Does anyone have a Gardman greenhouse?

I wanted a potting bench for the garage, but DH found a greenhouse instead. Said he'd rather I had my own greenhouse than take up garage space with a potting bench. The greenhouse was a Gardman, 8 x 6 on sale for $499. Normal price is $799.

I don't know anything about greenhouses or what to look for in one. Does anyone have the Gardman brand? That's what this one was, and a link to the exact one on sale appears here.
http://www.gardman.co.uk/asp/garden/greenhouses-cloches-green-framed-aluminium-greenhouse.asp

Thank you for your help.

I don't have a Gardman, but I do have a Rion. The only advise I have is you should build it in a place that's somewhat protected from the winds. Panels can sometimes pop out in bad storms. I even had a greenhouse once that totally blew away in a storm right off it's foundation. We live in the middle of the cornfields though. You may not have that worry if you live in town.

I may be off target, but if you’re mainly wanting a place to put a potting bench, small greenhouses are usually impossible to keep cool in warm weather without adding some kind of ventilation, shadecloth, and/or exhaust fans. To use it as a potting workspace in the summer, you’d probably also have to add some (or all) of the above to make it comfortable. You might already know that, but I didn’t want the extra work and expense to sneak up on you (or your DH.)

Greenhouses can be used year round but it takes some tinkering. I’m going through that learning curve now with my 10x12 Harbor Freight greenhouse. Sometimes the greenhouse companies make it sound like you can just build the greenhouse, pop in the plants and off you go…but in reality it’s a bit more complicated. Again, sorry if I’m posting stuff you already know.

I’m not familiar with Gardman greenhouses, but I found this site with a few reviews:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews88366.html

I also noticed that some sites selling the Gardman greenhouses sell the base separately, and Gardman says it’s “offered” separately. You might double check to be sure the base in included in your price.

The Gardman website doesn’t say how thick the polycarbonate panels are. The quality of the glazing material usually affects the price of a greenhouse; thicker polycarbonate panels cost more, but can help with heating expenses in cold climates, if you’re planning on using the greenhouse to over winter plants. My GH only has 4mm polycarbonate walls, but I don’t have very cold winters here.

You might also look at the Harbor Freight or Rion greenhouses. They’re easier to research since more folks have them. If you do Google searches for either brand you’ll find posts in several gardening forums with lots of other folk’s experiences.
Rion: http://www.riongreenhouses.com/
Harbor Freight: http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=greenhouse&Submit=Go

The Harbor Freight greenhouses can be built to withstand winds, but (in my opinion) they need some modifications to do so. I bought the Harbor Freight (which is a pretty low-priced greenhouse) and made modifications to make it stronger. That allowed us to spend the money we saved on other items, like the benches, fans, heaters, electric, shade cloth, and all that fun stuff.

This got sort of rambly, but I hope some of it helps. :-)

Well, here it's been two weeks, I've been following up on what you folks provided in the notes above, and I just realized I never said thank you.

Because of your help, we've decided not to go this route. First of all, it's windy here, we don't have much protection, and as we were looking at it we speculated how well it would hold up in the wind. I bet it won't.

Oldmudhouse, I showed DH what you said about it not being the best place for a potting bench, and he may slowly be coming around. I think I would like a greenhouse one day, but frankly, I don't think I'm ready for one yet.

Thank you for all your help, although the thanks is late.

McGlory, you are welcome! I know this stuff can be a lot to sort out. I am building a potting bench as part of my GH, but I've also had to do a bunch of stuff for cooling and ventilation issues, and I didn't want it to catch you off guard.

Regarding the wind...we are in a horribly windy spot too (southern NM, and on a slight hilltop to boot.) If you decide to put up a Harbor Freight greenhouse down the road, let me know, or check my gardening blog. I've been updating it with our steps to make it stout in bad winds. If mine doesn't blow away, I'll bet yours wouldn't either. I'll be your guinea pig. ;-)

I hope you find a good spot for your potting bench!
Sheri