Preparing the area for your Harvst mini greenhouse
If you’re going to put your Harvst mini-greenhouse directly on the soil, here are some things you might like to know and do before you put it in place.
Check the Wifi connection at the site.
Before you do anything make doubly sure that the wifi works in the location that you are planning to place your Harvst mini-greenhouse. Check by going there with your phone and browsing some webpages, checking your mail, conduct a speed test or looking at the Harvst social media pages. Make sure that you are connected to Wifi and not your 4G signal. That’s all good? Then start to prepare the soil.
Prepare the soil.
Ensure the ground has been given plenty of nutrients and cleared of weeds. Access is good to the inside of a Harvster, but it’s much easier to do this upfront. Preparing the soil is relatively easy. After clearing the weeds and any grass and large pieces of debris break up the surface of the soil with a garden fork. You are aiming just to turn it over a little and break up any compacted soils so that the roots of your plants can work their way down more easily.
If the soil hasn’t been used recently or ever, try to incorporate some organic matter into the soil to improve it by lightly forking/mixing that in after you have broken up that surface. This organic material could be a specific soil improver, compost from a compost bin, leaf mould, that you have bought or made, or some well-rotted manure or even a mix of these together. You can buy leaf mould, soil improvers and rotted manure at the garden centre and you might be lucky that your local stables might give you some manure for free or very low cost. This all goes to give plants a boost and gets them off to a flying start. You can top up the nutrients later by adding fertilizer or re-adding more organic matter roughly every year or two. Look after your soil and it will look after your plants.
Whether your soil is clay or sandy, improving the soil always helps. Organic matter contains nutrients for the plants and helps retain water helping plants to flourish. If your soil is made of predominantly clay, you might want to add some horticultural grit, available at most garden centres. This further opens up the soil allowing it to drain better and let roots penetrate.
Level it off.
The Harvster needs to be placed on a flat, level surface, so take the time now to get your area ready. If the greenhouse isn’t flat and level, the doors and lid might not fit exactly, wasting heat and making your greenhouse more prone to wind damage.
Make sure you can secure the Harvster.
Harvst mini-greenhouses are light and incredibly strong when securely fastened to the ground or other strong points such as a wall or fence. We provide brackets for you to do a really good job of fixing your unit firmly in place. We recommend that these brackets are put in place as soon as you install your mini greenhouse.
Add a raised bed.
If you want to put your Harvst mini-greenhouse onto concrete, stone or brick, you can still fill it with soil or compost, but you’ll need to raise it up on a timber or brick bed to help with drainage and provide insulation.
Don’t forget to line it with plastic, to help the wood last longer and ensure that there are some holes in that plastic liner to let excess moisture drain away. You’ll need a lot of soil/compost; this Terrace took nearly ten full wheelbarrows.
