New Year jobs – cleaning the greenhouse
This time of year can be challenging for tropical orchids with short dull days – we haven’t seen sun for a while in Somerset – and so it is a great time to make sure that your greenhouse is clean inside and out. The photos above show part my home cool house with the walls cleaned of moss and the glass cleaned of algae.
A pressure washer does a great job of cleaning back to clean stone while plants are temporarily crammed into the other half of the greenhouse (below)
I feel that the benefits for the plants are 4 fold:
1.More light. 2.Less moss and fern invading the baskets and mounts. 3.A reduction in pathogens and pests (e.g. less hiding places for slugs) and 4. Fresher, less dank air.
It is also a lot more pleasurable for us humans in the greenhouse to see things clean and smart.
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It is lovely to read your cheerfully informative post Simon and wow haven’t you made a difference with your cleaning.
Unfortunately my spring cleaning will have to wait a while because my greenhouse is bubble wrapped.
All your orchids look amazingly healthy too. So beautiful. I think a greenhouse is such a refined way to garden with no mud, rain or cold this time of year. I thoroughly recommend it!
Thank you once again for the lovely view into your private, cosy world.
You are right a greenhouse is a magic place 🙂
Simon I have a question about the construction of your greenhouse. Being a lean-to construction, on an irregular stone wall, how do you stop the roof leaking when it rains. It must be impossible to get a waterproof seal.
Good Question. Lean too greenhouse come with a wall plate (like the ridge on a normal greenhouse) and once the frame is bolted together the wall plate is fixed to the stone wall (screws and rawlplugs) any large gaps are then filled with mortar before running a bead of sealant between the wall and the wall plate finishing with and angle from the wall to cast any water onto the greenhouse roof and away.