What do our customers think of our aluminium polycarbonate greenhouses?

What's so great about our greenhouses?

Don't ask me! Check out what our customers think, here's a few of the emails, reviews, and messages we have received over the years. Some glowing, some with tips, some with improvements. We have taken on board the comments about the instruction sheets and they have been updated.
Feel free to send me you're comments and I'd be happy to include them in future

Customer photo

• Thank you for my green house. I am thrilled to bits. It is very sturdy. The parts were well labelled. I attach a photo, to show what a 60+ lady can achieve! It requires the trims fitting, but I am so pleased. Thank you. On 20 Aug 2015

• Brill and great help from customer service excellent thanks brigitte and jim. By brigbib on 21 Mar. 2015

• Good practical starter greenhouse and good value for money. Easily assembled, I erected mine in my garage and two people easily carried it into position. By Ian Taylor on 4 April 2013

• Well,well, I bought this green house and left it for 2 weeks in the box. This week I put it up, everything was there and it was not that bad to erect, but a few tips. Read the instructions twice, it is far easier to follow the step by step guide. Don't be frightened by the first few pages, just really make sure your base is level AND keep checking it, take both wrapps off the pollycarbonate, before you slide them in (or they get trapped and are hard to remove tidy, do use gloves to put them in (they can be a little sharp)). Keep instructions close to hand and keep looking. But apart from that great greenhouse. It took me alone about 6ish hours from start to finish (except for base) I made sure again and again that was spot on. I would recommend this product to anyone. Great greenhouse. Yours Alan Jaina ,Derbyshire. By alan jaina on 26 Jan. 2012

• Wonderful Greenhouse. Went through the internet looking for a good but cheap (there is a recession on) aluminium greenhouse for my beloved tomato plants. Used temporary plastic walk-in ones in the past but they didn't last more than 2 years at the most. Found this one and after reading the reviews decided to go for it. Ordered it Friday evening and received it on Tuesday in good condition with all the parts present. The instruction book although basic was in my opinion clear and concise enough for any average flat packer to put up in under 5 hours with a extra pair of hands now and again. A similar size greenhouse from B&Q bought by my in-law was 40 pages long and took her over 7 hours to put up with sore thumbs at the end of it. The great thing with this greenhouse is that the polycarbonate sheets slide into place and not pushed into place like many other greenhouses. This seems to add rigidity and stability to the greenhouse. A base is included which when added to the greenhouse makes it a even more solid structure. I have screwed the base to my patio stones with simple wall plugs and screws and now the greenhouse does not budge at all. So far I have had gusting winds of up to 30 km/h and the greenhouse is ok. Not 100% sure of the window mechanism yet but it works and only time will tell how long it will last. At the time of writing this review (22/4/12) I have 10 young tomato plants in it and all appear to be fit and healthy. I have had a few frosty nights but the use of a parasen heater (superwarm 4 version) has been enough to protect my plants. All in all I am very happy with the delivery, ease of assembly and overall quality of this greenhouse and would recommend this to anyone on a budget. May give this 5 stars if the greenhouse window lasts. By Denise on 22 April 2012

• great value for money. By Alan D. on 18 May 2015

Advantages of 6x6 Greenhouses

Lots of people choose to build 6x6 greenhouses in their gardens for a variety of reasons. Greenhouses offer convenience and control of your gardening, allowing you to grow plants to their best potential and enjoy the sometimes-literal fruits of your labour year round

A fancy greenhouse at sunset

One reason people choose to build 6x6 greenhouses is that they allow you to grow fruits and vegetables without being restricted by colder months. Certain vegetables need to grow in warm conditions – tomatoes, for example, need warmth to thrive, and so are best grown in a greenhouse. On the other hand, if you find your greenhouse is too warm then you can easily use an automatic vent opener to let some cool air in when your greenhouse gets too warm. This means that you can regulate temperature without having to rush outside every time the sun pops out. 

Similarly, greenhouses also protect from adverse weather such as heavy rain which I have seen personally destroy my lovingly grown allotment patch. When safely inside a greenhouse they won’t be affected, and you can rest assured your plants will survive.

Greenhouses also help protect your crops from other nuisances such as cats, rats and mice. Housing your plants inside their own little house stops animals getting to the plants and eating or destroying them, ensuring that you never have any unexpectedly ruined crops.

Finally, another particularly popular advantage of building 6x6 greenhouses is that they allow you to save on fruit and veg, since you can grow so many of them! These days we’re all trying to scrimp and save wherever we can and whilst the initial costs might put you slightly out of pocket, the long-term result is potentially considerable savings on fruit and veg.

