The big reveal

I've dropped a few cryptic hints on Twitter referring to a big project in the last few weeks, but only a couple of people know what it is. I wanted - for once! - to have completed a job before showing off the results, and finally, after over a month of hard work, and a month more of planning, I can say - it's a greenhouse!

I've never had my own "proper" greenhouse. I tried to build two a few years ago back home, but they were my own designs, built from the materials I could obtain locally, fitted into awkward sites, and never fully finished. When we moved here four and a half years ago, there was a small (~6x6 foot) one in the garden, but it was missing its door and a few panes of glass, so has never been usable. There's also a polytunnel, which in the last couple of years has also lost its door, but is still functional. However, finally I decided that for the vegetable garden to reach its potential, I wanted a fairly large, new, working greenhouse.

I found one online that was a bargain - still several hundred pounds, but reduced in price by at least 50%, with a few higher-end features than a basic model (a coloured, powder-coated aluminium frame, rather than bare metal, toughened glass, a louvred vent, etc). Then I looked into foundations - would it go on the ground, on a plinth, a patio... I decided on a perimeter base of slabs, which offered strength and solidity without taking too much more money or materials - a full patio base would have required more of both (and more work!), and I decided I wanted beds to plant into, rather than growing everything in pots, which would entail much more watering. Roughly a tonne each of ballast (mixed sand and stones) and sand, plus a few hundred kilos of slabs and cement were delivered, and I singlehandedly shovelled them into my barrow, wheeled them down, and laid the foundation. In fact, I've done the whole thing on my own - I wasn't sure if it would be possible without help, but I much prefer knowing that it was all my work. Below are progress photos from early May to early June.

Just after I started - a very overgrown section of the veg garden, with sedges, nettles, coltsfoot, and many other perennial weeds. I stripped them all out down to bare earth, also removing slabs of concrete, lengths of timber, and other accumulated rubbish from the site's previous incarnations. 

Here I've laid some slabs to roughly measure out the size of the base - length and width. I drew out a plan on my computer, but it's always good to see it in position.

The slabs have been removed again, and a perimeter of ballast put in place, followed by sand.

The first side has been laid on a bed of damp sand and cement. It was important for the perimeter to be as level as possible (it looks slightly bowed here, but this seems to be an artifact of the wide angle lens).

The frame is up! I build the four sides elsewhere, then brought them in and connected them. 

The roof beam and battens are in.

Almost fully glazed! Note also the base, which raises the height and provides extra strength.

The door is on, and it's pretty much done! A few twiddly bits to add, and the base needs securing, but it's now ready to use.