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Scotkat

By Scotkat

Angus, Scotland Sco

I would like to have a bench for growing Alpine plants.

I have wooden hand made benches in my greenhouses.

Could I use and adapt these ?




Answers

 

Could you expand a little on what you are expecting, Scotcat. If you are hoping to grow alpines in pots in the greenhouse then we use two different methods.
Firstly, the sand plunge bed. This is effectively a long wooden box, eight to ten inches deep, mounted on legs and filled with sand. The plant pots are then plunged into the sand. The idea is that you keep the sand moist so that you do not give overhead water to the plants. The big drawback is that the box of sand is very heavy and needs good legs.
The second method is with the use of grit trays. These are sold in garden centres but I found that the longer grow-bag trays fit our greenhouse better. The tray is filled with grit (6mm in our case) and the pots just pushed into the top layer of this. The tray is then filled with water and the plants take it up from the bottom of the pot. During summer we just keep on filling the tray with water but during the rest of the year, when growth is not so vigorus, I put a piece of wicking material in the tray so that the plants are not standing in water for long periods.

31 Dec, 2012

 

I prefer your second method BB as I already have these trays.

31 Dec, 2012

 

Certainly the easiest and cheapest way to start, Sk. Be warned though, this is how we started and now have a heavy duty plunge as well! :-)))

31 Dec, 2012

 

Happy New Year BH from a frosty Angus .

Just away to do our New Years day Hillwalk.

I shall make a start with the tray of gravel 1st thank you for your help.

1 Jan, 2013

 

Enjoy. We are going to ther cinema this pm!

1 Jan, 2013

How do I say thanks?

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