Why 6x6 greenhouses?

When choosing your greenhouse, you need to take the size of the greenhouse into careful consideration. A greenhouse that is too small will restrict the amount you can grow, but if you are a beginner then a greenhouse that is too big may prove hard to handle. 6x6 greenhouses are a good compromise, providing a decent amount of space for plants whilst being a manageable size.

If you would like to order your 6x6 greenhouses, greenhouses of a different size or other home/DIY products then visit Speedwell Star

Why the green fingered will find life easy with an aluminium greenhouse

I don't know about you but I love a bit of winter. The crisp cold air and endless blue sky, or raging angry storms with the wind whipping and clouds racing, not to mention the beautiful hoary frosts in the mornings or heaps of snow to jump in.

Hoar Frost

That said, if you are a gardener of any sort the damage winter can wreak on your garden can be dismaying after months of hard work. Plants and trees can get knocked over causing more damage to other plants in their wake, frost, especially an early frost, can stop plants dead and heavy snow smothers and crushes. Even much needed rain can cause devastation if it goes on for too long.

If you feel dread at what's going to happen as the nights draw in maybe the saving grace for your garden can be found in an aluminium greenhouse. Placed in a sheltered, sunny spot they can provide the perfect antidote to the winter blues.

Any young, fragile, or precious plants can be placed in your aluminium greenhouse over winter. They will be protected from the worst of the weather out of the wind and severe cold. It's also a great place to store pots that may crack in the cold and other garden equipment.

One of the lovely things about owning an aluminium greenhouse is having a place to retreat to when you fancy doing a bit of pottering but the weather isn't being kind enough.

So as the winter weather rages you can sit back and relax, your plants and garden equipment are safe and all those seeds your planning to plant in spring can get an early start as soon as the weather starts to warm up

Laura

Aluminium versus Wooden Framed Greenhouse

Choosing your greenhouse is a pretty big decision, it is going to be in your garden for many years and, all being well, you are going to spend a lot of time in there. Before choosing your greenhouse it's well worth thinking about whether you want an aluminium or wooden frame. Read on to help you decide

Wooden Greenhouse Frame

Pros

• Wood is often chosen because it looks so attractive and traditional
• A wooden frame is more insulating than metal and will help to keep the temperature up inside your greenhouse
• Wood is the environmental choice, especially if you decide to build your own frame from scratch using reclaimed bits of timber (not for the faint hearted)
• If you have a wooden framed greenhouse it is possible, in theory, to extend it as your needs and plants grow
• As you can imagine a wooden frame will be pretty heavy and sturdy which is especially useful if you are putting your greenhouse up in a windy spot or an area prone to heavy snow fall

Cons

• Treated soft woods can pose a risk to plants and especially vegetables. Condensation can cause water to drip from the frame and onto your plants which can be damaged by the chemicals used to treat the wood
• To avoid using treated wood cedar wood is much more durable than treated wood and wont pose any chemical risks although it is much more expensive than the soft woods
• A wooden greenhouse frame will need regular maintenance to keep it looking and performing it's best
• Wood tends to be bulkier than aluminium frames creating more shade inside your greenhouse
• Insects like wood and this is one of the main places you really don't want to be encouraging pesky insects to visit!

Aluminium Greenhouse Frame

Lola our office dog loves a swim

Pros

• Aluminium framed greenhouses are great value for money, they come up considerably cheaper than wooden framed greenhouses so are a great option if you are starting out, on a budget, adding a spare greenhouse (yes really!), or dipping a toe in the water (butt)
• Aluminium does not rust and requires no long term up keep other than keeping it generally clean
• Due to the strength of aluminium very little metal is required for the frames which means a metal frame will cast very little shade inside your greenhouse
• If you are a keen DIY enthusiast or want to save yourself money an aluminium frame is pretty straight forward to assemble, a bit like flat pack (but much bigger, it is still a building!)
• Due to the lightweight materials and flat pack nature of aluminium framed greenhouses, if you have a bit of wanderlust taking your greenhouse down and popping it on the moving van would save the pain of having to pay out for another one, and you'll be a bit of an expert at putting it back up!
• Most aluminium frames will also include guttering within the design of the frame

Cons

• Lets face it, aluminium is not nearly as attractive to look at as wood, it does come in two colours but if you have parked it in a little thatched cottage garden or are going to be looking at it day in day the looks factor needs to be taken into account
• The frame in an aluminium greenhouse will not provide any insulating properties
• Aluminium greenhouse frames in windy areas will be at more risk of wind damage than wood

So those are the pros and cons or wooden or aluminium framed greenhouses, let me know if there's anything I have missed and what you decide to go for in the end. Laura

How 6x6 Greenhouses Are Saving People Money

Discover why so many people are acquiring 6x6 Greenhouses in order to make savings on their weekly shop.

