Would I like to "give him a hand building a heated greenhouse that'll improve crop growth in the colder seasons?"
Brilliant, I thought, there's nothing like a far-fetched project to sink your teeth into. "Damn right I'd like to build a greenhouse - where do I sign?"
We've both been growing veg this year at our rented flats/houses, part motivated by the desire to minimise our 'food-miles', and part by 'the call of the great outdoors'. We've been thoroughly enjoying ourselves: eating fresh food; battling slugs and weeds; composting everything in sight. My heart skipped a beat at the prospect of more soil-based fun.Our plan was to build the structure out of completely re-used parts, which has the double benefit of being both preferable for the environment AND good for our wallets.
After throwing a few ideas around, Spider-man emailed Dick Strawbridge, the chap from 'It's not easy being green', for some advice. In the first BBC series they had a nifty greenhouse heat-storage idea and we hoped for some tips.He kindly wrote back with some helpful answers for us and, unbeknownst to us, forwarded the email on to the BBC. It turns out they're making a second series and Dick and his son James are off out to help punters like us undertake home-projects - so our dreams of fame and fortune will soon be answered.
So far, at no cost other than some car-miles, we have amassed the following list, which is still growing:
- A pile of wood, metal, glass and other useful materials
- A blowtorch (never know when you might need one)
- A big pile of manure (for a clever Victorian growing method called 'Hot-bedding')
- A big pile of topsoil (to fill our raised-beds)
- A complete greenhouse (lucky lucky lucky - we were expecting to have to make a frame and glaze it ourselves!)
- A group of very friendly, helpful people, full of useful advice.
The donated greenhouse
Our collection methods have involved word-of-mouth, skip-raiding, and Freecycle (a website we thoroughly recommend - I've also picked up a power-sander and a drop-leaf table for home-use). We were also very lucky to have James help us out with a LandRover (powered by home-made biodiesel no less) to help us with some of the more sizable pick-ups.
We have a 'photo-diary' following our progress, and we'd really appreciate any suggestions or tips if you have any - just 'comment' on this post!
ta muchly
Esteban
