I'll be scooping the rest of the greenhouse borders out and using it as a mulch on the flower borders. The greenhouse borders are about 18" deep and lined with 3 layers of old compost bags to retain water and keep the tree roots below from penetrating. I originally had slabs as a floor in there but removed them from the sides and dug out borders so I could grow taller tomatoes etc. Works well and needs much less watering than pots but I need about 20 x 70 litre bags of MP compost each year! Having said that, my flower borders have never looked better now they get a few inches of ex-greenhouse compost spread on them every year, something I rarely seemed to have time to manage before. So all in all, it's win-win!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I need to concrete my trenches in bob , some sort of critter is finding his way in and I now have staging over the trenches. Tried toms but not the weather here .
The advantage of all this ghastly weather is that I've done mountains of paperwork and plan on doing more. If I think about gardening I shall just get depressed. All I can do is switch the parffin heater off in the g/house each morning and back on again at night.
You could try lining them with a couple of layers of 1/2" hole wire mesh first, then plaster over with a layer of cement, Bunny. The wire mesh will help to keep the vertical sides of the cement lining in place while it sets and will make it much stronger and less likely for bits to break off in the future. I might do that myself while mine are empty and this cold spell continues - can't do a lot else at the moment! I've a couple of bags of cement that need using up and plenty of sharp sand - a 3:1 sand:cement mix should do it. Really glad you posted your reply!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
They're already lined with timber so the cement be fine , I requested the beds left, OH didn't agree ....hehe seems he is right .... And won't I hear about it
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I don't like chocolate.
I'll be scooping the rest of the greenhouse borders out and using it as a mulch on the flower borders. The greenhouse borders are about 18" deep and lined with 3 layers of old compost bags to retain water and keep the tree roots below from penetrating. I originally had slabs as a floor in there but removed them from the sides and dug out borders so I could grow taller tomatoes etc. Works well and needs much less watering than pots but I need about 20 x 70 litre bags of MP compost each year! Having said that, my flower borders have never looked better now they get a few inches of ex-greenhouse compost spread on them every year, something I rarely seemed to have time to manage before. So all in all, it's win-win!
The advantage of all this ghastly weather is that I've done mountains of paperwork and plan on doing more. If I think about gardening I shall just get depressed. All I can do is switch the parffin heater off in the g/house each morning and back on again at night.
You could try lining them with a couple of layers of 1/2" hole wire mesh first, then plaster over with a layer of cement, Bunny. The wire mesh will help to keep the vertical sides of the cement lining in place while it sets and will make it much stronger and less likely for bits to break off in the future. I might do that myself while mine are empty and this cold spell continues - can't do a lot else at the moment! I've a couple of bags of cement that need using up and plenty of sharp sand - a 3:1 sand:cement mix should do it. Really glad you posted your reply!