Pictures please! Greenhouse base with path

[TriffidTamer]

Pretty much as in the title. We're preparing to buy a greenhouse and first we need to figure out what sort of slabs/ bricks etc to use as a path down the middle of it. Could I ask for inspiration please? We have a 1920s house so I wouldn't mind something a bit "pretty" but I don't want to be tearing my hair out about it in 3 years time etc.

I gather big concrete slabs might be easier for cleaning off soil or for wetting down in summer but they're a little utilitarian maybe. So I'd love any "hindsight tips" also, please.

We'll be having people in to sort the base and to install the greenhouse - it'll be a Rhino.

The big concrete slabs may be utilitarian, but if in the future you want to move things, be advised that they're a royal pain to move. We ended up having to break ours up with a sledgehammer when we reorganised our garden.

I have a Rhino! Only 6 x 8, but an absolute joy..
I have a concrete ribbon base and then a simple concrete band down the middle, 2ft wide. Base is covered with permeable liner and small pebbles. I grow everything in large pots.
This allows a full length run of shelving and the same of integral staging down one side and a full length of shelving down the other.
I have a freestanding two tier staging along the short side with reservoir, which use with capillary matting.
Automatic roof vents and side vents.
You will,love it!!
Enjoy.x

Thank you @Bonbon21! I'll have both sides open to the soil for growing things in but one side of both height fixed shelving for seedlings. And a small potting bench at the far end

@SylvanMoon I imagine with a base moving the greenhouse would be a heck of a job regardless of the path but I'll bear that in mind

We have slabs as a base for our 10 x 8 greenhouse, no problems. I agree with staging and auto vent comments. We also have double sliding doors, which are great for getting the wheelbarrow in if needed and bags of compost. Also good for extra ventilation during heat waves.

Mine is on what would be a patio if I hadn't filled it with greenhouse. I plant in pots and big plant bags. I put too much in every year as they plants are all so small when they first go in, but they grow!

I took up some slabs and put my rhino greenhouse on soil thinking that I’d grow in the ground. I ended up reusing some 2’x2’ slabs in the middle and then started using quadgrows for my tomatoes so I’ve covered one side in plastic grids with gravel.
I can sweep the slabs in the path down onto the side where it’s still soil - I tend to be messy when potting up. Once stuff is growing the slabs aren’t seen much at all.

We're preparing to buy a greenhouse ... it'll be a Rhino.
I had a look at the Rhino website to see what they do. It features a lot of slabs although the premium one has a lovely Victorian style path.
More to the point: have you locked in prices? Apparently they are increasing on 1st July.

@senua the base doesn't come with the greenhouse, you sort that bit out separately. But yes, we've put a deposit down already so we're all set.

@Beebumble2 thank you! The rhino we're getting comes with double doors and auto vents so I'm really looking forward to it. It has roof and side shading pre-installed too, so that's handy

Interesting that @ThaneOfGlamis and @kiwiane you don't plant in the ground! I know plenty of people do this but it still surprises me. I'm intending to use side beds as that's what I'm more familiar with from gardening with my mum as a child in her greenhouse 😁 Creature of habit.

We got our greenhouse free from a neighbour. We had to buy a new base, just a rectangle with a leg at each corner which we sunk into four holes filled with quick drying cement.

It is straight on soil and just has double row of stone slabs down the middle, with soil at each side. The slabs were just creamy coloured stone from the local builder's merchant but they look nice.

I do intend to grow things directly in the soil, but it isn't in great shape atm, but I'm building up its fertility year by year. I grow tomatoes in growbags on one side and just have various things in pots under the staging on the other side.

I had always assumed a greenhouse with planting into the soil would be best, but when we had to move our greenhouse i looked into it and seemed using pots was better. Less chance of build up of pests and depletion of soil fertility if you're using fresh compost each year in pots. Planting into soil it will need topped up with compost/ manure each year. Might be easier to keep it watered compared with pots though.

We have a single concrete base with its slightly larger than the greenhouse then a row of breeze blocks, then the greenhouse on top of those. One side has a bench and the other is empty for large pots.

the base doesn't come with the greenhouse, you sort that bit out separately
I understand that. I was saying that their website seemed to be implying that most people did slabs.
I'd prefer something prettier, too. You could go all in and make the standing area within the glasshouse an extension of the outside path that approaches it.

It's more that I had space on the patio than by design. I do like that it gives me flexibility though

This is my friend’s; she said I could post it. She said she has to power wash it every spring.

Ah got you. Thank you for the clarification!

@Overtheatlantic that's a lovely path. Does your friend have the same pattern inside the greenhouse?

Interesting! Yep I'm choosing to plant in the ground for better subsoil access and root growth, and also makes watering easier. Growing in pots is not my forte - many plants have died in the quest to improve my skills in this area and I have continued to fail 😂

Four years ago, we put our old one on sleepers and slabs. It was awful - the sleepers weren't 100% stable in high wind, we ended with bind weed in it, we couldn't sweep the floor properly so if anything was dropped on the floor (compost, plants, seeds, greenhouse fittings etc) it was a pain.

We put down a massive concrete base (hand mixed it all, which wasn't easy). and two courses of bricks for the greenhouse to sit on. What a fantastic difference! It's so clean, and neat, and looks really lovely - we should have done it at the beginning. Do it once and do it properly xx

I have enough trouble keeping weeds down in the greenhouse with the floor flagged throughout. If it was soil I’d give up on it!

Big trays and troughs though mostly, not dinky little pots that give up easily

It’s actually just a garden path to a deck and office. The patio at the other end is red brick, which is beautiful but maybe not that practical?