Glasshouses Commanding Increased Attention

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31782, 12 September 1968, Page 13

Glasshouses Commanding Increased Attention

The use of glasshouses for domestic gardening is command* ing an increasing amount of attention from New Zealand gardeners. It is a most rewarding hobby, but, in the initial stages, great patience is required.

Glasshouses take some time to stock, but it is less difficult to furnish a new glasshouse with a colourful array of foliage and flowers than it is to

: make an open garden appealt ing in a year after establlshs ment Some people with a new i glasshouse will be impatient

to fill It; in such cases, fine mature plants can be obtained in pots from nurseries, but it is always better to buy young plants, especially if they are expected to flower.

It is impossible to have a beautiful and successful glasshouse unless strict cleanliness in workin" is adopted at all times.

The atmospheric conditions of a glasshouse make it an ideal breeding place for pests and disease, and once these become established, they spread with amazing rapidity. Keeping the glasshouse clean and tidy is no real trouble, provided that it is done from day to day and not left until it is in such a state that a day or so is required to restore it to order.

Unfortunately, amateurs will persist in using a glasshouse as a depository for horticultural junk, miscellaneous tools, dormant bulbs and other pieces of gardening affluence. Such objects provide ideal hiding places for pests. Dirty pots left over from potting-on must promptly be washed and stored in a clean place and potting soil should be removed away from the potting bench. No plant ean exist for any length of time without water; for beginners in pot plant growing, watering miscalculations are the main cause of failure. It is obvious to note a plant which has had insufficient water and a plant which has been over-watered often continues in a state of apparent good health for a while before it wilts. Modern kitsets and other building advancements have made the construction of a domestic glasshouse a realatively easy matter to the home handyman. Even without the aid of a kitset, the construction of a glasshouse is not as difficult as possibly could be imagined.

A common fault with homemade glasshouses is that the roof quite often has insufficient pitch, so that the condensate collecting on the roof is constantly dripping on the plants Instead of running to one side. Some glasshouses are designed .so that the condensate is led uhder the panes to the outside, but this is most difficult to arrange without leaving a gap through which a draught is able to blow. If a small gap is left, it eventually becomes clogged with dirt.

When time is important, It is doubtful whether it is cheaper to build one’s own structure or simply to construct a base on which a ready-made glasshouse (freely available) could be erected.