Johnnys decrepit Glasshouse

Johnny lives in one of those old terraced Victorian houses. Out back is the long narrow garden so typical of these old terraces, with a wall and neighbouring hedges, a wild fruit patch overflowing with loganberries, gooseberries, raspberries and very aggressive blackberries (let that be a warning to ye all) and last but not least a well neglected glasshouse, about 8x10.

its amazing how quickly it goes to shit

briers aplenty

Taking it down is tricky, lots of clips that hold glass panes, mapping out a scheme of stickers and numbers to more easily reconstruct it, undoing bolts, screws and getting it off the concrete base. All that would be EASY compared to cutting down the tree that was growing through it and cutting down the army of briers inside and outside it!! A job for boys if ever there was one, so Johnny and my poor husband tackled phase one last weekend.

I hope Seamus understands the code- I dont know what it means!

Johnny cut down the tree and Seamus carefuly took out each glass pane, numbering it to correspond to a map he made that should make putting it back together a doddle (we hope).One of my neighbours warned me that sometimes glass panes can shatter when you are taking a glasshouse down. Something about releasing them from the clips, expansion blah blah blah. Anyway, it didnt happen. But the bigger surprise is how many of them were perfectly intact. Apart from inspecting and supervising the work I did do some token chopping of briers with the most antique looking hedge cutters I have ever seen. It came with the house according to Johnny, and after a few minutes using it I'd say it's 50 years since it tasted either oil or a oilstone! I know what to bring Johnny next time I visit.

 Next weekend comes the next phase, taking the aluminum frame apart, and hopefully carting all the remaining pieces home, where we will no doubt scratch our heads and wonder how we are going to put it all back together again! At the moment it looks like its going into the vegetable garden. It does mean the loss of some good vegetable beds but hopefully the gains will be worth it.

I know aluminum glasshouses arent particularly pretty but they are affordable and hey you can always paint them-which I plan on doing. Of course when I mentioned this I was immediately teased about putting a nice shade of pink on the frame to make sure its feminine enough. I didnt take the bait, I'm no pink panther, especially not in the garden!! Of course if you have the money you can buy really beautiful victorian style or that horrible word "bespoke" creations. Most of us don't have the money, so we can only dream, and spend lots of time in these fab creations at places like the Chelsea flower show. (Glasshouse porn if you like)If you want to indulge yourselves on what a handmade wooden glasshouse might look like check out these links. Polydome is less romantically inclined but its Irish. Once you see the prices you will appreciate it if someone offers you one for free. Thanks Johnny, you will be richly rewarded in chillis!!

http://www.woodpecker-joinery.co.uk/bespoke.html?gclid=CKDzhuHDoq4CFdRA4QodaXj4Pw

http://www.hartley-botanic.co.uk/ranges/victorian-glasshouse-range/

www.polydome.ie