In today’s cash-strapped times we are all looking for ways to reduce our outgoings. The cost of even basic groceries is rising steadily, forcing people to make cutbacks, often at the expense of good nutrition. Unpredictable weather patterns and rising fuel costs mean that the price of fruit and vegetables is rising steadily and yet health professionals constantly remind us that we should all include ‘five a day’ in our diets for optimum health.

Fortunately, there is a solution to the escalating prices, and it can help to improve our bodies and minds at the same time. The answer is relatively simple – grow your own.

As people are realising the benefits of good, wholesome and nutritious food, they are seeing the advantage of erecting 6x6 Greenhouses in their gardens and on their patios. Greenhouses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but most gardeners would confirm that 6x6 Greenhouses are the perfect size for the average suburban garden, offering the space to grow a selection of plants from seed and making huge savings in the process. You can add shelving and staging to increase your growing area, and install a heater for particularly cold snaps and an automatic window opener for those hot sunny days.

Buying your own greenhouse doesn’t have to involve a huge financial outlay either. Thanks to advances in modern materials, it is possible to buy 6x6 Greenhouses constructed from aluminium and polycarbonate at cheaper prices than their glass counterparts. Polycarbonate has a number of advantages over glass, including blocking harmful UVA rays from the sun. For anyone with pets or children the advantages quickly become obvious, as polycarbonate will not shatter or break, so you won’t have to keep replacing damaged panes of glass, and you won’t run the risk of anyone injuring themselves.

 

6x6 Greenhouse - Just your cup of tea

Imagine the satisfaction of eating your very own fruit and vegetables, grown from seed at minimal cost. Unlike an open plot, you will find that you are not restricted by normal growing seasons and with a little planning you can enjoy the fruits of your labour all year round.

Have a look at the unbeatable prices on our site and remember that if you place your order with us today, you could be taking delivery tomorrow.

Polycarbonate or glass? Which is best for my 8x6 Greenhouse?

It's a question that's been rumbling on for years now, read more to find out why you want a twin walled polycarbonate 8x6 aluminium greenhouse rather than glass

Strength
The main and most important reason to choose a polycarbonate 8x6 aluminium greenhouse has to be it's strength. Throw a ball at a panel, have a bird fly into it, or a small child run into it and they will come away unscathed. To be fair all these things can and do happen in gardens around the country, do you really want the risk, the hassle of clearing the mess up, the job of replacing the glass each time you get a breakage or crack?

Lola, dog about the office - daft as a brush and likely to run into greenhouses!

Durability
These days polycarbonate lasts years and years, many come with long guarantees and they no longer cloud or go yellow over time. The fact that it is also so strong makes it incredibly long lasting overall

Price
Aluminium greenhouses with polycarbonate panels are amazing value these days and because you can erect it yourself over a weekend you save even more money combine that with the fact you wont be replacing smashed panels and you have a very economic greenhouse

UV Protection
Polycarbonate panels offer far superior protection from the suns harmful rays, if your off on holiday you wont come back to find all your plants scorched, and you don't need to paint the panels to offer any shade

Warmth
Twin walled poly carbonate (two layers like double glazing) offer just over 50% more heat retention than horticultural glass. This translates to a huge difference in temperature giving increased savings on heating your greenhouse over night and during cold snaps

Prolonged Growing Season
With added warmth comes a longer growing season, your 8x6 aluminium greenhouse will warm up faster and for longer, earlier, and later in the year allowing you to get cracking with those essential gardening jobs that bit sooner and giving you more productivity as you start to leave the natural growing season

Ease of Fitting
Polycarboante panels just slide into the aluminium frame creating a strong and robust greenhouse structure

Light Weight
Because polycarbonate is so light weight and strong lifting the panels into place and potentially dropping them is no trouble.This allows you to erect your greenhouse at your leisure saving money and giving a great sense of achievement when it's completed

Safety
Glass in a garden where small children or those unsteady on their feet may be pottering is always going to present a risk. Even small birds can smash horticultural glass, it really doesn't take much. Polycarbonate will give you peace of mind

For a great how to guide on erecting your 8x6 aluminium greenhouse click here

Building your Aluminium Greenhouse - the final stage!

