of that out there. So they they're obviously a very superior product to what polycarbonate was in Ireland, say, 20 years ago. The downfalls 20 years ago was this milky plastic used to be quite shaded inside the polycarbonate panels themselves used to blow away quite often Any sort of wind at all caused them a lot of problems, of any sort of wind at all caused them a lot of problems. And then there was there was other houses that were polycarbonate, only with single layer polycarbonate, and again there would have been a lot of problems with panels blowing away, particularly in windy times, and we are a windy country. So that's why, at that time, I held reservations around these more modern polycarbonate houses, but it's safe to say now that there needs to be no reservations there anymore.
Speaker 1:As I say, I don't know, I don't know KSB greenhouses or have any affiliations with them at all, but just it seems that their products are really good. So if you look at the various types of greenhouses, then hopefully we'll you know, between the questions that you need to ask yourself at the start and by looking at the pros and cons of kind of any of the greenhouses, houses available, that you know this, this listener will be able to come up with a for an informed decision on which greenhouse to use. So what types of greenhouse are we looking at? So, at the very, very basic end of of and budget end of greenhouses, there's a lot of, you know, pop-up greenhouses, or zippies as people call them, and they're little, small, tower-shaped um, I suppose clashes for want of a better word because they're not all out of greenhouse, but they. They're things like, you know, two foot by four foot, with shelving inside them and then a clear plastic, clear plastic polythene sleeve that goes over the top of that and then little zips that zip up at the front and you take your trays in and out and they're really good. You know they're really good for seed germination.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people use them. They're good if you're in a small area and you want to get seeds started early in the year and then you just take it away or you break it down and put it away for the summer months, but you're just using it in those very early stages. The pros of them obviously they're very light, very, very portable, very space efficient for someone that has a really small garden. They're low budget, so you're not going to spend a huge amount of money on them. The downsides of them obviously longevity is is the biggest thing. With the wind, they're very, very hard to protect for long periods of time, so longevity is not going to be good. They're they're very, very hard to protect for long periods of time. So longevity is not going to be good they're. They're definitely not going to last a long time, but they're going to serve a purpose for a particular period in time.
Speaker 1:And then you can get, you know, bigger ones that are greenhouse type shape. I think when you start getting up to those sizes, you you want to be getting a better standard, because the really really light ones that you know, with sort of bars in them that are the thickness of your finger, you need to be getting tubular bars that are the thickness of your finger. You need to be getting something a bit stronger once you're going up to that sort of size, especially in a country that's windy. So and there is, you know, better versions of those out there as well. So that's your first kind of one. The pop-up greenhouses. So that's your first kind of one. The pop-up greenhouses.
Speaker 1:I would be using that if space is an issue. A lot of people use them who are in temporary, you know, if they're in rented accommodation, for example, and they intend to move in a couple of years, you're not going to invest heavily in a big greenhouse If the intention is not to stay there. They, you know, if you're in a rented accommodation you might want to be able get that you have. You might get a month's notice and we have to have everything out of here in a month, so you want to have something that's very portable, and so on. Budget could also be the issue, or space could be the issue, so you can get really small ones, or you just don't have the budget to go big with a greenhouse. So decent option, but they're more of a of a stop gap really, rather than something that you're going to be using for the long term or thinking long term with.
Speaker 1:Another sort of addition to that is a cold frame gets overlooked quite a bit. They were really popular years ago and they're you know they're not as popular now and people overlook them a little bit in favor of the zippies. I would actually prefer a good standard of a cold frame, if you know, if I was given the option. They're really really solid. They're perfect for raising seedlings, they hold the heat, they're great for winter germination of particularly things like perennials. So cold frames are really good, really good. They are not as space efficient, say, as the the tower zippies that that I was just talking about, but they are a really good option. So obviously it's not an all-out greenhouse, but it's something that can allow you to to germinate seeds and things like that. Earlier I raised cuttings in them over the winter and you know it. It adds an extra layer of protection to to your garden and to your propagation and it's a really useful thing but, as I say, not as popular as they used to be.
