Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Growing in Greenhouses & Polytunnels => Topic started by: Yana on March 13, 2013, 12:03
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I am sure there is a thread about this (might even have started/co tributes to it myself), but nevertheless, will ask again.
I've got two greenhouses both with earth borders in a U-shape and a central path made of paving slabs and all seems well. However, I am going to be moving them soon and wondered if this is an opportunity to have the greenhouses sitting on paving slabs or concrete and no 'open' borders as such. I have read about the benefits of tomato grow pots in grow bags but would like to hear others opinions/experiences please.
I grow to tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chillies and aubergines and use the greenhouses a lot for seedlings. Don't really use them in the winter for overwintering stuff or growing salads.
Thanks in anticipation.
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Hi Yana
I think a lot depends on the size of the greenhouse. I only have a 6x4 one and there just isn't room for a border, much as I'd like one. I manage perfectly well with tomatoes and cucumbers growing in florists buckets, chillies and peppers in 9" pots and trays of lettuce leaves, pots of basil etc. I have all of my buckets / pots on a capillary mat which is ontop of a growbag tray and fed from a water resevoir which is just an old (but clean!) cat litter tray in one corner. Works a treat for me.
If you have the space, then I'd say have a border but if you can't, it probably won't matter too much.
OG
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The greenhouses are 8x6 and 10x6 so keep the border huh?
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I originally had borders in my 8x6 - but I prefer to be able to move the plants around in case anything gets shaded. (this wouldn't be a problem if I just put less plants in the greenhouse!)
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It's sort of for that reason Herb that I think the 'no border' is a good idea.
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I like my border. we've only had a greenhouse for a year. last year I grew salads in them before the toms went in. We had chillis and peppers and aubergines in pots, but the toms did better.... :)
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Mine stands on a pre-existing concrete base so I have no choice but to use containers, although down one side I have built semi-permanent but adjustable staging.
I can see advantages in both methods and it could come down to quite minor considerations (for instance, if you are away a lot in summer beds will look after themselves better than bags and containers) but the fact that you can completely sterilise a no-border greenhouse every year and start with fresh compost might be more important to those who have had disease problems in their bordered greenhouses.
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I really don't get on with growbag watering :(
If I couldn't use the borders I'd use deep pots stood in saucers for watering into - which is how the peppers and chillis are grown.
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I have an 8"x 6" greenhouse and have a raised bed on one side, which leaves plenty of room for a path and my staging. I found it much easier to keep my toms hydrated than the ones in pots only as the tap roots were able to access runoff. I find that by also growing them in pots with the bottoms cut out, it is easier to hoik them out when they're done and I just top the bed up every year. :)
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Agree Mum - growbag watering can be a bit messy and uneven even using upturned bottles and whatnot, which is why I've been busy making planters from old pallets (they will be lined with old compost bags with drainage holes made between the bottom slats - should make life a bit easier.)
Total cost - about £1 for the screws (but only if you buy them from Screwfix rather than B&Q!)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2p7JYvc8pQg/UUCzf_S-iHI/AAAAAAAABhw/sr524Y5BgMk/s144/STA70002.JPG)
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They look good jay :)
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I've got soil in my 10' x 8' greenhouse,with weed membrane all over it,with decking tiles for a path down the centre with the last one missing at the far end,creating the u shape you describe. I then add growbag trays at tomato time filled with gravel & stand cut flower pots on them with the tomatoes planted in them. Well that's what I've done in the past. I then have the flexibility to grow in the borders over the winter if I want. This year I have bought large tomato 'bags' & I am going to stand these in the growbag trays & plant into those tomato ring things,where you water into the outside ring & feed down the centre. I would eventually like a permanent slabbed path down the centre.
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Like the look of your grow-boxes Jay :D
I have borders in the 6x8 at the plot, and have toms growing in bottomless pots over the soil, and other stuff in front of them
At home I have deep growbags (Like Jay's boxes but made of woven plastic tarp material) for toms and florists' buckets for cucumbers, peppers etc
Both seem to do the job OK
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In both our 12x8 and octagonal greenhouses I have solid floors. Soil that grows the same crops year on year are massively more likely to harbour pests and disease than properly rotated beds. It's a lot of hassle digging out a load of soil from a greenhouse to replace with new. Cucumbers dislike growing in soil that anything has grown in before let alone other cucumbers.
We have a large greenhouse at work with 8 beds, which is fine because they can be rotated properly and soil enriched every year.
Totty
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Cucumbers dislike growing in soil that anything has grown in before let alone other cucumbers.
I've never heard that before, where did you get that information?
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I was given that info a few years ago by a commercial grower. He emphasised the importance of new growing media every season.
It's one of those tips you remember and I have always either, grown in large pots of fresh compost or grow bags, or dug very large planting holes and filled with fresh loam/compost/manure.
It's not a hard fast rule, obviously they will grow to an extent in most soils. But imo they will grow better in very rich soil in a new area year on year compared to growing them in the same spot in the border every season.
Totty
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I have a border and if I want to rest the soil I put grow bag on top. Or I move my staging around over the top to give me more room for pots. Having a border is more flexible.
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I rotate the crops between the greenhouses and replace around 12" of the soil every two years to reduce the risk of disease.
I grow cucumbers in one greenhouse and and tomatoes in the other in the soil / grow pots over the soil. Chillies and aubergines are grown in pots. So far it seems to have worked well, it's just with the planned move of the greenhouses I wondered what others thought of soil/no soil and their experiences. Quite a mixed set of responses (as I would have expected) and all very interesting. Do need to make my mind up soon as work will start and the guys won't be happy if I mess them about.
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My GH is on sleepers that are laid on ground level, I started with grow bags for 2 years then moved on to grow-bags in buckets for a few years more then moved on to raised beds with the soil made from old grow-bags topped up with home compost.
Its main used is for garlic and onion sets for a unattended winter (Sep to Apr) and with Toms, grapes and peppers in the summer.
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I have boarders in the greanhouse but thinking i will pave it all and do a 18 inch high bench to put pots or growbags on, but use the underside for storage of seed trays pots watering can etc.
The reason, i have had a spine operation and have trouble bending down.
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Sounds a good plan. You have to make it work for you :nowink:
We are sticking with three borders until too decrepit to cope (Maybe next month?!) Hope the back stays well.