Upgrading greenhouse benches

Last year we cobbled together some pallets and scrap wood to make greenhouse benches. In the past year we have visited some farmers and their greenhouse growing systems and decided we needed to make some changes.

We made another farm investment by moving from wood to metal pipe and building roll-away greenhouse benches. The frame is made out of tubular greenhouse pipe the legs are adjustable, and their are 2 pipes on the top of the frame that allow you to roll a frame that sits on top (see photo). We built the top frame of 2 x 4 lumber and then bent some roofing metal that holds seedling trays.

The next improvement in the greenhouse system is a recyclable water supply. It is a very simple system that contains a livestock tank and a sump pump. Plastic water pipe (main line) is connected to the sump pump outlet with feeder lines coming from the main line to each greenhouse bench. At the top of the greenhouse bench is a "T" ball valve and 3/4 inch diam pvc pipe with a few holes drilled into it to allow water to flow on the metal pans. The bench is tipped toward a gutter that is attached to the side of the greenhouse frame that takes the water and dumps it into the livestock tank at the end of the greenhouse. You fill up the livestock tack once and recycle the water through the season. This allows for warmer water going to the seeds and bottom watering of the trays.

We are still fine tuning the system, but it should already allows for efficient use of greenhouse space and less time spent watering. Come by the greenhouse and see how it works!