Greenhouse or Swimming Pool?

[goldilox]

Hi Everyone,

We have a little dilemma here which maybe you lot can help/advise on.

When we bought this house we inherited a 15m x 7m hole in the ground normally called a swimming pool (derelict). After looking at it for the last five and a half years and planning how to renovate it, the exchange rate has now hit us and we have lost about 25 percent of our income in one fell swoop!

We thought it might be good idea under the circumstances to try and extend our growing season with a greenhouse, and my hubby duly built a small one. I then remembered a Gardener's Question Time programme on which a lady asked the panel what they thought was the best use of an old swimming pool in her garden. Bob Flowerdew said, stick a glass roof on it and use it as a greenhouse.

As this project probably won't happen until maybe next autumn, I've got quite a few months to think about what the heck I'd grow in a 100 sq m underground greenhouse which would benefit our budget the most!

Any ideas gratefully anticipated. Also any pitfalls you can think we might encounter. We did think we might put in a large block-built bay for fresh horse manure in the winter for a hot bed, but do you think the light levels will be too low to produce much of use?

Even if we put a smaller pool in the garden as well, this is a much cheaper option than doing up the swimming pool as it stands.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Chris

[Primrose]

Think this is probably one for an expert! My first thoughts are that trying to grow vegetables in "a hole" , even one of the size you mention might be problematic because of low light levels in winter months. When you grow them on level ground obviously there is light all around them whereas below ground, a considerable amount of light would be blocked off by the walls of the pool. Putting a cover on it (rather like an atrium) might force the plants to grow upwards towards the only light source, causing them to become more spindly (although climbing French & Runner beans & cucumbers which climb anyway might be an exception to this rule). They would, of course be more protected from the wind though which might extend the growing season. The deeper the pool, the more the low light levels might be a issue, unless you partially filled it in to reduce this problem. If you could get hold of a large cheap transparent polythene sheet which would cover the pool area in a way that it could be firmly anchored down, you could possibly have a trial run in early Spring with some cheaply sown experimental seeds in a few containers to see whether the theory works. On the other hand, if you like eating fish, you could always try thinking outside the box, abandon the thought of growing vegetables, put in a couple of those large inflatable round swimming pools in the hole and set up your own trout farm. I think the current recession is going to make everybody more resourceful with their assets so I'll look forward to reading any other interesting suggestions which other people on here might have

[richard p]

whether it would be light enough for plants would depend on the depth and what colour the walls were, something 3 foot deep with white walls would be quite bright. to cover something that big i would have thought a polytunnel would be better than a glassed structure....

[garden_serf]

I like the idea of breeding fish primrose. What about mushroom production! No problems with needing the light, just generate the other needs.

How deep is it?

[goldilox]

It's almost midday and I've just checked light in there. The east side of the pool is in shadow for about 4 ft, but the west side is in full sun. The depth of the pool is 1.65m, so quite deep.

When we first moved here we bought some pool paint - mostly tins of white, but some blue to mix in so it wasn't "too white". Our idea now is to paint the floor and steps in the blue, and the walls in white, but obviously that still doesn't get rid of the shadow at one side.

In the summer there's no problem, the pool is in full sun all day.

Hmm, maybe this does need a bit more looking into. Thanks for your thoughts and if anyone has any brainwaves please let us know.

Chris

[garden_serf]

My vote is for a greenhouse. Use staging and build some raised beds in places that get the most shade. Sounds like you get enough light/sun there anyway. Make some storage areas with raised beds on top. Cover them individually or the whole thing if you can get the materials.

[goldilox]

Thanks for your words of confidence Garden Serf. We've been brain-storming this one since yesterday and decided that, as we are only just past the shortest day, at the moment we are looking at the light levels at their worst. It can only get better from now on.

Your idea of raised beds is a good one. We'd just about decided to put the hot bed down the shady side and plant on top of that, so that should raise things up a bit, and have a normal bed down the other side. And we'll still have lots of room in the middle for pots, i.e. the lemon tree, avocado, lemon grass etc. which need shelter in the winter. And maybe there'll be space for a table and chairs!

We're actually quite excited about this project so will probably give it a go. We were thinking of a polycarbonate roof if we can manage to source the sheets at a reasonable price, and after re-roofing most of the house (one roof to go) Eric thinks this one should be a doddle!! We'll maybe call in a few favours

[garden_serf]

Good luck. It would be interesting to see some before and after pictures!

[goldilox]

We can certainly do some "befores" if I can manage to post them on here

[garden_serf]

Look at KG Forum website help topics, at the bottom of the Board Index - Quick guide to posting pictures

[goldilox]

Will do

[David]

Just thinking about a police program I saw where they discovered a whole house that had been used to grow drugs - the rooms were all blacked out to prevent prying eyes and the rooms lit with lamps - but the walls were covered in what looked like tin foil and the lighting was remarkably even.

Maybe covering the bright side with tin foil would reflect light back in to the shady side?

Please also remember that as the year goes on the sun climbs higher in the sky so what is now deep shade may not be so much in the hieght of summer.

Good luck

David

[goldilox]

Thanks for that David - don't think I'll be growing cannabis though
We thought if we painted the walls white there would be enough reflection, especially if the beds on the shady side were raised up enough.

And you're right about the shady bits not being shady in the summer - normally the whole pool is in full sunlight during the summer months, which may create another problem for us, too hot!! Some people are never happy are they

By the way, still haven't got round to posting photos yet, need a bit of help from my husband, who at the moment is too busy playing guitar
Will do it soon.

By the way, have just ordered our new swimming pool, so looks like the plan is definitely going ahead. It will be delivered 4th Feb, so should be up and running by summer