Congratulations. You are now ready to erect your Aluminium Greenhouse...and you might be feeling just a tiny bit nervous! (If you missed the first stage just click here)

Don't worry, it can look a bit daunting but by taking your time, having a little patience, and some common sense you'll have it finished in no time

Tools required

·        Instructions

·        Spirit level

·        Screw driver

·        Tape measure

·        Small size socket set

·        Hammer

·        8mm Spanner

·        Lubricant

·        Silicon sealent

·        2nd pair of hands

·        Gloves

You may not need some of the items on the tools list and you might find other tools that really help, let me know if you do and I'll add it to the list

First off your Greenhouse is made of Aluminium and is therefore versatile, long lasting, and importantly at this stage it's light weight. The panels whilst large are going to be fairly easy to move around and put in position with a helper

Start by gathering all your nuts, bolts, and fixings in a large box. This will help you to keep them all in one place and make it much less likely that you will drop a crucial bolt on the grass where it will no doubt vanish in the blink of an eye!

Check the instructions and lay out your components in the order you are going to need to fit them

When you are laying out your base make sure your door piece has the groove at the front, sounds obvious now but trust me many a DIY'er has fallen at this first hurdle. Equally important, put your door grove on the side you want to fit your door. I received a lovely email from a customer who loved his greenhouse but felt it a shame we had fitted the door at the back!
Follow each step closely and keep checking back to make sure you are still on the right track. Trust me, back tracking can be really difficult and frustrating!

Use the lubricant to help you slide the components together, it's not essential but will make it that bit easier, especially for the gutters

Before inserting each panel apply some silicon sealant at the bottom of the frame, and again at the top, this will help to prevent mould growing inside the double glazing and looking unsightly. Once you have your Aluminium greenhouse built add some silicon sealant all around the polycarbonate panels to help insulate your greenhouse and prevent wind from blowing inside The guttering on the greenhouse gives you the ideal water collection point, just pop a water butt underneath

Other additions to your greenhouse can include heaters, irrigation systems, fans, window vent openers, thermostat, thermometer, and staging or shelving

Home grown veg - simply the best

Your nearly on your way to tasty home grown grub or beautiful blooms.

If you haven't seen the first stage of this blog just click here

Happy gardening, Laura

Erecting your Aluminium Greenhouse – For the reluctant DIY’er and competent handyman

We have all been there, you finally take the plunge and order your brand new greenhouse and wait expectantly for it to arrive. Better still you can save a lot of money if you put your aluminium greenhouse up yourself. Finally the big day comes and you want to get started right away so you can start filling it with all your lovely plugs, pots, plants, and seedlings....but wait! First read this for the best guide to erecting your 4x4, 6x4, 6x6 or 6x8 greenhouse quickly and efficiently....the first time.

Ok, I’ll start with the obvious ones, they may sound simple but get these wrong and you may find yourself pulling your hair out.

Choose a site that is as sheltered as you can get for your plot, gale force winds are not your greenhouses friend! The shelter will also keep the temperature up inside your greenhouse at your most important times in spring and autumn

Your best bet is to locate your greenhouse so you can fit all the way around it so that you can keep the panels clean, if it’s next to a path make sure you leave space to fit through with a wheelbarrow

Clear any overhanging branches and avoid growth overhead where possible. This will prevent leaves clogging your gutters, sap and insects dirtying your panels, and allow the maximum amount of light and warmth into your greenhouse

Get your base area ready, it needs to be nice and flat (use a spirit level) and if you are digging a foundation you can do this beforehand. To make sure your base is square rather than a parallelogram measure across the diagonals, these should be equal

Some people put down a stone, brick or wooden foundation to screw the base into for extra wind protection

If you are tight on space erect your greenhouse and base where you have plenty of room. Without the panels you will then be able to lift it to its correct location

Aluminuim polycarbonate greenhouse

Make sure you erect your greenhouse on a calm day, trying to fit panels in any kind of breeze will just make everything more difficult

When you open your box make sure you have all the correct bits

Read the instructions carefully, and then read them again!

Have a helper on hand, even a confident DIY’er will need a second pair of hands at some point

Make sure you have given yourself enough time to build your greenhouse. Some of our customers can do it in 4 hours others take a couple of days. To give yourself the best chance start early in the morning to reduce the chance of having to leave it mid way (and letting nature have a go at it!)

That’s all I’ve got time for right now but good luck and have fun. I’ll be back with the next stage of putting your greenhouse up next month

The next installment is up, just click here to go straight to it, hope you like it