Another strange question...

[Nick_the_grief]

I'm good at strange

Looking at some Back threads and came across this

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4634.msg124699#msg124699

My question is, I have a shed and in front of that some trellis, the gap between is about 4ft and at the moment is full of Junk (as you do).  I've been thinking of putting some twin skin plastic (rescued from a conservatory roof) over for a roof and was wondering, could I use this as a sort of Mini alpine house?

It has a fence to the east about 4ft high and the shed wall would face south. (is this making sense?) along this sort of lines


So you are looking east at this picture south on the right (obviously).

I thought about putting the bed/staging on the shed side and covering in the side next to the fence ( well 1 piece of plastic straight across so the would be a gap above and probably cover the bottom of the trellis side in as well and maybe some sort of door but it's more to keep the rain out
... What does the team think

[Maggi Young]

Nick, this whole place is populated by the strange... its just that some of us are stranger than others

I don't see why you cannot usefully turn that space into a covered, protected area for growing.Has to be better than a junk collecing  space (and I know lots about that sort of problem, though we recently did fill a large skip in the course of a clean up .... she said, blushing with the pleasure of that rare achievment!)
 I don't know that it would need to be fully enclosed.... often times  just keeping the rain off is more than enough for some plants. Depends what you might want to grow there. I think it would make a good home for a range of alpines and little bulbs.  Maybe need some careful shading in the summer if you get "proper" summer sun on it!

[Darren]

Many of us protect plants in the open garden from winter rain by putting a small piece of glass or polycarbonate over them, your suggestion is a good extension of this idea really. As Maggi says, many plants would be happy with this much protection, and it gives excellent ventilation too, no real need to fully enclose it.

In my area I'd be wary because of frequent coastal gales - any such structure does need to be very securely attached! Ordinary twinwall polycarbonate sheet flexes in the wind quite alarmingly and needs a sturdy frame around it.

[Nick_the_grief]

Thanks Both,

I've got these sheets and thought it would be a good use for them really plus it would tidy the area up.  I don't get too many costal gales here in rural Warwickshire although it was blowing a hoolie last night  

Looking in the various bits of the forum I quite fancy some of the Narcissus from the bulb blog ( I have quite a few tubs with small "daffs" like snipe, and Jetfire in and I like those better than their big cousins. Not sure what else I fancy  I like Saxifrages and Lithospurnum (not called that now are they). My mum and dad had one in their rockery 'Heavenly Blue' what a colour that is!

Not sure what else, still, it's a good excuse to keep looking

[Darren]

Was very windy here too last night but not as bad as on Walney Island (where we used to live - anything less than 30mph is regarded as a still day..). My wife Susan was on Walney last night to take our 8 year old niece out for the evening. Katie has not yet evolved a shape suitable for windy environments (i.e. stocky and with big heavy boots) and is only little so Susan had to hold on to her to stop her blowing into the road.