[growth] I'm still really dithery about greenhouses

[kaberett]

In that I want one! Given a greenhouse I could start things at the allotment off earlier in the year, and probably grow a passionfruit, and have somewhere to actually store my tools a bit more usefully, and actually be able to grow the cucumbers and sweet peppers I'm hoping for, and so on and so forth.

(I'd want one with automatic openers on the roof vents because there is no way I'm actually going to reliably make it to the allotment twice a day, sorry, which is also why I don't get to keep any kind of livestock.)

The specific dither I'm having, though, is that greenhouses are Expensive new. I would probably be able to get one for less than fifty quid off ebay... only then I'd have to dismantle and remantle it myself, and probably hire a van, and have an enormous anxiety about how to transport the glass in a van without breaking it, and also either look pathetic at Adam some more (who has driven A Lot of vans for me) or look pathetic at You Lot for a volunteer who doesn't mind helping to dismantle a greenhouse etc etc etc. And then I get anxious about what kind of footing I'd need to work out putting it on, as well; breeze blocks or concrete paving slabs seem like the obvious options but, also, I'm having a massive executive dysfunction about it.

So probably what's actually going to happen is that I'll keep dithering through the start of this season while keeping appendages crossed that the DWP is going to give me the back-payment I'm theoretically owed, which would let me pay off the last non-mortgage house-purchase debt and hopefully have enough left over that I can, in fact, just Pay To Make The Problem Go Away, which... would be lovely. (Fingers crossed: I've got an upcoming phone call about SMI and my PIP reassessment is on Wednesday, when all else aside I'll be able to tell them that I have in fact recently had a fall while sitting down that resulted in broken bones.)

But! Advice and input and suggestions are very welcome, so. Please feel encouraged to tell me what I'm missing. <3

Comments

[kaberett]

Polycarbonate panels: I'm aware of them as an option, but I resent the shit out of them because they actually do much less effective light transmission than glass. EVEN THOUGH I agree that they would be less D: to transport.

Window opening: the reason I want that for greenhouses is that fundamentally they get very warm, and very steamy, so they need windows open appropriately to allow air circulation and to prevent your plants from... actually steaming themselves!

Polytunnels: I'm a bit D: D: D: about them blocking light and being less warm and Awkward To Anchor, but... maaaaaaaaaaybe?

(Will probably be late-notice prodding about moral support -- I work out when/if i'm having a GP appt on Monday morning.)

[alexwlchan]

Those reasons all seem sensible! Now I’ve planted those ideas in your head, I shall bow out of the conversation here, I don’t think I have much else useful to say.

(Late-notice prodding is fine. I have evening plans on Wednesday but they're movable in an emergency.)