The morning after (by our blogging horticulturalist Peter Whyte)

The morning after

The morning after the storm of the 12th of February, the lawn was littered with broken glass.  Our glasshouse had come through many storms unscathed, but not this one.  It was a testament to its sturdiness that I found only one pane broken, and soon picked up the pieces with gloved hands for bringing to the recycling centre.  More bad weather was forecast, so the glass needed to be replaced as soon as possible.

I rang Polydome.  “Which kind of glass do you have, safety or horticultural?” asked June Pyle.  After all these years I wasn’t sure.  “No problem” she said, “I can check it on the computer.”  Seconds later, she said “You bought the glasshouse in 2004, you have horticultural glass, the pane you need is 61 by 61 centimetres and we have it in stock.”

At Polydome the staff was busy tidying up after the storm, but within minutes I was driving home again with the glass laid flat in the boot.  Glazing clips were no problem as the greenhouse had been supplied with plenty of extra ones.  Fitting the glass needed care as glass is very brittle in cold weather, so I took it slowly and carefully and all was well.  By all accounts many people with lighter-built greenhouses and in stormier areas were not so lucky.