Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Aldi sold this again in March of 2023 and in July of 2022 for $49.99 and in April of 2021 for $39.99. An update was added toward the end of this post with information on how the greenhouse performed over time and our experience with the warranty service.

If you’re looking for information on the Aldi Gardenline Winter Protection Greenhouse, click here

I bought a small 4-tier greenhouse from Aldi two years ago, and not long afterward, I noticed the discount grocer selling a larger walk-in greenhouse. My small greenhouse has four simple shelves and is about the size of a tall bookcase, and I use it for starting certain seeds early in the growing season. However, because a gardener can almost never have too many supplies, I picked up the Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse the other day while I was purchasing essentials at Aldi.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

The Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse cost $34.99 at the time of publication, which is one of the cheaper greenhouses we’ve seen. It appears to be a rebranded Ohuhu greenhouse, and it’s an ALDI Find (Special Buy), which means it’s only in stores for a short time. If you miss it this year, it usually comes back around for a limited time each spring, often sometime in March or April.

It measures 4.7′ wide by 2.4′ deep by 6.4′ tall. It comes packed flat in a box that easily fits on the bottom rack under your shopping cart, so it’s easy to get it home from the store.

Features include:

  • Six easily removable shelves for varying plant heights
  • Protects plants against pests and weather
  • Reinforced PE cover with powder-coated steel frame
  • Apex roof to maximize head room
  • 22-lb. capacity per shelf
  • Three-year warranty

Assembly:

It’s best if two people work together to assemble this greenhouse. Assembly requires no tools, but the structure is large enough that you benefit from having two people to hold it up while attaching the pieces. It’s also helpful to have one person read the manual while the other person grabs the requisite pieces. While one person could assemble this in a pinch, it’s going to be a more awkward process.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

What it looks like inside the box. (Click to enlarge.)

The whole structure goes together like Tinker Toys, with metal piping that fits into plastic connector joints. Similar to my older Gardenline 4-Tier Greenhouse, the shelves for the walk-in greenhouse rest on the bar supports but do not fasten on.

We assembled the back wall of the greenhouse first, then the front wall, and then we connected the two walls with the front-to-back bars that support the shelves.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

Sorting through the pieces and looking over the manual.

It was also a two-person job getting the plastic tarp covering over the greenhouse frame once it was constructed. You’ll want to be careful as you pull it on so you don’t stretch or tear the tarp. The tarp includes some thin Velcro straps to help secure it to the shelving in a few spots.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

The frame is assembled.

Once you have the tarp on, make sure you have placed your greenhouse in the location where you want it to be, and then you can push the included metal stakes through the metal grommets spaced at intervals along the bottom edge of the tarp. This helps to prevent the greenhouse from blowing away on windy days. My smaller 4-tier greenhouse has the same feature and I’ve never had problems with it during high winds.

Thoughts:

This greenhouse is spacious. Not only does it have a lot more shelf space than my 4-tier greenhouse, but it also has a good amount of ground room for placing larger pots. You could even place this greenhouse directly over a garden bed if you wanted to. I have some four-foot by two-foot wood raised beds that could accommodate this greenhouse, or it could go over a bed dug directly in the ground.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

Instead, I put the greenhouse in a corner of my yard and placed four larger pots on the ground inside it. I intend to plant some tomato seedlings in the pots and let them grow there all summer. My hope is that the greenhouse will protect my plants from some of the local animals that like to strip them of every last green tomato in a single night. If I open the greenhouse during the day so it doesn’t get too hot inside, then close it at night, it should serve as a barrier to keep out noctural thieves. (Raccoons? The neighborhood opossum? We’re not exactly sure.) For the pots that are placed directly under the shelves, I can remove the shelf pieces to make room for the growing tomato plants, and I can pop some tomato cages into the pots to provide support as the plants grow.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

My soon-to-be tomato fortress.

The higher shelves might be a good space to place small pots of herbs such as basil and lemon balm. I’m sure I’ll find something to put there as the season progresses.

The tarp that covers this greenhouse is not likely to retain enough heat to allow you to get a very early start on growing seedlings, and it’s not going to be warm enough for year-round growing, but it might help you get things started a couple of weeks earlier than usual. I also like how starting seedlings in a greenhouse offers more protection from digging squirrels compared to planting seeds directly in flower beds.

Of course, you can use pretty flower pots purchased from a garden center, but I also recommend saving the plastic disposable pots that your plants come in when you buy from a nursery. They are great for reusing to start seedlings.

My two-year-old small 4-tier greenhouse has held up decently, other than some places where the metal grommets at the base of the plastic tarp, where the stabilizing stakes go, have pulled loose from the plastic. My old greenhouse is still perfectly usable, though. I expect this walk-in greenhouse to also last for several years. It does come with a three-year warranty serviced by Protel Service. The warranty card offers the following information for after-sales service:

  • Phone: 1-855-754-8297
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Product code: 90082
  • Service Center: Helgele Logistic, 1001 Mittel Drive, Wood Dale, IL, 60191

Be sure to save your original receipt and the warranty card in case you need service.

UPDATE #1 (11/14/2020): This greenhouse held up well over a summer of use, housing three large tomato plants in pots on the ground inside it.

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

In late October, I noticed a large rip in the greenhouse tarp over the roof portion, and I saw two fairly large sticks (about three feet long and two to three inches in diameter) on the ground nearby, so I think the sticks hit the tarp as they fell from a nearby large tree. After removing the tarp for the winter, I also noticed the metal connector beam that goes across the top of the greenhouse was slightly bent, and I was able to straighten it out some by hand. I consider all of this an “act of God” and not the result of any defect in the greenhouse.

