Lots of people want a greenhouse, for one reason or another. Once the idea enters the mind, the home scene is not complete without the desired greenhouse. That is the way it happened to us!
Our greenhouse was delivered mid-summer two years ago. It was an odd-looking shipment that consisted of a minimum of crates. Doubts filled our minds as to whether or not this was all of our order.
As it turned out, the shipment was complete, and with the blueprint in hand, we had a picnic putting the house together. Our time was limited, so we raised the house by working an hour here and an hour there. All in all, it was up and ready for plant inhabitants long before I had dared hope for it.
Our purpose in buying a home greenhouse was to provide a home hobby for five persons, ages 61 down to six. The front part of the greenhouse is designed for a work room neat and is pretty, and the growing area is 13 by 10 feet. We figured that this was about all the space we could handle.
At the outset we didn’t plan an enterprise as frightening as a “business,” yet, here was the nucleus of one – right in the palms of our ten hands. All we asked in return for our investment was that the children would learn something along with the joy they would derive from watching beautiful things grow.
We liked our greenhouse so much that we decided to seek a dealership on this house and take out licenses necessary for such a venture. So, we found ourselves tearfully dismantling the house for reconstruction at our state fair.
It made a beautiful display although it cost us more than we got back. Yet, we came to regard our greenhouse more possessively and we were all happy when the fair-worn thing arrived again on home territory and we set about putting it up again.
Then many inquiries poured in about plants in general and it came time to “put up or shut up” so we took out more licenses and paid necessary state inspection taxes and found ourselves involved in a small retail plant business.
So, besides holding down a regular desk job in the city, and Daddy maintaining his regular night job in a large manufacturing plant, I solicited some large commercial orders for company parties during the Christmas season.
At one time I had to make 325 carnation corsages overnight and not miss a day from the office! Also, a new item in the corsage line was born, the “Lalagag,” named by a dear friend who fell in love with a holiday corsage we designed made up of junk from the dime store.
We sold about 125 of these and the girls learned to tie bows, Daddy sealed corsage bags and everyone learned more about the uses of types of foliage from the greenhouse.
Necessary Cautions
We keep the greenhouse stocked with a few of every kind of plant that people generally want. Our collection of exotic bulbs and plants has grown until we even have most of the space under the benches filled.
Now we’ve become well enough known that people write, or send a message and leave the choice of materials and plants entirely to me. This facilitates our work in that we can use what we have without buying anew every time we get an order.
Our biggest blow came when we received the first heating bill. It was just, correct and due there was nothing to do but pay it. Then we set to work to figure a way to have heat, yet not have a monstrous expense. We learned that we were pampering our stock too much and we figured out ways of imprisoning the heat we had and retaining it at the proper level for a longer time.
Reading about a project such as this one sometimes makes one think that having a greenhouse is a cinch. Here a word of caution is necessary. There is always work to be done – and something else may have to be neglected when a thousand tiny plants have to be moved or when the lights go off and heat must be provided to avoid losing about $500 worth of plant life.
Growing Space
In such a small growing space, one must reckon with the watering problem. Some plants need only a minimum, others demand moisture at all times. If humidity is not high enough, leaf and blossom damage runs high. One of the features of our prefabricated house is the drip-proof construction.
The gutters gather rivulets of moisture that collect and flood them into pipes that drain under the benches where they supply moisture in the greenhouse.
Another angle is that barnyard manure, peat moss, and smelly chemicals must be endured if one is to design and plant a decorative planter for a customer who must always be pleased. A shoestring florist must have nothing but satisfied customers and if all five of us are not satisfied, we do not stop until we are!
A greenhouse owner cannot take off for days on jaunts without protecting his investment. Automatic equipment is fine, but it still must be watched. For example, on warm windy days, the automatic vents won’t shut because the temperature is too high and much humidity is lost in a few minutes.
Seedlings and tender new stock suffer a setback that can be fatal, depending on the plant material and its growth cycle at the time of the brutal change of conditions.
I believe that a home greenhouse will have something in it that will interest every family member. The operation of a greenhouse creates certain discipline and orderly habits. It is not a plaything, it will not ever be a get-rich-quick hobby-business. Yet, it is a sort of plaything that gives a few moments of joy and relaxation to everyone who comes near.
Take it from us! For any family’s profit-making hobby – and not in dollar-cent values alone, a greenhouse certainly fills the bill.
This article appeared over 60 years ago in a gardening magazine. But the idea still holds true. With a backyard greenhouse, it is possible to create a second side hustle for extra income and a fun hobby.
44659 by Luella Thornburgh