We built a Greenhouse...

on the wettest day for weeks!

Probably not the most sensible day to build it, but I was overly keen!
Two of our lovely friends, Simon and Alison, came over bright and early to help. And when I say help, I really mean do lots and lots! They are incredibly handy people and know what they're doing. Without them it would have probably taken Lloyd and I about 2 days!
So we can't really thank them enough for coming over and working all day in the pouring rain.

I mean, you can see from the photos how miserable it was!

Anyway we got started by unpacking everything and laying it all out. There were a million and one bits, but every single one was there, perfectly numbered and labelled. The instructions were totally brilliant as well, even telling you when to stop and have a cup of tea!

These are the 'bits' all set out pretty much in the order we needed them.

And the 'glass'. Oh and see all the tool boxes etc? Well turns out all we used were three spanners and two screwdrivers!

 Lloyd and Simon putting the base together, while Alison and I dug the holes that the legs would be cemented into.

Base complete and being carried over to the place where we wanted to put it.

Next we laid out the front wall and then screwed it all together and put the glass in. (6mm insulating polycarbonate - I'll call it glass for ease!)

 At this stage it wasn't looking that big and I was getting worried that I'd bought one that was going to be too small.

ta'dah! Finished front wall. (and thank goodness for a 3m wide deck!)

By this time it was really peeing down. Simon being the only sensible one with a waterproof jacket on. We were determined to get this far before we stopped for lunch. It was a late lunch!

But totally worth it! Lots of lovely antipasti, some smoked marlin pate, numerous cheeses and mum made a  meringue cake! We'd earned it.

Then it was back to work. We thought we'd pretty much got all the hard stuff out of the way, but it seemed to take an age to get the base attached to the house part. Then it was just the opening windows and sliding door to be put in  place.

Pick up your house and walk...

It took us around 6 hours to make it but it's brilliant! And big!
If anyone on NZ is interested I got it from here WINTERGARDENZ and they were perfect to deal with. It arrived really quickly after I ordered it, was packaged beautifully, labelled amazingly and every single bit fit perfectly.
I can't recommend them highly enough if anyone is looking for a greenhouse.

Here's the workers, looking rather like drowned rats. But it was a job really well done.

Now I just need to get the inside organised, with edging, a potting table and lots of lovely new soil to build up the planting area a bit. I also want a couple of concrete slabs in the path area as these will conduct a bit of heat. THEN I can get planting! Once the inside is done I'll post more pics.

Oh forgot - we haven't put in the rubber window seals yet as we wanted it to dry out for a few days.