We were lucky enough to inherit a greenhouse with Ley Farm, although it looked a little worse for wear; the joints were covered in moss and who knows what else, and it had been sited on sleepers that were rotting and letting damp and weeds in. A handful of glass panes had cracked or fallen away, allowing birds and mice in to eat the seeds we planted.
So, with lockdown easing, our first job was to invite our wonderful worker bees to stay and help build a new base and deep clean the frame and panes. The cleaning stage certainly wasn’t particularly pleasant, although at least the terrace provided shelter from the rain (and encouraged an additional helper too!).
In typical British fashion, the weather was pretty awful, so we spent most of the three days dodging rain, while taking the greenhouse apart, cleaning it, concreting a new base, and securing the frame so it didn’t disappear in high winds. Not the easiest of jobs, and with various elements going wrong (panes cracking, the concrete not holding the bolts properly etc), it was a challenging weekend!
But we’ve done the main structural and cleaning work, and now have a clean, secure greenhouse that we can properly use! We still need to tidy up the base, put up shelves and replace the broken glass (on order and due to arrive next week), but we’re so pleased with the progress we made and the support we had. Definitely worth giving our worker bees a couple of days off to visit local attractions, and treat them to a weekend of gin tasting as a thank you!
Ley Farm Cottages 