Overwintering Plants In Your Potting Shed

In the early autumn, gardeners begin to listen to the weather forecast with a keen ear for frost warnings.  Indeed, some, those who love tropical plants, may well be waiting to hear of temperatures dropping below 12o centigrade.  This is the signal that sends men and women all over Ireland scrambling out of their comfortable armchairs and into the all-too-fresh air to come to the rescue. 

Fragile plants cannot withstand Ireland’s cold winters.  They need a frost-free place to shelter through the dark days.  Young palms and tree ferns are particularly vulnerable to frost damage, and bulbous plants such as freesia need dry conditions.

Not all gardeners have the room, or the budget, for a double glazed conservatory.  Luckily, C & S have garden sheds that are versatile enough to provide a safe place where treasured plants may await the warmer days of spring.  Their owners will lift them from borders and beds, check for signs of rot or disease, and set them up for the cold season.  Some can be left in the dark, on the shelves under the potting shed table, or with their roots carefully wrapped in hessian sacking and stored in bins, safe from the cold and the damp.  Some need light, and a C & S shed, with windows that can be sited to suit the owner, is ideal for that purpose. 

A potting shed, made by craftsmen to the highest standards, are insulated from roof to floor.  PVC-coated rolled steel makes for a sturdy and durable structure, one that will keep heating costs down to a minimum while holding the killing frosts at bay.  There are sheds in a range of styles and sizes, all in the classic C & S shiplap design, built to withstand the worst of Ireland’s winter weather, to shelter fragile plants and then, in the spring, to give gardeners their perfect space for sowing seeds, pricking out, potting on and, at last, when the danger of frost has gone, moving their plants back out into the warmth of the Irish sunshine.