UK gardening - greenhouse flooring and moss

Author

greenhouse flooring and moss

nospam@nospam.org

2005-10-23, 5:21 pm

Hello,

I bought my first greenhouse this year and simply put weed matting
down to stop the grass growing through the floor,and it worked well
until now. First the grass started to grown through at the edges and
now some is managing to grow through the mat!

My other problem is that due to a faulty watering timer, the plants
were given too much water, which drained onto the floor and made it an
ideal environment for moss to grow.

I have decided to put gravel on the floor, hoping that this will
prevent grass growing through if thick enough (how thick do you
recommend?) I bought a few heavy bags from my local DIY store and was
amazed how much I needed. I would advise anyone doing the same to
think about ordering a large bag that gets delivered onto your drive,
as I think this would be cheaper than getting several bags as I did.
Does anyone have experience of how the costs compare?

Was the gravel a good thing? What flooring do you use? I know some
people pave. I know other people actual plant into the floor, but I am
using my greenhouse for pots and grow bags, so gravelling everything
seemed the easy option. I thought gravel would allow easy drainage of
excess water too.

What should I do about the moss? Will covering it gravel be enough or
will it colonise over the gravel?

Thanks for your help.

Mike Lyle

2005-10-23, 6:21 pm

nospam@nospam.org wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I bought my first greenhouse this year and simply put weed matting
> down to stop the grass growing through the floor,and it worked well
> until now. First the grass started to grown through at the edges
and
> now some is managing to grow through the mat!
>
> My other problem is that due to a faulty watering timer, the plants
> were given too much water, which drained onto the floor and made it
an
> ideal environment for moss to grow.
>
> I have decided to put gravel on the floor, hoping that this will
> prevent grass growing through if thick enough (how thick do you
> recommend?) I bought a few heavy bags from my local DIY store and
was
> amazed how much I needed. I would advise anyone doing the same to
> think about ordering a large bag that gets delivered onto your
drive,
> as I think this would be cheaper than getting several bags as I
did.
> Does anyone have experience of how the costs compare?
>
> Was the gravel a good thing? What flooring do you use? I know some
> people pave. I know other people actual plant into the floor, but I
am
> using my greenhouse for pots and grow bags, so gravelling
everything
> seemed the easy option. I thought gravel would allow easy drainage
of
> excess water too.
>
> What should I do about the moss? Will covering it gravel be enough
or
> will it colonise over the gravel?
>
> Thanks for your help.

I'm afraid you're, as the aristocracy say, stuffed. In many
situations that anti-weed membrane really isn't worth the bother: all
it can do is lighten the load, and, to be fair, it does that pretty
well -- but you still have to be on top of the problem. Six inches of
concrete will suppress weeds, of course! Gravel in any sensible
quantities won't. But, yes, the big bags are far better value than
small sacks. You can also use the big bag as a compost bin
afterwards.

But if you can grow good weeds, you can grow good plants.

The soil in your greenhouse will only be productive for a limited
time: you'll always have to top it up, and sooner or later you'll
almost certainly have to sterilise it, too. A good way to use a
glasshouse productively with minimum effort is for grapes: you plant
the vine in the soil outside, but bring the top growth into the
house, and follow the pruning regime in the books. You can put a few
growbags in there, too, and they will give you some very good
tomatoes and peppers. Forget cucumbers -- who needs that many? A
friend of mine used to grow luxuriant dope under his grape vine, if
that appeals to you.

Gardening is quite hard work: if you don't enjoy it, it's best just
to stick to shrubberies and lawns. Apart from the few things above, I
really wouldn't recommend a greenhouse to somebody who didn't have
the time and enthusiasm to maintain it.

--
Mike.

alan

2005-10-23, 8:21 pm

Hello,

We have a 8 x 12 greenhouse with concrete slabs laid on sand. stops weeds
and grass... also now we have carpet down to keep out the cold with a
secondary glazing around the front and side, bubble inside the roof and
north facing side.

Alan
www.fuchsiazone.co.uk
<nospam@nospam.org> wrote in message
news:531dl115ap29687p8irkgv27aet699fbvh@4ax.com...
> Hello,
>
> I bought my first greenhouse this year and simply put weed matting
> down to stop the grass growing through the floor,and it worked well
> until now. First the grass started to grown through at the edges and
> now some is managing to grow through the mat!
>
> My other problem is that due to a faulty watering timer, the plants
> were given too much water, which drained onto the floor and made it an
> ideal environment for moss to grow.
>
> I have decided to put gravel on the floor, hoping that this will
> prevent grass growing through if thick enough (how thick do you
> recommend?) I bought a few heavy bags from my local DIY store and was
> amazed how much I needed. I would advise anyone doing the same to
> think about ordering a large bag that gets delivered onto your drive,
> as I think this would be cheaper than getting several bags as I did.
> Does anyone have experience of how the costs compare?
>
> Was the gravel a good thing? What flooring do you use? I know some
> people pave. I know other people actual plant into the floor, but I am
> using my greenhouse for pots and grow bags, so gravelling everything
> seemed the easy option. I thought gravel would allow easy drainage of
> excess water too.
>
> What should I do about the moss? Will covering it gravel be enough or
> will it colonise over the gravel?
>
> Thanks for your help.

