Growbags or soil

[royboy]

I have just put up a GH next to an old bean fence left by the previous allotment holder. The bean fence is in between concrete about 18" X the length of the GH and is full of soil.

I was originally planning on growing my toms in grow bags. I was wondering if I would be better off dragging the GH over the trench and growing direct into the soil, or leaving be and using growbags.

Any thoughts ?

[Patchninja]

Personally, I always grow in pots / bags in the greenhouse. See what more experienced grapes say. I prefer the control over the soil.

[rustylady]

I prefer growbags or long pots filled with MCP for tomatoes. You have more control over the nutrients, weeds etc and the fact that you can easily change the compost every year helps stop the possible build-up of diseases.

[Hans Mum]

just a thought why dont you grown beans/peas/sweet piesetc up the bean fence & it will act as a natural shade for the greenhouse in the summer saves you having to put shading up in the greenhouse

[zazen999]

I have 3 huge trays in my greenhouse, as mine is on concrete, and I use big pots and stand the pots in the trays so that I can feed them when necessary.

I originally bought them for my darkroom, when I was doing fibre prints on very large paper. They are ideal for under pots. I have also got one with an old recycling box in it - full of half home made compost and half bought in compost for this year's tomatoes, and the first toms are in already. It also means when watering, you just water the tray and let the plant take up what it needs.

IKEA | Boxes & baskets | Secondary storage boxes | SAMLA | Box

[piskieinboots]

I have border soil in my GH but still I use grow bags, which I lay on the soil, I use the ring culture/large bottomless pot method sunk into the grow bags to give a greater depth of compost to allow for the tomato roots to stretch out a bit more.

Personally, I wouldn't grow tomatoes in the same GH border soil for more than a couple of years without feeling the need to change it. So, growbags give me an easier option and I then use the spent compost in the garden.

[Snadger]

I grow mine in flower buckets stood on the greenhouse soil. Once the roots get down and through the drainage holes in the bottom they get into the greenhouse border soil and find there own water.
I only feed the pots soil so that the fibrous feeding roots stay in the pots and the larger water searching roots go into the soil. This gives a lot of support to the buckets and watering isn't so critical as they search for ground water.

Thas the theory anyway and it seems to work for me!

[royboy]

Thanks everyone. I think I will leave it where it is and try both pots and growbags.

Nice suggestion Hans Mum, but the shed is next to it on the other side, so I will still be removing the bean fence to let in more light.