Raised Beds or Greenhouse?

[Pixel_Donkey]

Hello,

Last year I got into growing my own vegetables in a small area of my garden.

The main plot is around 6ft x 4ft and to the right I had 4 plastic greenhouses (while they lasted).





This year I'm wondering if I should get a 6 x 4ft greenhouse to put on the main plot area and build a raised bed where I put my greenhouses last year.

Another idea is just to have raised bed, the main plot would have a C shaped bed so I can use as much as the area as possible and kneel in the middle to access all the plants and then build another raised bed to the right.

What do you think?

[airconednightmare]

hi and welcome, looking good

A proper greenhouse will certainly last longer than the plastic things and provides a plethora of extra opportunities. if you want a rasied bed where the patio is? then it will either have to be raised a good 2-3 foot with some drainage holes (effectively a very large container) or take up the patio and break up the sand and hardcore which should be under it to allow drainage then build up from there.

i'd be tempted to put the greenhouse on the patio and leave the veg plot as it is.

[Pixel_Donkey]

Thanks for the reply, I don't think a greenhouse would fit on the patio section as the wall is rounded, unfortunately I can not break up the patio either. The wall would help protect the greenhouse from the wind but as you see here later in the afternoon it gets a bit of shade.

I currently have two giant vegetable bags which I filled with soil, I don't even think they have drainage but maybe there was small holes. They are on top of concrete where a shed used to be.

I never thought about drainage on a raised bed but then all the videos I've seen are beds on top of soil, could this cause me problems?

How would you create drainage in a raised bed when the soil sits on top of concrete?

[airconednightmare]

oh, i never noticed the concrete round the edge of the veg plot...yeah that should be a good greenhouse base.

i've never built a raised bed on top of a patio, but it would act like a massive bucket without drainage. i'd say fill the bottom with few inches with gravel then put drain pipes through the structure so that they carry water out from the bottom, a bit of mesh will stop the gravel being washed out.

[Pixel_Donkey]

Thats a great idea, I could run the pipe down the cap between the plot and patio as the Greenhouse should be a few inches smaller than the plot.

I now need to find a guide showing me how to create decent drainage, this would also explain why my berry plants are not growing much in plastic containers... I don't think they have adequate drainage.

[TheRipeTomato.ca]

I greenhouse will probably be able to produce more than the plot, inch for inch. Might be kind of cramped to work in though, and not as fun, but you'd be dry on rainy days!

[Pixel_Donkey]

I've decided on a 6x4ft greenhouse and two 1m square raised beds.

I'll post some pictures when I have them setup

[Willow_Warren]

Just wanted to say that I think your little veg patch and green houses look great I'm sure your new green house and raised beds will be lovely too...

[klevelyn]

I am looking forward to seeing your new pics. Your garden is nice.

[kaleinger]

We've built our greenhouse (hoop-house) last year, and are so glad we did. It's 16x11ft, and very useful for starting seeds, and also overwintering some of our plants.

Good luck and Happy Easter!