You've been framed!

A cold one today, with a light dusting of snow to greet me this morning as I looked out of the window. Today had always been highlighted as my best opportunity to make progress with the greenhouse, so I wasn't going to let a bit of snow and frost dampen my enthusiasm. In fact, it turned out to be a lovely day with some bright winter sunshine. Admittedly my hands and feet were frozen when I eventually called it a day at about 2.45pm, but I made a lot of progress and it felt good to be out there.

This was the scene at the allotment round about 11am.

Frozen brassicas and a motly collection of structures

Looking back from the shed through the Denniston's Superb gage. You can see the bags of mushroom compost (bottom right) that I started spreading last week.

View from my shed

 

My main task today was to attempt to raise a greenhouse from the heap of aluminium that littered the ground following a gale before Christmas. I had bought a bag of universal nuts and bolts from Wilko's and brought along a selection of spanners and pliers but I wasn't that sure of what I was doing and how things would end up.

 

Although the frame had essentially fallen apart there was enough information left within the crumpled heap of aluminium pieces and connectors to at least fathom some idea of what needed to be done. A bit like a giant jigsaw but with just a couple of pieces already fitted together. The biggest problem was the cold and the impact it had on my fingers when trying to tighten nuts and bolts. Lots of blowing and delving of hands into deep, warm pockets did the trick and once the sun got above the tree line my fingers thawed out enough to make progress.

 

I wish I'd taken a close-up photo of the connectors as it would be a good reference for anyone else trying to piece together a greenhouse frame from scratch. Essentially there were a series of holes on one piece of aluminium with seemingly no corresponding hole through which to slide the bolt and tighten a nut...

 

I eventually worked out that the bolt head slotted into a channel within the frame, the piece of frame with the hole was then slipped over the thread of the bolt, and the pieces fixed together by tightening the nut until it would turn no more. Now seasoned greenhouse erectors may find this obvious but it was a revelation to me. Once I'd figured it out I flew round the frame and got the whole thing fixed together. By the end of my session I was left with a sturdy frame that was bolted together more strongly than it had been for at least the past twenty years!

 

You've been framed!

 

As an aside, I did some research on the manufacturer of my greenhouse, just in case I needed some spares. I knew it was old as the phone number beneath the manufacturer's name had the telltale signs of being well before the change in dialling codes. It's a good job I didn't need spares as it appears they went bump in 1980 and it is no longer possible to get any. Universal bits and pieces may fit but it is very much in the lap of the gods. Thankfully I was able to twist any damaged bits of frame back into shape and it appeared that nothing had actually broken but had simply fallen apart/ loosened.

 

So, after a cold but enjoyable winter's day at the plot I now have a greenhouse frame up and standing firm. Next time round I'm going to fix some wooden battons to act as a base and I'll then be ready to buy and fit the glass. The target is to have the greenhouse operational by mid February, at which point I hope to benefit from the increasing day length and warmth of the late winter sun to sow the first hardy crops of the year under glass. Exciting times ahead!