Exoskeleton
Jonathan >
Most visitors to the walled garden (in truth they’re customers, but we prefer visitor) comment on our greenhouses, and in particular their timber ‘exoskeletons’. In fact the purpose of these frames is not to strengthen the greenhouse, as everyone supposes, but to support boarding which, during winter, protects the greenhouses from flying debris and takes most of the force of the wind. 6-inch wide boards, 4-inch gaps, and the full 8ft (2.4m) height of the greenhouses : they’re fitted during October – as the Autumn Equinoxial storm season gets going), and removed in late March, after the Spring Equinox.
Greenhouses 3 and 2, removing winter boarding, March 2017
Although the boards amount to more than 50% coverage of the sides, the reduction in light is much less – only around 25% : winter greens continue grow well enough, and tender perennial herbs brought under cover for winter seem to prosper, too.
Greenhouse 2 – old exoskeleton removed, June 2017
The framework and boards are of treated rough-sawn softwood, generic sizes found at every building materials supplier, inexpensive and easy to work with. So much so, that it is not cost-effective treat the timber with further preservative in order to prolong its life. It’s better value to simply replace any decaying timbers as and when needed.
Greenhouses 3 and 2, August 2017
The original exoskeletons went up during the months after the four greenhouses were erected – following the great January 2005 hurricane. So they’re now 12 years old, and apart from a few of the boards (which are susceptible to decay when stacked for summer-time storage) I’ve not yet had to replace any of the structural timbers. That’s a 50% longer life than D and I had allowed for! However, as all four were built the same year, they’re now all looking they’ll need replacing at the same time, which would not be a welcome addition to my workload!
Decay is most advanced in the exoskeleton for Greenhouse 2, so by replacing that this year, and then replacing one other structure each year, we should be able to permanently stagger the programme of replacement/renewal. I’ve also found a way to simplify the design to use less timber and make the frame easier to erect and dismantle – and to do so single-handedly. This means that, in future, I can replace individual timbers as and when needed, rather than replace entire structures at intervals of years (which is more likely to result in a structure failing in a storm the winter before I was due to replace it).
Greenhouses 3 and 2 (completed), September 2017. One protective board fitted for testing.
I wonder what preparations we’d make were we to live in, say, The British Virgin Islands? We wouldn’t have greenhouses, true, but we certainly would have a garden we’d want to protect. Uist may have extreme weather in a UK or even European context, and storms here can and do badly damage buildings and claim lives. But compared to the suffering wrought by Carribean hurricanes, we are very fortunate. We are fortunate also to have the means to prepare.
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Gosh – I have never come across ths concept before, but from experience you must know it’s a necessary precaution! One of the open gardens we visited when we last went to my Mum’s (on Luing) had a new greenhouse, from Rhino, which they had been told was the only type that could survive the local weather; they were in the most sheltered part of the island though and won’t have to face the full brunt of any gales. Presumably you will need more than just recycled pallets for yours 😉
J > Pallets are a plentiful and versatile and so very useful – but certainly not up to the job to be done in this case!
That’s quite an impressive system! Good plan to stagger the repairs. We will be getting different kinds of storms but I really like how you are so well prepared for them. Fascinating.
J > The ad-hoc renewal approach is more sustainable in a number of senses. I’m beginning to find big lumps of work rather daunting, and possibly enough to tip the balance into dislike. But I love pottering about, so a smaller if more frequent tasks, easily done and ticked off in a day or two are so much more do-able, enjoyable – and therefore sustainable.
I really appreciated this article. Most timely.
J > Do you have a greenhouse or polytunnel? Or just general storm-readiness in mind? Tiree weather and Uist weather are, statistically, very similar. We can see Tiree (just), on a clear day, from the summit of Beinn Easabhal, behind the walled garden.
I don’t suppose the work ever ends. At some point you’ll need a younger pair of hands to help out?
J > We do already!. Before the 2018 holiday letting season gets under way, we need to paint the exterior of Eight Askernish, and I’m beginning to dread jobs like that. We either need to find someone to help me, or to pay a decorating contractor to do it.
What do you mean – most visitors to the walled garden? I thought we weren’t allowed in there? The cribbing looks cozy somehow!
D > The Hebridean Woolshed shop is inside the walled garden (just inside the south gate), and customers come down the drive to the house (at the north end of the garden) to pay, or to enquire about Hogget Lamb, Lemon Curd and other items not in the shop (which is not ‘manned’). The notice at the gate doesn’t say ‘keep out’, it says ‘private garden – no exploring’. We’ve no problem with folk coming in to the garden, we just don’t much like them nosing into every corner of the garden uninvited.
Ah whew, glad to hear it, for a moment I thought you might be letting the whole world into this magical space before me lol
Well how strange. I know I replied to this but it does indicate that…sooo I am glad to hear about the walled garden and for a minute there was afraid you were letting the whole world in hither thither and yon!
You are a master builder, it seems!
J > Cobbler and bodger of the very first order!
Doesn’t look like it!
I hope all goes well with your croft during the coming storm season. I know it’s inevitable that there will be storms. I am glad you are doing what you can to be ready for them. Kudos to you for having wisdom!
That adds a whole new dimension to gardening! Sounds like you’ve got a sustainable, long-term plan.
J > Yes, I seem to have developed an obsession with sustainability long long before the word took on that environmentally-loaded meaning. I’ve always had a distrust of any activity, way of life, ownership of property or equipment, that couldn’t in theory be sustained long term. That said, I hadn’t reckoned on one thing: the non-sustainability of an individual human life. There is a difference between something that is sustainable in general terms, for a community or at global level, though it may not be for an individual. But back to greenhouse reinforcements: I’ve become a great deal more pragmatic over the years, and I believe resilience lies in the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, which means preferring taking life day by day and in small steps, not taking huge leaps based on the current direction of travel.