Veg Patch

To read the story of my Veg/Flower Patch in chronological order use the links in the Blog Archive

Sunday 11 December 2011

All glazed over!

The Greenhouse build has been a long and complicated event but as the title implies, it now stands proudly in the allotment with all its glass in place. There are still finishing off things to do, and the inside to be kitted out, but I am delighted.


SInce my last posting, the weather has been against us. We got up the 2nd day of the build to discover the gable end we had left on the lawn was covered in ice! 



I know its December but it was a bit of a shock and very cold on the poor hands, anyway, we carried on but I was apparently not helping much, so was allocated the task of putting together the window frames whilst Jim worked on the very complicated gable ends.



Doors next. At this point I wished that I had gone for the simple one door option rather than the fancy double sliding door combo... Another few hours later and several cups of tea, and the doors were assembled. 


Finally the bits and pieces could move to their final resting place and be joined together.



Of course,  the ground wasn't level, various holes were dug and bits of dirt levelled out and after a day, final construction could go ahead. I of course hadn't helped matters much by putting together the two opening window frames back to front! Weather conditions were deteriorating but Jim laboured on and the greenhouse was whole...





Now it was the turn of the glass to go in but before that, I spent a worried evening wondering how much of the frame would be left after very high winds hit the Uk. Next morning it was still in place exactly where Jim  left it.. and the glass started to make its journey from the garage to the allotment. 






So the main work is done, Its up, Its very square and level and concreted into place and its watertight... now time to tart it up a bit. I ordered some fancy shelves and staging and also a rainwater collection kit to attach to my water butt, so if it ever stops raining, we shall get down to the end of the garden and finish off the work.  Thanks to my very patient husband for a great job.. On a final note, I shall be sending an email to whoever wrote the instruction booklet and ask him to do it again in English! 

Saturday 3 December 2011

Greenhouse build continues

Just a quick update.. The greenhouse is resisting all attempt to put it together. 3 Days in and its not even joined together yet. Jim has spent hours and it is getting there but nowhere near complete. Watch this space for more news.



Thursday 1 December 2011

Buildings popping up all over...

So finally after several weeks of waiting two phone calls in one day. The shed was to be delivered on the 30th and the Greenhouse the following day. Typical, so now its was going to be a rush to get the shed up before the arrival of the greenhouse.

Yesterday dawned (literally) bright and sunny and at just after 8am a rather cheerful chap from Northampton arrived with our shed in bits on the back of his van. How can someone talk that much when he has been up for hours driving a long way on motorways. Anyway within 10 minutes Jim knew his full life history including what the kids were getting for christmas and when his wife took down the Christmas decorations!

Several trips back and forward and the shed was deposited in the garden. Off went the happy chap to Weymouth to fit a ladies potting shed window. 



Now it was time for coffee and toast and a quick look at the instruction. First problem of the day, No instructions. Ever resourceful, while I made the coffee Jim found a leaflet on the manufacturers website and we were soon outside lining bits up. 

I found myself as general dogsbody and holder of bits of wood for a couple of hours whilst the building took shape.






When it had reached this point I had to go out for the afternoon, but left Jim working away, by the time I got home, it was too dark to see, but was informed that the shed only needed one more sheet of tar paper on the roof and the windows installing.

So today 1st december dawned (once again literally, don't these delivery men know we are retired) with a telephone call to inform us that the Greenhouse was on its way and would be with us in 30 minutes.. Oh dear, ( Well sort of) out of bed at speed and get dressed, only 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang, (which is quite a rare event, ask anyone who has tried ringing our bell) and there it was. Well there were numerous boxes and lots of glass. 

Lots more trips up and down the garden and the greenhouse was waiting to be assembled. Now I could also see what a great job Jim had made of the shed. We spent the next hour finishing it off. Very nice.


Greenhouse next. This time there were instructions, in fact so many instructions its like reading war and peace. Very Complicated. Jim went off for a bit to read them, and came back with a plan.. Follow the instructions ! 


With loads of boxes and numerous almost identical pieces if aluminium, this was not going to be easy, sorting out your horizontal glazing bar from your end support bracket was complicated and heated debate took place whilst we sorted the bits. 


Eventually we had the bits to start putting the side panels together as per the instructions. Reading them alone was akin to trying to understand Russian, but luckily there were pictures.


After a slow start we were off and it wasn't long before the side panels were assembled.


Now it was time for the rear panel, far more complicated as it had a gable end as well, I could see this was building (Pardon the Pun) up to be at least a four argument construction. Finding the right pieces was bad enough then we had to work out which way round they went, even the pictures were no help here, after thinking we had finally got it right, I noticed section three, (bearing in mind we were now on about Section 8,) which said we had to put the glazing strips in. Oh well undo what we have done and start again.

At this point it began to rain, Not just a simple shower but very heavy and overcast, the instruction book began to dissolve, they may not be great but they were all we had, so it was time to declare game over for the day, rain stops play....

Watch this space for continued building stories tomorrow.