Extending the life of a cheap aluminium greenhouse

Hi all, I'm wondering if you could offer any advice for nursing my greenhouse along. It's made of aluminium supports (flat gray metal, not the green tubes) and polycarbonate glazing. It's about six years old. It no longer has any plastic in the roof after recent storms. The plastic sheets are very brittle at this point and my plan to brace them with greenhouse tape and bamboo stakes or similar will not work. The screws/bolts are all rusted, making them difficult but presumably not impossible to tighten. 

I hate plastic waste, but I guess that is my only option at the moment. I'm thinking to either replace with like panels, just expecting the same outcome in a few years; try to find a plastic blowaway cover, although the ones I've found are too small; or try to cover with poly sheeting in some fashion. Is one of these plans actually sensible?

I start almost everything from seed, so I can't imagine growing enough for the allotment without a covered space outdoors. I do have a small grow house/tall cold frame, but I don't think the capacity is anywhere near what I'd need. The thin wood panels are also peeling on the sides, so I keep it in the greenhouse to slow its destruction.

Any ideas for me to grow an allotment worth of plants without living in a fungus gnat-infested jungle for months or suddenly coming into some money and time?

Covering with polytunnel plastic would work. You would need to buy insulation tape (it a foam backed tape, all tunnel companies have it). It stop the sun heating the metal work though the plastic when it’s tightly pulled over it. If you don’t use it the plastic will just melt. And it’d also stop the greenhouse metal work from piercing the plastic. As greenhouses are much more pointy than tunnels. Also you would need to secure it very well at ground level to stop it blowing off.

Fungus gnats cure , layer of vermiculite on top of all trays and pots.

Covering with polytunnel plastic would work. You would need to buy insulation tape (it a foam backed tape, all tunnel companies have it). It stop the sun heating the metal work though the plastic when it’s tightly pulled over it. If you don’t use it the plastic will just melt. And it’d also stop the greenhouse metal work from piercing the plastic. As greenhouses are much more pointy than tunnels. Also you would need to secure it very well at ground level to stop it blowing off.

Fungus gnats cure , layer of vermiculite on top of all trays and pots.

Thanks so much, SC. That's very encouraging. I've been looking online for people doing this and haven't had much luck, so I thought it might be too impractical. I feel hopeful about the idea again.

I have some volcanic rock stuff I put in my indoor plants for the gnats but haven't tried similar for the seedlings. Can they push through if the vermiculite is applied at the time of sowing? 

Thanks again for the encouraging words.

My fallback option when a GH is, just a frame, is to cover it with debris netting. This would be enough to cut the wind and protect against frost. If you have a potting bench inside the GH, cover that with plastic as it would be easier to do. I've used those blowaway cheap GHs inside a big GH, attaching the blowaway to the GH frame to stop it living up to its name.

My fallback option when a GH is, just a frame, is to cover it with debris netting. This would be enough to cut the wind and protect against frost. If you have a potting bench inside the GH, cover that with plastic as it would be easier to do. I've used those blowaway cheap GHs inside a big GH, attaching the blowaway to the GH frame to stop it living up to its name.

More encouraging and affordable ideas. Thank you, thank you. I've been such a sad sack today.

We all get sad/annoyed/disappointed at this time of year when we just want to get growing and something stops us.

   
This has been doing the rounds on FB. Not sure whether it would work or not but it might be a way of making more space for germinating seeds.

This has been doing the rounds on FB. Not sure whether it would work or not but it might be a way of making more space for germinating seeds.

That would be termed a 'box kite' round these parts!