Okay, I need some feedback, from you "POT" people.
Part of my job forces me to encounter plants at wholesale nurseries on a regualar basis (Being a plant buyer does that). Now I have a small collection of plants in Cans just waiting for a place in the garden. Unfortunately the accumalate faster than homes come available. So I need to do something with them. I have two idea's one of which requires your input.
Idea #1 - I plan on creating two raised beds soley for the purpose of being "trial gardens" for the more herbacious material, that is easier to transplant. (I dont think I need input on this).
Idea #2 (THIS IS WHERE "POT" people come in) - To create some benches, 30-36" high out angle iron and expanded metal that are 30" in width. Probably 4-6' in length. I plan on sizing them for later GH (at least a portion of what I make), use after I build it (the GH) this summer. Anyway, I was thinking that this was a good idea. This was my plants aren't getting kicked around, smashed by the drug hose, and I can see them without cracking my back, and more importantly kneeling (to much torn cartilidge). I have one concern that this would not be good in the winter time due to freezing temperatures and cold air getting under the plants, but then does it matter, even in ground contact the cans will freeze. So I need some feedback, good , bad, or indifferent idea.
Thanks, one and all, for your time and attention to this matter,
Matthew---
Benches for Pots
It's tough to get a good look at this because of the snow, but I built this arrangement to make it easier to care for bonsai & pre-bonsai plants in containers. I used 4x6 posts & 2x4's for the structure. The angle iron is 1-1/2 x 1-1/2. You wouldn't need the poly-planks, they're expensive. Instead, you could put 1x2's between the angles every 12-18", and then put wire fabric on the 1x2's.
The posts are 8' apart and the shelves are 16" wide. Total, I have 80'x16" of space to grow on.
If you intend to leave plants on the shelves all winter, they would need to be hardy to at least 2, maybe 3 zones colder than yours. Even in the dead of winter, the earth provides lots of radiant heat to containers that are on the ground. Raising them off the ground subtracts at least 1 zone, and that they're in containers subtracts about the same.
Al
A closer look
Nice, very nice.
Yes, you are probably right about the winter Cold. Of course, I wont be over wintering enough that taking the plants down and grouping them together would be a big deal. The growing season is when they are hardest to care for on the ground.
Thank-you for sharing.