Greenhouse floor, soil or solid?

[RedThorn]

I spend too much time staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping...

[veggiechicken]

I spend too much time staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping...

I have my best ideas when I'm asleep - not sure what means

[Mikey]

I don't think thats a very good place to leave the milk VC, it'll go off.

I'm jealous of your cabbages though...

[chris]

I started out with a gravel base - but soon dug it out, and now I grow in the ground in it.

[veggiechicken]

I don't think thats a very good place to leave the milk VC, it'll go off.

I'm jealous of your cabbages though...

That's my experimental perennial cabbage - its in its 2nd year now And all the cabbages are growing from the same stalk like huge sprouts

[Mikey]

Are you sure its not a sprout then?

I've never come across perennial cabbages before, I'm not sure they would fit into my rotational bed system.

[veggiechicken]

Think it was Hispi cabbage! Pic 3 shows the next lot of side shoots growing to form the another generation of cabbages

I've been eating them throughout the winter too - just taking leaves and flower shoots as I need them. The flowers are also on the menu in salad.
Magic cabbage - just some of the fun you can have with a GH that has a "raised bed" (trying desperately to get back on topic)

[redser]

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
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It looks very smart to me! Thanks VC

[redser]

Think it was Hispi cabbage! Pic 3 shows the next lot of side shoots growing to form the another generation of cabbages
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I've been eating them throughout the winter too - just taking leaves and flower shoots as I need them. The flowers are also on the menu in salad.
Magic cabbage - just some of the fun you can have with a GH that has a "raised bed" (trying desperately to get back on topic)

Ok so magic cabbage swings it a little more in favour of beds.

[BertieFox]

Going back to the original question, soil or solid floor, I'd say soil every time. As for those viruses and diseases which are supposed to be building up, I've used the same site for ten years and my crops are every bit as good as when I started. I never 'remove' the soil, but I DO work in huge amounts of compost and drainage materials every year, and 'green manure' the old plant residues by composting them and returning them to the same site.
The advantage of course is that all plants will root deeply into the soil bed, find more nutrients and moisture and generally need far less attention and watering than things in pots or bags.
By the way, I successfully grow large cauliflowers this way (and cabbages) and other brassicas and salads each spring, which means I have the beds available immediately afterwards for tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and melons. When these have finished in November, I get the beds re-dug and composted ready for the January planting of the brassicas.

[redser]

Thanks Bertie, nice post. So now Im back to square one. Ah well, Im getting the greenhouse so thats the main thing.

[RedThorn]

Can I throw a wee bit more confusion in the mix? What about a tunnel?

[redser]

Can I throw a wee bit more confusion in the mix? What about a tunnel?

I have one at the plot

[Bren In Pots]

Redser here's a couple of photos of the inside of my GH I grow in the border because it means if we go away for the weekend I don't have to ask anyone to do the watering.

[chickbob]

I'm a lazy gardener so growing in soil works best for my lapses in watering. I do empty the beds every couple of years since suffered with botrytis, but plenty people don't even do that. Grow cucumbers and tomatoes in the soil, but usually extras and chillies in pots.