In order to do something different each week of the year, I have a list of challenges to undertake...

Sunday 7 April 2013

Week 14 - Repair Mini-Greenhouse

I bought my mini-greenhouse at the beginning of 2008, and mindful if it's nickname of 'a blowaway', I firmly anchored it to the east-facing garage wall using bungy cords clipped to eyelets that I drilled into the wall.

It is very useful, especially at this time of the year, but the plastic covers do have a limited life span, and the current one developed a split in the top in late Autumn, which has been steadily getting worse through the winter.

I've found it tricky to locate a replacement - Wilko used to stock them, but no longer, and the same was true at a couple of local garden centres. I found one on-line, however, and that arrived this week.

I unhooked the mini-greenhouse from the wall this afternoon; cleared out all the assorted stuff that has accumulated in there; swept all the leaves/horse chestnuts/snails from underneath then popped the new cover on; and attached the whole thing back to the wall.

And then the fun bit - I started to fill it up with all the pea and bean seed trays from the kitchen windowsills.

Before:



After:



 Marvelous! So week 14 challenge: done!
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4 comments:

  1. Susan Smith8 April 2013 at 21:50

    Well done, but don't you just hate the fact that these days things come and go all the time. You just find something that you like and next thing it is gone from the market.

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    Replies
    1. Hazel14 April 2013 at 23:13

      Yes - and what's worse, is that these little greenhouses are popular here, you can buy the whole thing still - and so there is a market for spare covers.

      Perhaps the manufacturers think that if they sell spare covers then people might think they are not going to last and be put off buying? Although I can quite see that however heavy duty the polythene is, the sunlight will perish it in the course of three years or so.

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  2. BilboWaggins13 April 2013 at 23:13

    At least your frame was in good enough condition to make it worth getting a new cover. My small mini's are 5 years old and the big one is three (?) and all of them are ready for a trip to the council tip.

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    Replies
    1. Hazel14 April 2013 at 23:20

      Yes, the frame is rusting slightly, but it'll last a while yet. Altough bear in mind that mine is never moved from it's solid anchoring point on the garage wall.

      Of course the irony on all this is that the Wilko version of this little greenhouse (which is the same height and depth, but 8" wider) is in the shop costing just a tenner, and this cover (via Amazon) for my existing one, £9.

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