Speaker 1:So now look at the real. You know real what we consider greenhouses and effectively, you have three different types. You've a polytunnel, which is your, your frame with a sheet of plastic over it. You have your glass houses and you have your polycarbonate houses and I suppose they all have pros and cons. And it's funny, as I say, a couple of years ago when I, when I did the last episode, I I went through pros and cons of polycarb, of polycarb of glass and of polytunnels, and somebody who installs glass houses pulled me up on it because on the on the blog that I did in relation to it, I mentioned some of the downsides of glass and one of them was that glass breaks and that sometimes it can be difficult to replace glass. And you know, he I think he said it was ridiculous comment, uh, or a ridiculous, a ridiculous piece, I think is what he called it, but and I understand where he's coming from and he's protecting his, you know his niche or whatever.
Speaker 1:But the point I was making in relation to that is that glass houses they're, they're really really, really good and we'll, as I say, we look at the pros and cons of each, but they sometimes, if you're getting a specific pane of glass, so on each glass house there's unique, there's panels that are probably generic and you'll get them in every glazier in the country, but then there's other ones that are, you know, unique in size or shape and they can be tricky to get. Or you go to a glazier and they're, they're not that interested in cutting a single pane like that. It's not impossible. I, I've never, never said that, but it can be tricky. And then obviously, uh, you can get if, if you have kids and footballs and slitters and hurleys and so on, you can get breakages quite regularly. You can also get breakages and, for example, my brother-in-law put up a glass house last year. He left the vent open on a windy night. The the vent blew backwards, smashed the pane. As that pane fell, it smashed another one and again it was a. It was a toughened or a safety glass house, and there was no issue finding two of the panels. But one of the panels was quite difficult to get. Eventually he got it, but it took a bit of time. So that's all I was saying, was that it can be difficult.
Speaker 1:So I look pros and cons of each poly poly tunnel. Anyway, pros, it is the one that's going to give you the biggest area covered for the lowest price. So a polytunnel is, generally speaking, going to be the cheapest option per meter covered. Um, really efficient can quite, you know, in terms of budget, not overly, overly expensive. In terms of longevity will last a reasonable length of time. I've had polytunnel covers that have lasted 20 years, 22 years.
Speaker 1:In terms of maintenance, that probably I've given it a clean once a year. That can be done really simply with a really long sheet. Or what I actually use is I get a roll of frost fleece, wet it, get it over the over the house, get one person on either end and then you kind of pull from side to side and that on a wet day that just really takes off the green algae really really quickly, so easy to clean. But but the biggest thing is that it gives you, you know, gives you a big area for, generally speaking, low price. Uh disadvantages I suppose it's slightly cooler, typically, than a glass house, so it it gets going slightly later, but it's not a big factor, I wouldn't say. One of the biggest ones, I would think, though, for most people, is the fact that it's not a big factor, I wouldn't say.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest ones, I would think, though, for most people, is the fact that it's difficult to collect rainwater off it, and I find that, you know, if you have a greenhouse, it's brilliant to be able to collect that rainwater and use it within, within the, within the greenhouse, and with a polytunnel, typically it's hard to do that. Now, on my polytunnel I have been able to do that, but only because of some modifications that I've made myself. So it's it's a straight sided polytunnel and typically the plastic runs straight to the, to the ground on this, but I didn't do that. I stopped at about a meter up, and I have net sides up for the first meter and then and then polyteam from there over, and the fact that I've kept it up, I was able to, you know, fix on an aluminium gutter that the plastic runs down and into, so then I was able to gather the water and that's something that's typically difficult on the hooped, on the hooped um polytunnels. So that's a slight disadvantage to it.
Speaker 1:Aesthetically doesn't look as good as a glass house. So may or may not consider that to be to be a disadvantage, but definitely gives you the best buying for your book. In terms of meters covered glass houses, then pros of those they're aesthetically a lot, a lot nicer looking, you know, especially when you get up to the likes of the cedars and and the colored frame ones. They're. They're really, really fantastic looking. In terms of longevity they should last. You know aluminium houses should last essentially forever and you know the glass part of it. Unless something happens they're very, very they're going to last forever as well. But things do happen.
