With winter not all that far away, I finally decided to set up a greenhouse. As much as I wanted to build one myself, the cost of materials was going to be about the same as buying a pre-made kit. I ordered a 6x14ft greenhouse kit, somewhere in the mid-range as far as quality goes.
I’m having a hard time figuring out where to place it, though. I have a few options in mind, and they all have their pros and cons.
The option I like the most is a concrete pad just beside my house. It gets good sun (this time of year, direct sun from about 8am to 5pm), it’s a convenient location, and it’s already a level surface. I’m not so sure about putting a greenhouse over concrete, though. I’ll be using an electric heater in the winter, and I’m worried the concrete will pull a lot of heat away from the air in the greenhouse.
I have a few other areas on my property that would work, but they are all a very uneven gravel surface over extremely hard-packed rocky soil. I could dig out a level area for the greenhouse, but I would imagine I still would need to build a raised base, maybe a wooden platform.
Is putting a greenhouse over concrete a bad idea in the winter? What if I decide to put it somewhere else and just level the ground. Can it go over dirt and gravel, or would I need a base?
Any suggestions are welcome. This is my first foray into greenhouse gardening, and I’d like to start off right.
it can go over dirt if you want to exploit that dirt too
I think that’s probably what’s going to happen. The majority of the “main” area of my property is gravel over dirt. Unfortunately, the dirt isn’t great for growing, though. It’s impossible to dig in with a shovel; I have to use a pickax to break it apart and then shovel out the rocky chunks. It’s this weird amalgamation of rocks and dirt that almost feels like concrete, then a layer of large rocks after 6 inches or so, and finally clay about a foot down. To be honest, I’m surprised that my garden and fruit trees are growing. I think the fact that I broke up the first 6" of dirt in the garden and added bagged soil helped a lot, and the trees were planted with the root ball below the worst of it.
I found an area that gets consistent sun and is conveniently between my deck and my garden. The plan for this weekend is to shovel away the gravel, break up the soil until I get it level, then backfill with the gravel for a nice base. I won’t be able to use the soil inside the greenhouse for growing, but I had always planned to build raised planters anyway.
some robust plants like thyme or mint would be fine even with the gravel 😁
good luck for the weekend