Greenhouses and footings

[Frankie24]

I have a 20mx5m "garden" that is fully paved.. so have a job on my hands turning it into a garden. I want a greenhouse. Does 8x6foot sound a fair size for propagation tomatoe etc growing?

Anyway my main question relates to footing for the said greenshouse. Should I leave the paving slabs down below the greenhouse to provide a footing? Or should I take them all up and start from scratch? Any advice would be much appreciated,

Fran

[rustylady]

You can site a greenhouse on paving slabs, no problem. This will mean you have to grow everything in the greenhouse in containers though (growbags, pots, troughs, etc.)

8 x 6 is an adequate size for a greenhouse, though you will always want a bigger one no matter what size you buy.

By the way, welcome to the Vine. Could you add your location to your profile please, then it will show up on your posts and helps a lot with advice.

[BUFFS]

whatever you decide,put footings down for the frame to be anchored to,or you could ,like i have done,come out to the greenhouse to find a storm has taken it,never to be seen again,my frame is concreted down,but as rustylady says,you will always want a larger greenhouse once you start using it,i would just leave a row of slabs down the middle and then plant in the border,watering is less critical then...

[Potstubsdustbins]

You could always do something like this until you get of the ground, no pun intended.

Like you I have nothing but paving slabs.

Potty

[cheapskate chaz]

I have just constructed my own greenhouse from 2"x1" and polycarbonate sheets, it`s 8`x 6`and an apex type, although it`s light I have secured it onto railway sleepers, the wind was blowing a gale as I was in it and it didn`t bother it at all, yet I saw other sheds and greenhouses looking shakey, so security is key. Also I have laid a patio slab path in the middle, I will pea chip the sides for now. My only problem is venting it! at the moment all I can do is leave the door open so I`m trying to source the round type air vents you see in windows, four should give me enough through air, any other type of vent would cost money, and as I`m a cheapskate !

[veggiechicken]

What about making a "porthole" with some round drainpipe, through the polycarb. You could easily block up the ends with a plastic bag, shower cap, piece of sponge (not the cake sort)...........etc

[cheapskate chaz]

your idea is there, my style of thinking, but as the type I`m after is the windmilling type, it stops any unwanted bugs flying in through them, but should they be long in coming, I will use something like you suggest.

[veggiechicken]

Make a cover from Enviromesh or net curtain or a pair of tights

[taff]

Gte a bigger greenhouse if you can. * x 6 is just about big nough to aqueeze in 16 to 18 tomato plants and a row of chillies or something in front of them. Not enough

Put out some pots to see how much space you'll have, I find it easier to see what I'm looking at if it's marked out if that makes sense.

[cheapskate chaz]

Make a cover from Enviromesh or net curtain or a pair of tights

Can`t, I still need to wear them.....ooops! said that abit loud

[redser]

I think Veggiechicken's idea is the way to go. Even debris netting.

[ELLIESLUG]

Hi
I am trying to find someone who can give us advice on correcting our Greenhouse build.
We layed a cement bas and concreted the greenhouse base onto it.
We have constructed the framework. Spirit levels were used to make sure everything ok.
We tried to put the window on yesterday and found that the bars to take this were not straight and there is a gap, a very small one. Some of the holes etc are not really aligned very straight.
The thing is, we now suspect that the problem is with the base which is going to be a terrible job to try to fix. Can you give advice on anything we can do to correct this without removing the whole thing?

[rustylady]

So can you actually get the window in?

[redser]

Could you secure the greenhouse to a pressure treated timber base frame (4 x 4 inch, or sleepers). Then fix the timber frame to the concrete. You should be able to fill any gaps between timber and concrete easily.

[rustylady]

Could you secure the greenhouse to a pressure treated timber base frame (4 x 4 inch, or sleepers). Then fix the timber frame to the concrete. You should be able to fill any gaps between timber and concrete easily.

I think they've already fixed the greenhouse to the concrete base redser