Speaker 1:And that was the point I was making is that you know panes can get broken but generally speaking most of them are easy enough to find. It's only if you have specific, a specific house that has sort of unusual shapes in it that maybe sometimes you'll find it difficult to get that cut or to find a replacement. So glass house is a great option, but you won't get as big an area for a budget. So for a 2 000 euro spend, you'll just get a way bigger polytunnel than you will a glasshouse. But you'll have a much nicer looking product with a glasshouse, slightly warmer in the springtime, slightly warm or holds the heat a little bit warmer. So it's, you know, it's a better product from that point of view. Um, aesthetically look fantastic, you know, you can.
Speaker 1:You can picture those really nice ones with the footpads leading up to them and they are gorgeous within the garden. They don't look, you know, they don't look gaudy, they look really like they were always meant to be there and you know that's a. That's a major advantage as well. The polycarbonate ones again, they now, I suppose they're as I said, my opinion on those has changed, or I suppose there's more evidence to back up what I'd be thinking. Um, so now they're on the go for a number of years here, a good few years. They seem to be outstanding all the, all the weather that can, that can be thrown at it. So that's a huge advantage that possibly I wouldn't have said was there in the past. They're slightly warmer again than a polytunnel.
Speaker 1:You know, you have these layers of polycarps that are, you know, they're slightly warmer, they are aesthetically quite nice, I would say, even a little bit sleeker looking than the polytunnel. So aesthetically they look good. In terms of value for money, they're not bad not as cheap as a greenhouse or a polytunnel in terms of the meterage that you'll cover, but certainly lower than a glasshouse. So for, as I said, 50 square meter polycar tunnel it'll be. You won't get a glasshouse for that same same costings but you'll get a bigger polytunnel.
Speaker 1:So it's that you know it's give and take on those ones, but really really good, looks good, seems to last well and yeah, I would say these days, these days they're definitely, you know, a really viable, good option for anyone that's looking at a greenhouse. So same thing applies with the collection of water. So some of them have modifications, they have straight sides and have modifications that allow the water to be collected there, but a lot of them don't have any way to collect the water off it, whereas nearly all glass houses are 99% of glass houses you can collect the water off them and that's, that's a big plus. So, polycarp again, some some you can, you can collect the, the rainwater from them, but a lot of them you can't still and I consider that a slight downfall. But generally speaking, those options are very, very good now and you know you're going to have. Whichever one you choose, you're going to get a lot of time out of them and it really all comes down to those questions at the start the budget that you're going to allow for this, the location, the aesthetic, the purpose that you're getting for it, the longevity that you want out of it, the ease to heat, if you need to heat it, and the setting within the garden and whether it sits nicely into that setting. Just a sort of a general point.
Speaker 1:Going into the, you know, coming into the winter months now, and this applies to any of the greenhouses that you might, that you might have. So after the winter time you'll, on any of them, the, the glass, the polycarb or the polythene will will be inevitably getting, you know, green. There'll be a little bit green algae on it and it's really important to to get that off. So, going into next spring, and even over the winter, if there is, you know, if there's a heavy covering on it, get, get that clean. Because whatever light we're getting and as I said on the podcast previously, we seem to have got a lot less in terms of light levels this year but whatever light we're getting. You want to ensure that it's getting true to the to the plants inside in your, in your greenhouse, so definitely keep those clean.
Speaker 1:Another vital thing at this time of the year is and again it applies to any, any type of greenhouse that you have if there's any repairs that are required so if it's a greenhouse that's missing a pane of glass, if it's a vent that won't lock shut, if it's a tear or small tear that's in a polythene house, if it's a polycarbonate panel that's loose on a corner, any of those little, you know, any of those little repairs that need to be done do it now, because all of those will lead to bigger problems. If you don't, you'll do something about it. So if it's a little rip in your polytunnel, get polythene repair tape, the proper stuff. Give it a clean off, dry it. Tape on the outside, tape on the inside. If it's a big tear, across the tape so that you're you're sealing it in every direction, and get a really, really solid seal on that. If it's a loose bolt or a peck screw on the corner of a polycarbonate panel, get that locked in before the winter time because, again, if the wind catches under that and breaks that or gets into the house, it could do further damage. The same with a, you know, a vent or a door that's broken on a glass house. Repair that now and not allow any further damage over the winter months, because something that's really small now can be sorted in, you know, a matter of minutes. And if you don't, then it can just lead to a bigger, a bigger issue and typically we're going to get, you know, storms and winds over over the winter months. So just have those little repairs done and then you won't have, you know you won't have any sort of bigger issue.
