Baby Greenhouse
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Birthing the Greenhouses
Part One of Three
I thought the dream began approximately four years ago when I went to a basil festival at Possum Creek Herb Farm just north of where I live. In fact, it began when I was born.
I cannot remember a time when my Dad didn’t have a huge garden and my Mom and Grandmother didn’t have all varieties of flowers and shrubs. I grew up surrounded by Oregon grapes, red barberries, pussy willows, scaly bark euonymus, bachelor buttons, “butter and eggs”, iris, tulips, daffodils, and on and on. There would be swaths of zinnias and marigolds four feet wide and 10-plus feet long throughout our yard. Dad would have yellow corn, white corn, tomatoes and more tomatoes, beans, peas, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, cabbage, and “greens”. Family dinners in the summertime would be a smorgasbord of fresh vegetables. Even so, helping in the garden, flower or vegetable, was the last thing I was interested in doing. Whether I knew it or not at the time, dirt-digging and growing was in my blood.
Now, fast-forward to the basil festival. I was intrigued by the small aromatic plants. From that point on, I spent many a Sunday attending various classes on making potpourri, living wreaths, dried wreaths, cooking with herbs, herbal teas, well…you get the picture. I got to know the herb farmer, Michele Brown, and pretty much became a regular to the farm. Being a born shopper, I also began building and filling my own herb gardens, as well as filling my bookcase with various books on the subject. The jaunts to the herb farm and creating my gardens became my respite from the stressful corporate world. Soon, I had 7 raised beds full of various culinary and fragrant herbs. In addition to the herb garden, I was growing vegetables in a 30 x 60 garden plot. Buying vegetable plants that originated who-knows-where and then losing a good number of them for reasons unknown was becoming more and more frustrating. If only I could start my own seeds, for as many of the plants as possible, my yield would surely be better and healthier. I was convinced that plants preferred to live where they were “born”.
My husband grew tired of hearing this over and over again. He also saw and liked the therapeutic effect my gardening hobby was having on me. As a result, 2 ½ years ago he surprised me with an 8 x 12 polycarbonate greenhouse. It was delivered and set up on the same property where my parents had exposed me to flowers, shrubs, trees, fruit and vegetables.
"Baby Greenhouse"
As soon as the season would allow, I promptly began planting a variety of vegetable seeds. Just as I had expected, the plants had a much better survival and yield rate. The next year, I dropped and added varieties of vegetables and introduced edible flowers to the mix. I became so zealous in my seed planting that I was pushing the limit of the greenhouse capacity. At one point, the shelves were full and I had used all available benches and buckets as additional “shelf space”. Two and a half years into the life of “Baby Greenhouse”, it became obvious that it would not provide enough capacity long-term.
One day in June of 2004, my husband walked into my office at work and tossed a folded piece of newspaper on my desk. It was the farm/garden section of the classified ads. Circled was an ad for 3 greenhouses, including all equipment and supplies. He was convinced we should check it out. Who was I to argue?
Was the offering too good to be true? Were the greenhouses just hunks of junk? Was the price and value in line?
Stay tuned for Part Two to find out!!
I thought the dream began approximately four years ago when I went to a basil festival at Possum Creek Herb Farm just north of where I live. In fact, it began when I was born.
I cannot remember a time when my Dad didn’t have a huge garden and my Mom and Grandmother didn’t have all varieties of flowers and shrubs. I grew up surrounded by Oregon grapes, red barberries, pussy willows, scaly bark euonymus, bachelor buttons, “butter and eggs”, iris, tulips, daffodils, and on and on. There would be swaths of zinnias and marigolds four feet wide and 10-plus feet long throughout our yard. Dad would have yellow corn, white corn, tomatoes and more tomatoes, beans, peas, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, cabbage, and “greens”. Family dinners in the summertime would be a smorgasbord of fresh vegetables. Even so, helping in the garden, flower or vegetable, was the last thing I was interested in doing. Whether I knew it or not at the time, dirt-digging and growing was in my blood.
Now, fast-forward to the basil festival. I was intrigued by the small aromatic plants. From that point on, I spent many a Sunday attending various classes on making potpourri, living wreaths, dried wreaths, cooking with herbs, herbal teas, well…you get the picture. I got to know the herb farmer, Michele Brown, and pretty much became a regular to the farm. Being a born shopper, I also began building and filling my own herb gardens, as well as filling my bookcase with various books on the subject. The jaunts to the herb farm and creating my gardens became my respite from the stressful corporate world. Soon, I had 7 raised beds full of various culinary and fragrant herbs. In addition to the herb garden, I was growing vegetables in a 30 x 60 garden plot. Buying vegetable plants that originated who-knows-where and then losing a good number of them for reasons unknown was becoming more and more frustrating. If only I could start my own seeds, for as many of the plants as possible, my yield would surely be better and healthier. I was convinced that plants preferred to live where they were “born”.
My husband grew tired of hearing this over and over again. He also saw and liked the therapeutic effect my gardening hobby was having on me. As a result, 2 ½ years ago he surprised me with an 8 x 12 polycarbonate greenhouse. It was delivered and set up on the same property where my parents had exposed me to flowers, shrubs, trees, fruit and vegetables.
"Baby Greenhouse"
As soon as the season would allow, I promptly began planting a variety of vegetable seeds. Just as I had expected, the plants had a much better survival and yield rate. The next year, I dropped and added varieties of vegetables and introduced edible flowers to the mix. I became so zealous in my seed planting that I was pushing the limit of the greenhouse capacity. At one point, the shelves were full and I had used all available benches and buckets as additional “shelf space”. Two and a half years into the life of “Baby Greenhouse”, it became obvious that it would not provide enough capacity long-term.
One day in June of 2004, my husband walked into my office at work and tossed a folded piece of newspaper on my desk. It was the farm/garden section of the classified ads. Circled was an ad for 3 greenhouses, including all equipment and supplies. He was convinced we should check it out. Who was I to argue?
Was the offering too good to be true? Were the greenhouses just hunks of junk? Was the price and value in line?
Stay tuned for Part Two to find out!!
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