That’s a wrap

October 19, 2013 by Elaine 4 Comments

Under wraps and ready for winter

With the day dry and bright, albeit a little cold, I decided to crack on and get the insulating of my small greenhouse finished before the first of the frosts arrived which should be any day now. Of course I had left the trickiest section of greenhouse to last, well you do don’t you, and so I first had to work out just how I was going to attach the bubble wrap to the front panels and the door.

Hhmmm. Quite a bit of dead scratching, chin rubbing and tutting later (I think I’ve picked up some bad habits from Mud), a solution popped into my head and I got to work.

First I cut the bubble wrap to the length needed to fit each of the panels either side of the door and then cut a triangular section in to the top of each length to fit along the roof edge. I then fastened the bubble wrap about 1/3rd of the way down the length, to the panel frame, using those annoying black clips mentioned in my earlier post.

Suspended black clips to hold the wrap in place

TIP: I found that stuffing a small section of bubble wrap, tightly into the frame groove beside the black clip, helped to keep the clip in place and made the process of attaching the bubble wrap that bit easier.

Then the bottom of the length was tucked into the corners, base and under one of the wooden boxes/shelves to help keep the icy winter draughts out and I also left an over hang of about 3 inches, across the door opening. How to fasten the top of each length, posed a difficult question but I eventually decided that using a couple more of the plastic clips to join the top section of wrap to the piece covering the roof panel, would be the easiest solution. The clip is effectively ‘floating’ behind the bubble wrap but it seems to be working and the triangular top sections either side of the door are fairly secure.

The next problem was how to cover the sliding door without impeding it and whilst I gave this some thought, I cut a triangle of bubble warp out to cover the triangle shaped panel above the door, once again using the suspended clips to fasten it in place and leaving a 3 inch overhang over the door way.

Ready to receive the herbs

After a little more head scratching and chin rubbing, I came to the conclusion that rather than try to cover the actual door itself, it may be easier to suspend a length of bubble wrap over the door way, using the suspended clip method to attach it to the triangular top piece. Finally, with the door cover suspended in place I then fastened it to the clips already slotted into the frame down one side of the door and effectively curtained the doorway.

Over wintering the chilli plants

I popped a set of black shelves onto yet another wooden box which will be used to house Muds’ herbs over winter, moved the first of the over wintering chilli plants in and gave myself a huge pat on the back. Only time will tell if this bubble wrap insulation will work but you have to try these things and who knows, with the greenhouse under wraps and two grow houses on the beds, we may yet be able to achieve the 90% production of our own vegetables.