New Greenhouse

Hi all
I've just bought me my first greenhouse. What I want to know is the best and tried method for inside planting ect.
It is 8x6 and glass. Do I plant straight in to soil or slab it all or use pea shingle. Any advice about greenhouses will be a help. I am a greenhouse virgin!!
Thanks in advance.
Dean

 

Hi dobber.

A good question, as there are to my mind pros and cons. You could keep most of your soil therein, and just put in a path down the middle. You could then just plant straight into the borders, easy peasy. However, you would need to replace the soil (maybe the top foot or so?) probably every two years, as the soil would get 'tired' and disease could become a problem. You could just concrete/pea shingle/slab it, but then you would have to buy growbags every year. Personally, having tried both methods, I prefer the growing direct in the borders. Yes, it's a bit of a pain having to replace the soil, but I find that watering isn't as much of an issue, also the humidity is higher, which means I don't have to keep 'damping' down, to aid pollination of my toms. No doubt, others can add more, and I am by no means an expert. Hope this helps...

Cheers...Freddy

 

I also have a glass 8x6 I have thick slabs down the centre and then on either sides I have weed proof material topped with normal gravel. I grow all my plants in pots as I can move them about and your not limited to one place. If you have them in the ground you need to think about crop rotation. On the floor in my greenhouse, in large plots I have strawberries, shallow carrots, peppers and tomatoes ... but its forever changing with the amount of crops i have growing! Also much easier with your spring clean with the gravel down with no weeds and less soil particles in the air. Insulation will be a worth while thing to do with bubble wrap!

Happy Growing, I'm sure you will enjoy it!

P.S get some greenhouse sticky things in there to catch the flying bugs. Fantaastic invention, I have these! http://www.amazon.co.uk/sticky-glue...YM16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344276782&sr=8-1

 

Me too. I grew in Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers etc in 12" pots (and have grown growbags, ring culture, and all sorts in the past!), and I much prefer growign in the border:

Water 2 or 3 times a week (with 12" pots some hot days I would water 2 or 3 times a DAY!)

More height to the eaves - I have actually lowered the borders to get more cropping height. With a container you have lost the first 12" of available growing height

I put half-and-half rotted manure and compost heap (not 100% composted ...) in the Autumn. By the following Autumn the stuff I dig out is fantastic to use elsewhere on the veg patch (and being compost is not as heavy as, say, my clay soil)

You could have benches in their in the Spring (for seedling/plant raising) and then replace them with planting in the borders - and there is nothing to stop you standing a plant on the soil too of course

But depends a bit on what you want to grow? If its not Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Aubergines etc. then cropping-borders may not be the answer.

 

Like most of the earlier replies, I'd go for growing in soil though you will have to replace it every couple of years.
One other advantage of not using pots is that you can plant low growing veg such as lettuce, spring onion, radish, carrots, peppers etc between the tall toms and cucs.

 

Dean,
I think it all depends on what type of plants you plan on growing?

I grow all mine in pots on benching. But then that is the best for succulents and other exotics that I specialise in.

 

Quite right.

I was assuming that it was intended for 'normal' use. Toms and the like...