Speaker 1:Another another factor just with whatever, whatever greenhouse it is that you're choosing, is ventilation. So particularly for growing things like, you know, tomatoes and so on, you need ventilation in those houses. And you know I've seen a lot of polytunnels with the ends are, just, you know, solid plastic and then you're relying on leaving the door open. But a lot of the time you're not going to do that, all the time you're not going to leave it open all the time, so you can get heat and humidity building up too much. The same with the polycarbonate houses. So make sure you have some way of ventilating these spaces. So whether that's, you know in your glass house, whether that's louver vents or roof vents in your glass house, whether it is, you know, roller sides on your polythene tunnel or whether it's a vented door on the end. That can be, you know, sealed up or opened or closed.
Speaker 1:Just allow that you have some ventilation. That's a really critical point. And it kind of doesn't matter what size greenhouse you're talking about. Even if it's a small greenhouse, you're still going to need ventilation in there because the temperature can just get too high in there and you need air circulation, especially for things like tomatoes and so on. You'll just end up with, you know you get a lot of growth early, but then you end up and you get, you know you have success with again something like tomato, but you just don't get any longevity out of it if you don't allow that you have ventilation within the house. So yeah, they're all really really good considerations.
Speaker 1:There's loads of very good suppliers of greenhouses. There's people that do all types of greenhouses, do the polytunnels, they do the glass houses and they do the polycarbonate houses. So just, you know, just look at those, go visit them, talk to some friends that have them, because it's it's surprising. You think you know what you want and you think you know what size you want and then, as I said, all of a sudden you find that it's too small for you or too big for you, or um, although you rarely find that it's too big. So you nearly always you find that it's too small for what you want. So go have a look, talk to other gardeners and maybe go to a showroom, see some there and then decide you know which one it is, and and and, factoring in all those things that I spoke about.
Speaker 1:So I hope that helps you. I haven't told you which one is the best greenhouse for you, but I can't do that because I don't know your setting, I don't know your budget, I don't know any of those things. But I hope that those answers to the questions, or those questions that you need to pose, give you the answers to allow you to come to a sort of an informed decision and pick a greenhouse that would be perfect for your garden, and I think that's that's the aim of the game is to get one that's perfect for you. It could be. For somebody it could be, you know, a cedar, a cedar, a cedar glass house. For someone else it could be a polytunnel and could be a polycarbonate, just depends. Could be the zippies. If that's, you know, really tight for space and you intend to move house next year, then maybe that is the right option for you at this point in time. So, yeah, just consider all those things and I think that that should allow you to formulate quite a good, quite a good decision as to as to which one is the best one for you and your garden right now. So, yeah, um, I hope that helps and uh, yeah, that's this week's episode for anyone that's following the podcast, for anyone that's listening to podcast, I get a lot of messages telling me how much benefit you're getting from it. Something that you could do to help me is, wherever you're listening to your podcast, whether that's on apple podcast, on spotify if you can leave a review of the podcast, five star review, that would be greatly, greatly appreciated. And and leave, so hit the five stars, but also leave an actual review of it, because the more times it gets reviewed, the more high five star reviews it gets, the more people that you know the likes of apple will put that in front of, so it'll show up to more people in more places and that that really really helps in terms of growing. Growing the podcast I'm working on christmas gifts for gardeners for next year.
Speaker 1:I've one guest sorted I'm looking for might.
Speaker 1:Actually, if anyone is interested, I'm looking for a male guest to come on that episode.
Speaker 1:So I'll have um one female guest, one male guest and we'll hear what people's christmas gifts for gardeners recommendations are for for 2025. I suspect suspect they're going to be quite similar again. You know we're going to be looking at the same basic stuff, I would think, but there might be something new there, there might be something different there, and the fact that I'm bringing different people on might mean that there'll be a different perspective as well. My perspective probably hasn't changed a whole lot over the last couple of years, so let's see if, if anyone else if anyone else is is out there. So if you're interested and send me a message on instagram on instagram master my garden, on you can send me an email at info master my gardencom or any of the social channels. Send me a message, be more than happy to have you on. And uh, yeah, there's, uh, it'll be a nice episode coming up in the coming weeks. And that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and I'll tell you next time happy gardening, thank you.