Request a Brochure
The growing season is winding down and rainfall is going up. Autumn flowers are still blooming, and the days grow shorter. Rather than focus on what is coming to an end in the garden, we should instead celebrate what we have already enjoyed and look forward to the next chapter.
Greenhouse Care
Cleaning and Preparing for Changing Weather
Autumn is a great time to clear away and prepare for the next growing season.
For many of us, the autumn and winter is when the greenhouse is at its emptiest. Not that there aren’t plenty of things to do in the greenhouse throughout the cold seasons if you wish to (click here to find out what you can start sowing now). However, there is one plus to an empty greenhouse: it is much easier to clean! A clean greenhouse is essential for creating a healthy plant environment, so take the clear surfaces as your opportunity to give the inside a thorough going over.
As the weather changes, we are also likely to see more rain and stronger winds. We've put together a guide to talk you through the preparations you may wish to take if difficult weather is likely - click here for information on preparing your greenhouse for high winds and storms.
New Greenhouses
Still time to start sowing
Traditionally, for us at Rhino, we now move into a very busy time for greenhouse buyers. With less to sow and more time to prepare, the autumn is a good time for installing a new greenhouse. If you are thinking of buying a new greenhouse, consider doing so before the cold of winter sets in – cold hard ground will be harder to work with when preparing a base and installing in rain and winds isn’t anyone’s cup of tea!
And if you are new to the Rhino family (welcome, by the way!) and you’re desperate to get sowing now, then we have a blog perfect for you – click here for our autumn and winter seed sowing guide.
Rhino Herders
Blogs, Recipes, Interviews
Sara from Hawkwell Herbs has put together some very helpful videos, demonstrating how you can preserve all the delicious herbs you’ve been cultivating all summer before they die back and hibernate for the winter. Check out her blog for more.
The incomparable Gill Meller has shared his recipe for a warming tomato and lentil soup that is just perfect for autumn and those still lucky enough to have tomatoes lingering on the vine. Click here for his recipe.
We were delighted to hear from Patrick Stevens, a dear customer who was kind enough to share his own story with us – from childhood garden gofer to Rhino lover. Read Patrick’s story for yourself.
Georgie spoke with Eli Appleby-Donald last month about why gardening is so important to her. As a youtuber and blogger herself, Eli is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others and why it helps her through the difficult times. Watch the interview here.
If you have a story you’d like to share with us, we would love to hear about it. Whether your Rhino is your sanctuary, your office or your laboratory, each story is unique. Get in touch with us by emailing service@greenhousesdirect.co.uk
A Note from Rhino
We are so grateful to be part of an industry that is fighting the economic expectations of this crazy world. As a small independent company, we are lucky to have very dedicated people in our family and we are proud to be a part of our local community of creative business in Norfolk, and more widely across the UK. Moreover, we are proud to be part of the gardening industry and its real-world potential to spread the Good Life message.
On an almost daily basis, we receive messages of gratitude from those who have found gardening to be a continued source of solace and joy in these strange times. Our Rhino Forum is filled with people sharing stories with each other. It is a delight to see it blossoming into a community in its own right.
We have continued to experience very high demands for our Rhino greenhouses since the onset of the pandemic. To work at our best, we have, like many businesses, had to work reactively to the circumstances we find ourselves in. This has meant some changes to our services and products. None of these changes are taken lightly and are done with the utmost concern for our customers and employees. We thank you for your patience and understanding and will continue to deliver the best customer experience we possibly can.
Our show site remains closed to the public, but we have been putting our energy into creating a virtual tour to share online so those who can't visit can take a close look at our greenhouses. We'll share the videos as soon as they are ready.
To all those in our family, and to those who trust in gardening, we thank you and support you.
For further information on changes to our services and who to contact with your enquiry, click here. For delivery information, click here.
Autumn Reads
Summer by Ali Smith
Contemporary Fiction
The final part of Ali Smith’s award-winning Seasonal Quartet. I adore these books and went to buy Summer on the day of its release in August. Each book in the series is written and published within months. Smith takes profoundly contemporary events and delicately folds them into the lives of her characters. The resulting narrative creates striking characters whose supreme individuality also act as proof of the cohesive experience of humanity as a whole. None of us have become who we are in a vacuum, and Ali Smith’s ground-breaking work reminds us it is possible to be unique within a collective. That is, after all, what makes us a community.
Now I know that reading a title like Summer feels incongruous with the weather. But while the before the frost kicks in, take advantage of prolonging that summer for yourself when you read this gorgeous book.
Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Non-Fiction, Science and Nature
This non-fiction work is about the wonders of fungi. Around 90% of the world’s fungi goes undocumented, but what we do know throws thousands of other “known” biological systems into question. They are wildly diverse organisms that science struggles to classify, being neither plant nor animal. For lovers of Robert Macfarlane (Underland) and Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees).
Ottolenghi FLAVOUR by Yotam Ottolenghi
Cookery, Vegetarian
For those who loved Plenty and Simple, you now have Flavour. Vegetable-based recipes at their best from the master. Designed to inspire you with new combinations and to inform you with some cookery insights that will bring more flavour to your cooking forever.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Gothic Fiction, Fantasy
Susanna Clarke is the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which was adapted for the BBC One in 2015. Previous readers (or viewers) will be aware of the dark gothic setting of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - weaving history with folklore, the fae and magic. Piranesi retains the gothic surrealism of her previous novel, but this time taking her inspiration from a collection of famous etchings by Italian Renaissance Artist, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. These etchings are collectively known as the Imaginary Prisons. Labyrinthine passageways, great machines of torture and impossible geometries. It is here that Clarke’s protagonist resides.
If you're a Rhino Owner with an interesting story to tell, we'd love to hear from you.
You can get in touch with us on social media or you can email us on service@greenhousesdirect.co.uk
