Greenhouse Gardening – Mobile Glasshouses

During the 1950s and 60s, mobile glasshouses gained prominence in commercial horticulture in temperate regions, enabling crops to be raised earlier than normal as well as late-season plants to be covered while maturing.

There were made of strong, extruded aluminium with a cantilever design that formed a clear span frequently 10.5m/34ft or more wide. They ran on rails, and when initially constructed functioned well but with age and the settlement of supports often became stationary.

The idea of a mobile structure was new. In 1856, “The Cottage Gardener” advertised a moveable greenhouse designed by Mr. Spencer, gardener to the Marquess of Lansdowne. He claimed “such a structure is desirable for a tenant who has an unreasonable landlord”.