The Palram Grow Station
arrived safe and sound in a large box at my door. The directions are pretty craptastic. All pictures, no words. But as someone who assembled a ton of IKEA cabinets, this was old hat. Pay attention to all the little arrows and numbers and you'll be okay. When they say assembly will take half a day, that's no joke, it really does.
I'm not sure why I thought it would be sturdier. The plastic panels are kinda flimsy. Have you have ever put together one of those inexpensive aluminum sheds from the big box stores? This is the greenhouse equivalent to that.
I will say once assembled, it's actually quite sturdy. I did think it was odd that it didn't have a bottom piece. Maybe my expectations were just too high? Some people online mentioned having to shave the panels down or make bizarre maneuvers to screw things together. I didn't have any of those problems. The panels were snug going in, but all I needed to make it work was patience.
arrived safe and sound in a large box at my door. The directions are pretty craptastic. All pictures, no words. But as someone who assembled a ton of IKEA cabinets, this was old hat. Pay attention to all the little arrows and numbers and you'll be okay. When they say assembly will take half a day, that's no joke, it really does.I'm not sure why I thought it would be sturdier. The plastic panels are kinda flimsy. Have you have ever put together one of those inexpensive aluminum sheds from the big box stores? This is the greenhouse equivalent to that.
I will say once assembled, it's actually quite sturdy. I did think it was odd that it didn't have a bottom piece. Maybe my expectations were just too high? Some people online mentioned having to shave the panels down or make bizarre maneuvers to screw things together. I didn't have any of those problems. The panels were snug going in, but all I needed to make it work was patience.
Assembled, it seemed so sturdy that I held off on screwing it onto the deck. Well, as luck would have it, we got hit two days later with a horrible storm that blew the grow station completely across the lawn. The doors were a little wonky, and the top came off, but the Hubby fixed it no problem. So I guess if it can survive being blown twenty plus feet across the lawn, then it is sturdier than even I thought. He has since then placed some wood boards on the bottom and screwed it down to the deck.
It is in no way air tight. Obviously, it's not, it has no bottom. But it gets crazy hot in that thing! With the weather being wonky, I put them inside during the day and take them out before bed. As of today, the beans, cucumbers and squash are currently hardening off in there full time.
Maybe the grow station wasn't what I was expecting, but I have to say, I'm happy with it. There aren't a lot of options in the under $200 range and I think this was a better buy than the shelves with the plastic covers. Hopefully it won't decide to take anymore strolls across the yard.
I bought this a week ago, biggest problem is to control extensive heat. In practice I need to leave it fully open for daytime / sunny days and close lids during the evening. I also bought automatic lid opener from palram but it doesn't fit in as there is no fixed structure in front were to mount it.
ReplyDeleteTemperature control is definitely an issue. I don't think you can really control it well in this thing. I tried in the early spring, and it would get super hot during the day, but freezing at night. I thought about putting some insulation board around the back and bottom, but I haven't done it yet. I had big dreams of extending my growing season with this, but really it's more of a storage shed on my deck than a greenhouse or cold frame!
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