Having invested in a greenhouse, you need to make the best use of the space. One thing to remember is that, as well as floor area, we have height to work with. A greenhouse with high eaves is especially useful as you can fix shelves off the roof supports.
Greenhouse Benches
Build Your Own Greenhouse Bench
You can build your own perfectly serviceable greenhouse bench for next to no cost from re-claimed pallets and some 2×1 battens. I always have a stock of 2×1 treated roofing battens – they’re very cheap to buy from the builders merchant and so very useful for many jobs.
Because you’re building your own greenhouse bench, you can make it the perfect size for you. A good standard size would be 110cm to 120cm long, 55cm deep and 90cm high. 2 shelves are useful but even better is to make the lower shelf removable. This way you have it for seed trays etc in the spring but larger plants such as peppers in pots can go under the top stage in the summer.
Use the thick battens from the pallets to make the legs. The planks will from the pallets will form the shelves with 2×1 used for stringers and straps. The drawbacks are the time to construct the bench and it will be heavier than aluminium bought in staging.
Buying Greenhouse Benches
There’s a wide range of benches available to buy, both single shelf and double shelf models. Specialist greenhouse staging is also available for plunge propagating beds which need to be strong to accommodate the heavy load to hot beds. Even specialist orchid growing staging is available and raised grow bag stands.
There are even shelves / benches that have an open mesh surface so they can be used in spring etc. and then folded back to the glass in summer to allow tomatoes and cucumbers etc. space to grow.
Seed Tray Racks
In the early spring when starting seeds off you can find yourself with too many trays to fit on the benching. Seed tray racks enable you to vertically stack, fitting more in per square foot of precious greenhouse space.
These can be built yourself or you can buy various models offering different numbers of shelves.
Greenhouse Shelving
It’s always a shame to waste the space in the eves of the greenhouse but a solution exists in shelving that fixes onto the roof glazing bars by means of adjustable brackets.
These have the benefit that heat rises so the plants are kept warmer than they would be on shelves lower down.
These have the benefit that heat rises so the plants are kept warmer than they would be on shelves lower down.
The shelves are not permanently attached to the adjustable brackets that fit most greenhouses – irrespective of the distance between glazing bars or their angle.
You can get some inexpensive brackets designed to fix to the roof of an aluminium greenhouse and a range of brackets to fix to the walls enabling you either put your own shelves in or buy aluminium greenhouse shelves. The 10″ size is ideal to keep a seed tray in as well.
Other shelves are designed to fix to the upright side glazing bars. These can make use of space that would otherwise be wasted in a small greenhouse – perhaps at the end of a greenhouse with side borders.
Of course, come the summer and the tomatoes are reaching for the sky, you can find that the shelving is in the way. They’ve even thought of this and manufacture a range of integral staging and shelving that fold away for the summer.
Full details of all our greenhouse shelving
Greenhouse Growing, Coldframes etc. Further information
- Best Position for a Greenhouse – Where to Site a Greenhouse
- Greenhouse Capillary Matting: A Comprehensive Overview
- Understanding Greenhouse Planning Permission: What You Need to Know
- Wooden Greenhouses Compared to Aluminium
- Greenhouse Heating Guide – Various Types Reviewed
- Second Hand Greenhouse – Buying, Dismantling and Re-building a Greenhouse
- Greenhouses in High Winds – Protect and Survive!
- Greenhouse Accessories for Heating and Ventilation
- Fitting out the Greenhouse: Shelving, Staging & Greenhouse Benches
- Watering the Greenhouse – Equipment to Help Greenhouse Watering
- Portable Greenhouses – Patio Greenhouses and Allotment Greenhouses
- Managing the Hobby Greenhouse
- Cold Frames – Uses of Coldframes – Types of Coldframe
- How to Build a Cold Frame for Free!
- An Indoor Greenhouse – The Dewpoint Propagating & Growing Cabinet
- Choosing a Greenhouse – What Greenhouse to Buy
