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Concrete for a greenhouse base (feddit.uk)

submitted 2 days ago by Cyber@feddit.uk to c/askuk@feddit.uk

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Ok, this seemed like a simple one, but damned if Google / Youchoob will give me a straight answer...

I'm putting up a greenhouse in a clay soil garden, so I want a nice concrete foundation (ring, like for a house, not a slab)

What mix do I need for that base, assuming it'll be underground / water and I'll put a row of block on top for the base to screw in to?

And... if it's easier than dragging stuff through the house, can I get away with just bags of postcrete?

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[–] Cyber@feddit.uk 1 points 7 hours ago

TBH it's kinda a long term thing - some friends moved into a house with this greenhouse in... some panes were missing, some broken and with 2 small kids they were going to scrap it.

I, stupidly, said that we'd take it off their hands, so they painstakingly dismantled it, I took it away and put it back together again.

And it's stood, with no glass in, at 2 or 3 (or 4?) different locations around the garden whilst we worked out the best place for it.... enough sun, but not too muxh, space for a patio, etc, etc... Goldilocks kinda thing.

The plan is to grow whatever we can in there, considering that clay soil is really good for nutrition - if you can get plants out of the water... so... put the greenhouse on the soil, dig out a small path in the middle for the walkway, which banks up the soil either side giving some natural drainage outside.

Rainwater collection outside with several smallish containers linked together (rsther than 1 large waterbutt) to create a wall of heat stored from the sun during the day which gently heats during the night.

And maybe an automatic window opener for the 3 days of summer we get.

That's the plan...

For me, in clay soil with standing water for ~6 months of the year, I'd not want a wooden greenhouse... unless it's on stilts.