Lydney was at the far eastern end of Storm Eunice's red zone, giving us hope that we'd escape the worst of the havoc... as indeed we did. Here at Chez Angie the house roof is still in place – contrary to the confident predictions of a builder guy who recently warned me that my ridge tiles were in immanent danger of coming loose, and that his fancy plastic things would solve the problem for a mere £400. The garden fence panels (of which there are many) are also still intact, as is our old plastic-panelled greenhouse.
The newer greenhouse tells a different story. Ever since we bought the darned thing, we've had a constant battle to keep its flimsy laminated plastic panels in place. Two had already been replaced with Perspex from the local DIY, whilst self-tapping screws, drilled and screwed through the plastic and into the framework, seemed to be doing the trick for the rest... until Eunice arrived.
At about 11-o'clock on Friday morning, during a particularly fearsome gust, 7 panels parted company with the greenhouse and flew into next door's garden.
I wrote 'simply', but simple it will not be. The panels slot into grooves in the framework, and to replace the side panels we will have to remove the roof. So, in truth, it's a total rebuild job.
Better quality plastic-panelled greenhouses (eg. the sort that we should have bought) appear use 2mm acrylic sheets, so I've just looked up the price of 4ft x 2ft ones. (I do love the way the supplier mixes imperial and metric units!) Even if I leave some of the less vulnerable and easily replaceable sheets in place, I'll still need at least 8 @ £22. Ouch!
Our home-grown tomatoes are flavoursome and fun to grow, as are the fine green beans that we start off in a greenhouse before planting out. Whether they're cheaper than their shop-bought cousins is, however, open to debate.
