Borders or grow bags?

[Graham K]

Hi all,

My greenhouses are up and ready for the first residents of the season, number one will have tomatoes, peppers and a couple of melons and number two is going to have cucumber and chilli's.

Question; would it be OK to plant into the greenhouse border, after adding some compost and a sprinkle of fertiliser or is it better to plant into grow bags? I've read a few articles that state that the borders can become unusable very quickly due to soil viruses and various "bad" bacteria. My borders are all "fresh" and have had nothing growing on,in or near them.

Any views or advice appreciated.

Thanks, Graham.

[OverWyreGrower]

You could probably do either... I found that using growbags meant I had to water an awful lot more than using borders/normal soil though, plus they are only 'so' deep, which means that you are restricting root growth, and you can usually only fit 3 or 4 plants in a bag.

In terms of preserving the soil quality, you could always freshen the soil up after the growing season with some manure, or an addition of topsoil. Possibly dig out some of the 'old' soil and replace it?

[zazen999]

Wouldn't you be better off putting the toms, chillis and peppers into one, and keep the melons and cukes in the other? Then you can swap over and prevent disease build up.

And you can grow peas and broad beans over the winter in each - mulch with fresh compost before the next year and you have then got year round use of your greenhouses. I'd love to plant direct in the soil as I think you get a better result but mine is on concrete so no chance of that!

[Snadger]

I know its not the norm these days but I agree with Zaz that growing in greenhouse borders can be beneficial.
I do all my growing in raised beds within my greenhouses and can recommend it. Because the plants can tap into ground water, watering isn't so much of a problem and somrtimes not necessary every day. Growing in pots can sometimes necessitate watering at least every day and sometimes twice a day.
By watering the soil and the central pathway you can create a differing environment for your Solanums and your cucurbits.
As Zaz says, you can also get at least a second year from the bedsoils by rotating the two groups.
Even though you are growing in the bedsoil you can still set a propagating bench/table up over the beds early in the season and remove it when you are ready to plant.

I appear to be in a majority of one utilising the bedsoil of my alltoment greenhouses (nourished by the chooks during the winter) and can't for the life of me see why its not more popular.As I have two doors into my 'ell' shaped greenhouse I intend blocking one up this year to give me another 8 foot of raised beds!

[Graham K]

In the borders it is then, I've never had much success with grow bags anyway, too much water, not enough water, not enough root space etc.

Many thanks, Graham.

[di]

I'd go with borders everytime. Even they can dry up in a day, when it's really warm....dread to think how hard it would be to stay on top of watering tubs and bags.

[Maccabee]

+1 for borders.

[Bigmallly]

Yep, borders. Get plenty of organic matter dug in.

[hailtryfan]

Borders! Less chance of split toms because the ground holds water better than bags or pots.

[redser]

As mentioned you can dig out the soil where the toms grew and replace it with soil from the garden (so long as potatoes or something else from the same family wasn't using it before). Add plenty of organic matter. If you can get it dig in seaweed over the winter and that will help the soil health. Leave the old soil you dug out somewhere where the frost can get at it and help kill off bugs. Some people do this every year but it's probably risky. Maybe include it as one of the years in a three year rotation between your two greenhouses.

[Bren In Pots]

I'm another one who grows my toms in the border

[Thelma Sanders]

me too .

[Sqft'ers]

Like Zaz, this small greenhouse sits on concrete so what I do is cut 2 very large round holes in the growbags and place equally large bottom-less plastic pots on top, filled with soil/compost this almost doubles the volume. To help keep things damp just drape a plastic sheet over the whole thing and tuck-in under the growbag edges. Cut holes for the plants to grow through, and to water through.

[veggiechicken]

I'm another one with a greenhouse (or 3) on concrete and I used to grow toms this way ^^^^^^. Now, I've sectioned off the sides and created mini beds about 2' wide all the way around. These are lined with polythene and filled up with compost. Open bottomed pots sit on this for the tomatoes and salady things grow around the base of the pots. At the end of the season, the tomato pots are emptied onto the beds. I buy grow bags to fill the pots in the spring - they go further this way!

[Madasafish]

I grow in growbags placed on borders with holes in the bottom.

Best of both worlds..