Greenhouse floor, soil or solid?

[redser]

Hi - well after a few months of blocking all the natural daylight in the house and surreptitiously spreading compost around the floors SWIMBO has finally agreed to let me have a greenhouse in the back garden
Just wanted to get some feedback on what people generally do for the greenhouse floor and the pros and cons - a path with beds to plant in or just a solid floor with everything growing in pots.
For some reason I'm leaning towards paving slabs and growing in pots. I know the beds are easier in terms of watering but ... well I dont know really.
Thanks!

[Mikey]

If you have a solid floor the temperature stays warmer overnight as the floor acts like a radiator, its easier to clean and you replace the compost bags every year. Down side you have to keep on top of the watering as you miss a day things could die.

If you go for a bed perimeter this can alleviate the watering issue however you have to replace soil as this may harbour ongoing viruses.

(Just so you know, I have beds myself as I can sometimes be forgetful about watering.)

[RedThorn]

Succinctly summed up there Mikey

What about a mix? An "L" shaped bed and pots?

Edit: I built my g/house on a low wall to raise the greenhouse. This enabled me to build raised beds which for me, gave me the best of both worlds

[redser]

Cheers Mikey, that's very helpful. Still leaning towards slabs.

[redser]

Thanks RedThorn. I think mixing it would just give me all the negatives as well as all the positives if you know what I mean.

[veggiechicken]

Nice work red
I've always had solid floor and built raised beds around the edges in a U shape about 2' wide. Put open bottomed pots on top and grow direct into the bed around them.

[RedThorn]

Ditto VC same as what I did

Ony solid bit though was the centre.

[redser]

Nice work red
I've always had solid floor and built raised beds around the edges in a U shape about 2' wide. Put open bottomed pots on top and grow direct into the bed around them.

It was hard work but paid off in the end. Plus she didn't know what to get me for my 40th
Thanks for the suggestion but I think I would have a problem finding enough soil for a raised bed and dont want to buy it in. Still slabs and pots ...

[Mikey]

I've just taken a piccie of my greenhouse for you, give me a minute and I'll load it up.

06.06.2013 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[RedThorn]

What about digging a hole where the base will go, fill 2l pop bottles/ wine bottles with water and lay them in the hole and then cover with some of the soil. Lay slab and then you've got a heat soakwell. This way you'll have some soil left over too

[redser]

What about digging a hole where the base will go, fill 2l pop bottles/ wine bottles with water and lay them in the hole and then cover with some of the soil. Lay slab and then you've got a heat soakwell. This way you'll have some soil left over too

Interesting idea. Is it a proven method? Or your own brainchild?

[RedThorn]

Using water as a heat source is proven. Water is an excellent heat battery. Before I lost my greenhouse through moving, I wanted to sink a 1000l ibc under my greenhouse and use it as a water butt/ heat battery from the guttering. I was then gonna rig a solar pump up for a drip water system off a bucket in the eves which would be filled from the solar pump. Hope that makes sense....

[RedThorn]

In addition, you could use the pump to circulate though the black irrigation piping(metres and metres of the stuff) to create a solar hot water system to really help the water warm up in late autumn through to spring....

[redser]

It does indeed, very ineteresting!

[veggiechicken]

It was hard work but paid off in the end. Plus she didn't know what to get me for my 40th
Thanks for the suggestion but I think I would have a problem finding enough soil for a raised bed and dont want to buy it in. Still slabs and pots ...

Just make a frame around the edge, one plank high and line it with plastic. Put your pots on it in year 1 and empty the compost out in the bed at the end. Over the years the level soon mounts up. I've never brought in compost just to fill the beds. Here's mine today - excuse the mess, I haven't dusted lately