Janet Baraclough

2005-10-24, 8:21 am

The message <531dl115ap29687p8irkgv27aet699fbvh@4ax.com>
from nospam@nospam.org contains these words:

> Was the gravel a good thing?

I'd say not, because if your GH is anything like mine, there's a
constant rain of bits of compost etc onto the floor. Gravel will just be
harder to get the weeds out of and impossible to clean,

What flooring do you use? I know some
> people pave.

I did, with old paving slabs. Never regretted it. No moss, no hiding
place for bugs or fungus. Very easy to clean up; you can wet them down
to raise humidity, and when it's warm in the GH they absorb a certain
amount of heat to release at night.

Janet

chris French

2005-10-24, 8:21 pm

In message <531dl115ap29687p8irkgv27aet699fbvh@4ax.com>,
nospam@nospam.org writes
>Hello,
>
>I bought my first greenhouse this year and simply put weed matting
>down to stop the grass growing through the floor,and it worked well
>until now. First the grass started to grown through at the edges and
>now some is managing to grow through the mat!

Is it growing though, or is it growing on top and rooting through (stuff
soon starts to grow on top if there is detritus/compost etc. collecting.
- I've had membrane down in places for couple of years and not noticed
grass coming up through it.

>
>My other problem is that due to a faulty watering timer, the plants
>were given too much water, which drained onto the floor and made it an
>ideal environment for moss to grow.
>
Probably inevitable in GH, not really a great problem.

>I have decided to put gravel on the floor, hoping that this will
>prevent grass growing through if thick enough (how thick do you
>recommend?) I bought a few heavy bags from my local DIY store and was
>amazed how much I needed. I would advise anyone doing the same to
>think about ordering a large bag that gets delivered onto your drive,
>as I think this would be cheaper than getting several bags as I did.
>Does anyone have experience of how the costs compare?
>

For any significant quantity the bulk bags are cheaper, but there is the
disadvantage of extra manhandling compare to moving bags. A bulk bag of
gravel is in the region of GBP30 delivered, weight is nominal 1 tonne

>Was the gravel a good thing?

In the longer term no. Dirt, detritus, compost will collect in it (can't
be swept up) and stuff will be growing in it by the end of the first
season I imagine anyway.

> What flooring do you use?

In our previous house we had two Gh, one had a solid floor as it was
used for plants in pots, propagation, etc., the other had soil beds with
centre paved path which was just used for growing things in really. For
a general use GH some sort of solid paved or concrete surface really is
the best option.

>I know some
>people pave. I know other people actual plant into the floor, but I am
>using my greenhouse for pots and grow bags, so gravelling everything
>seemed the easy option.

Easy now.....

> I thought gravel would allow easy drainage of
>excess water too.
>
>What should I do about the moss? Will covering it gravel be enough or
>will it colonise over the gravel?
>
The moss is no big deal AFAICS. I would aim to have solid surface floor
at some point - cheap slabs laid on screeded sharp sand base is
probably now the easiest option. Until then I'd not bother with gravel.
Lift the membrane up if it getting colonised, clean it of bit, and
replace it.
--
Chris French

Janet Galpin

2005-10-24, 8:21 pm

The message <3130303039303239435C1E5828@zetnet.co.uk>
from Janet Baraclough <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> contains these words:

> The message <531dl115ap29687p8irkgv27aet699fbvh@4ax.com>
> from nospam@nospam.org contains these words:

[color=darkred]
> I'd say not, because if your GH is anything like mine, there's a
> constant rain of bits of compost etc onto the floor. Gravel will just be
> harder to get the weeds out of and impossible to clean,

> What flooring do you use? I know some
[color=darkred]
> I did, with old paving slabs. Never regretted it. No moss, no hiding
> place for bugs or fungus. Very easy to clean up; you can wet them down
> to raise humidity, and when it's warm in the GH they absorb a certain
> amount of heat to release at night.

> Janet

I agree that paving slabs work very well. However, just a smalI point
for which I've never found a satisfactory solution. I always have couch
grass growing very tall behind the staging in the crack between the
paving and the greenhouse wall. Very difficult to reach to pull out -
and just rather irritating!
Janet G

Kay

2005-10-25, 5:21 am

In article <gwPvYnG34VXDNA5s@familyfrench.co.uk>, chris French
<newspost-c-002@familyfrench.co.uk> writes
>In message <531dl115ap29687p8irkgv27aet699fbvh@4ax.com>,
>nospam@nospam.org writes
>
>
>In the longer term no. Dirt, detritus, compost will collect in it (can't
>be swept up) and stuff will be growing in it by the end of the first
>season I imagine anyway.

Could be turned to benefit ;-)
IME things which I have great difficulty in germinating elsewhere come
up in abandon in gravel or cracks in paving slabs.
>

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

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