The Best Greenhouse For Me?

The best greenhouse for your garden will depend on a number of factors. You need to decide the purpose of your greenhouse, the space you have available and the style you prefer, and you will want to invest in a greenhouse to fuel your burgeoning garden ambitions. Are you addicted to propagating trays of seedlings? Or do you want to use your greenhouse as an actual growing space, housing crops such as melons, peppers, aubergines, basil and tomatoes? You may want to use your greenhouse to store large tender fruit trees like oranges and peaches overwinter.

Propagation Is Your Plan

If the main purpose of your greenhouse is for propagation of seedlings and raising young plants before hardening off outside and planting out, you will probably only need a relatively small greenhouse. Unless, of course, you have an enormous garden to fill with home grown plants or you have plans to start your own nursery business. That is a different matter entirely!

So assuming the scale of your plans is to plant up an average sized domestic garden with your greenhouse offspring, you will need to consider the additional features you want your greenhouse to boast. Gabriel Ash greenhouses come in three different ranges – Essentials, Classic and RHS models. All three ranges contain the sorts of space-maximising small and medium sized greenhouses that most people use for propagating. Each range also features lean-to options which make the most of even the tiniest of spaces. The classic and the RHS ranges also feature a vinehouse style which is a hybrid between the traditional greenhouse and the wall-mounted lean-to.

Features As Standard

All the Gabriel Ash ranges come with standard features and benefits such as ten year frame guarantee, sustainably sourced, heat retaining western red cedar frames which are PEFC certified, toughened safety glass and aluminium guttering. The frames are crafted using traditional techniques in Britain, and all our greenhouses utilise the age-old mortice and tenon joining method which guarantees strength and durability. Automated windows are always an option, and if you are raising seedlings then this functionality will be essential to your success. Weather conditions cannot always be predicted and some degree of automation can make the difference between lush and frazzled for your burgeoning bounty.

Some differences exist between the ranges in terms of the design features. If you install water butts, you may want to consider whether you want a standard plastic downpipe as featured in the Essentials range, or the more uniform, durable and non-toxic powder coated aluminium available in the Classic and RHS ranges.

Growing Tender Crops?

If you plan to use your new greenhouse mainly for growing tender crops like tomatoes and aubergine, or perhaps exotics like pineapples or tuberose, you will want to consider what sort of staging you need. The Classic and Essential ranges come with staging which can be positioned usually at waist height and sited at whichever end of the greenhouse you prefer. If you were planning to incorporate some beds into your greenhouse you may prefer to restrict staging to a single side only. Alternatively you could choose to buy separate freestanding staging which is height adjustable.

The RHS range staging is cantilevered to provide more leg room. Shelving may also be important to you if you are planning on doing lots of propagating as you will need somewhere to store all your pots and trays. Louvre vents may be important to you if you plan to grow alpines.

Could Planthouses Be For You

If you plan to use your greenhouse mainly for housing tall exotics like banana trees and peaches, or for overwintering tender fruits like oranges and lemons, you may wish to choose the planthouses which are featured in the Classic and RHS ranges. These have extra height and double doors for incorporating even the tallest inmates, and are available with bespoke options and elegant design features such as aluminium capping for extra strength and non-corrosive, attractive brass fittings to display your prize specimens in timeless style.