HomeblogThe gorgeous greenhouse A beautiful coldframe from Gabriel Ash gives the F&F garden warmth and style. What lucky, lucky gardeners we are. We have a sunny spot on our patio. And now it has a big coldframe in it, or a gorgeous mini-greenhouse, depending on which way you like to look at it. Either way, this Grand Upright Coldframe from Gabriel Ash is now one of my favourite things. Every year, I swear I won’t grow tomatoes outside again because of the blight. We’re heading into a wet August and I’m eyeing my tomato plants in the outdoor beds suspiciously as the rain falls again. But this year, I am finally growing tomatoes under cover too, in my new little greenhouse. It has three shelves in it, which you can remove as you please, and so I’ve taken the shelf on one side out so that four cordon tomato plants can reach for the sky. Gabriel Ash sent us this coldframe to review, so what do I think of it? Well, it arrived, smelling ever so beautifully of the cedarwood that it’s made from. It was flatpacked, but easy to put together in the way that incredibly well-made things are. And this really is incredibly well-made. It was created to order: we asked for it to have a solid back as we weren’t pushing it against a wall. Every join fits together beautifully, there was no fiddling about trying to make two badly-crafted parts bend together into a rickety structure. It comes with extra screws as well: a nice touch. This is solid, smooth, beautiful. The sliding door glides open. The roof opens to let the air in and the moisture and plants out. And it has a proper run-off arrangement for rain so that if you want, your plants can stay bonedry inside the coldframe. It is all solid and beautiful and satisfying. The only downside of the whole process is that you have to take the panels of glass in and out to fit them into the final structure. This meant that I accidentally broke one while putting it together, and had to get it replaced. I put this together on my own, but it’s probably best done as a two-man job. It’s not just that I can grow tomatoes in here. I’ve got chillies and aubergines too, and they’re barely worth even trying outside. And in the winter, I can keep all my tender plants in here. Share this:Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)MoreClick to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Leave a Reply Cancel reply