 

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse

I taped up the tarp in the short term, but I’ll be contacting the company that services the warranty to see if I can get a new tarp for the next growing season.

UPDATE #2 (3/30/2021):

I emailed the company that services the warranty, Protel, to see if I could get a replacement cover for the greenhouse. Their response was prompt, and they asked for my receipt, the product code, and my address and phone number. (I sent them a picture of the receipt.) They told me they don’t have any stock of the product and therefore can’t replace it, but they said they could refund me if I provided them with an email address for a PayPal account.

This is not the first time we’ve contacted a company about getting a replacement for a warrantied Aldi product and been informed they don’t have any in stock. That was also the case with a desk we bought a few years ago as well as with some foldable headphones.

I don’t feel right asking for a refund on this greenhouse because it was not defective and was simply damaged through normal wear and tear, so I’ll continue to use the old cover, which I have taped up. If that doesn’t work, I might look into other places to possibly find a new cover.

The Verdict:

Aldi’s Gardenline Walk-In Greenhouse is inexpensive and spacious, measuring just over 4 feet wide by just over 2 feet deep, and more than 6 feet tall. It goes together easily if you have a second person to help, and the shelves offer plenty of room for growing seedlings. It also has space at the ground level for larger potted plants. The walls are made of thin plastic, so this is not intended for growing plants year round in cold climates, but it might allow you to get a few weeks’ head start on your growing season, and it serves as a barrier against some garden pests. The three-year warranty is icing on the cake, but be aware that you’ll probably just get a refund and not replacement parts.

About Rachael

Rachael is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. When she isn't busy shopping at Aldi, she enjoys cooking, gardening, writing gothic romance, and collecting more houseplants than she probably should. You can learn more about her at rachaelsjohnston.com.

22 Comments

  1. Hello,

    Do you have a copy of the assembly instructions. I have misplaced mine. 😕

    • Hi, I’ve bought a green house like this above from Aldi and it not have the instructions Inside so I’ve got no idea how to do this. I can you please help with a sheet of instructions. Thanking in advance

  2. Andrew Montanari

    My only concern is that I’ve read:

    .…”green plastic is likely to produce a stretched, slow growing, poor performing plant”

    https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/horticulture/greenhouse/structures-and-technology/light

    Comments would be appreciated.
    Thank you

    • The greenhouse is to get your plants STARTED. Transplant plants into your garden when weather permits. Here in Michigan we like to do this before June 1.

  3. Bought it the other day assembled it. The mesh tray with the secure clips look a bit questionable for strenght, but i thought they must know what they designed. Should if listened to my gut. By next they my growing trays were on the floor, the entire mesh tray on onside, and the bottom tray on the left gave away.
    Poor design. Very poor.

    • I am setting it up for the 2nd year. First yea it performed perfectly. I suspect you put too much weight on the shelves?

      • Hardly, 4 small trays with room for the 5th.
        Now I’m no expert but one would think it was designed to take some load when you fill up the shelf with trays full of dirt and you start watering it etc.
        Anyway, cable ties solved the problem.

  4. I bought a walk-in greenhouse, Catalogue 97508, last year but for various reasons didn’t require it. Now I do, but have mislaid the instructions. It looks very complicated without the instructions – could you send me some please?
    My address is [redacted by moderator]

  5. susan g beppler

    I bought 2 of these and neither one has an assembly manual……am trying to find instructions and the really hard thing is I have to do this alone. Had I known it would have been this much trouble I would never have bought either one in the first place.

  6. Can I buy replacement plastic connectors? We had strong winds and it took the greenhouse 20 feet away. Yes I had it staked down..
    many of the corner connectors were damaged.

    • I doubt the warranty provider has parts. The best they could do when I sought out a replacement plastic cover for our greenhouse was to offer a refund. You can always contact them and ask, though.

  7. Anyone have ideas for storing away the greenhouse parts for winter? I have mine on my condo balcony and would like it to take it down.

  8. I bought a plastic tub with lid. Works great.

  9. I have this greenhouse, which I bought at Lidl (same brand) a couple of years ago, but have yet to set it up because I’m still getting excellent use from the two smaller 4-tier greenhouses that I bought from Lidl (same brand as the Aldi ones, though). One thing to keep in mind is that replacement covers (available on Amazon) will – depending on the vendor – cost you almost twice as much as what you paid for the original greenhouse. The greenhouse looks like a terrific bargain, but it’s useless without the cover, which lasts 1-2 seasons at best. So just keep that in mind.

  10. I am on season 3 with mine and the shell is still good as new.

  11. How can I order parts for my greenhouse that I bought from Aldis

  12. the zip on one side of my greenhouse is now broke, only bought this last year, any ideas? its a good greenhouse to throw away>

  13. I have purchased the smaller version and found after one season the top developed holes from what i assume is over heating? I live in New Hampshire , do its not horribly hot.
    I did not save my receipt, so i ordered a new one through garden line directly. I will take down the old one and use the new one this year.
    I will provide better ventilation during the hotter weather as i only store garden supplies in it at that time.

  14. Hi, how safe are the gases in this plastic greenhouse, for plants and humans ??
    Very strong smell when you walk in, until it’s aired a bit.
    Must you leave the door open during the day regardless ??
    And close at night.
    The problem are the bugs 🐛 🐌
    Look forward to your comments, thanks.

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