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1. Profits from a Greenhouse

The title of this chapter gives the basic theme of this book. Everything I have put in the following 300-odd pages is aimed at the gardener who now has, or plans to have—or has ever hoped for—a home greenhouse. By sharing my personal experi­ence and first-hand knowledge with you, I will show you how actually uncomplicated it is to make money from a little green­house in your own backyard. This book will reveal how you can achieve the ideal setup—to reap a profit and have fun at the same time.

Every angle of making money from plants is explored; for instance, Chapter 11 tells "How to Price and Market Your Plants," a highly important consideration. If you have a green­house already in operation, and you are an experienced grower, you may wish to turn to that or some other "advanced" chap­ters right away. But for the sake of those who want the whole picture—and to make a logical presentation—let's take first things first.

Although the number of home greenhouse owners is increas­ing every year, the total still is relatively small. But I believe that most gardeners would like to have a small backyard greenhouse. The original cost of a modest-sized structure is within many a gardener's budget. Why, then, don't more of them have a greenhouse? It is probably because they think that even if they can afford the original building cost by doing most of the work themselves, they will not be able to meet yearly operating and maintenance costs.

For years this idea kept me from enjoying a greenhouse. But one day I had an inspiration. Why couldn't a little greenhouse be run for profit, or at least on a self-supporting basis? If this could be managed (even though the income paid only the running costs and upkeep), a greenhouse would not have to be a luxury. I thought of my plant-collecting friends who often asked me where to obtain rare plants. And I thought, too, of various growers seeking to buy hard-to-get plants in quantities not large enough for a big commercial house to bother with— perhaps no more than a hundred or so plants or bulbs of a rare kind for which usually the only sources are in foreign countries. I realized that in my home I had grown all of these out-of-the ordinary plants, so I felt reasonably sure of my ability. I simply lacked space to produce them even in small quantity. With a greenhouse, however, I knew I could supply these rare items— yes, and offer other exciting things, too. The more I thought about it the more certain I became that a greenhouse could be put on a paying basis. My "inspiration" soon became an actual­ity: I built a greenhouse.

Through experience I have learned that a profitable green­house is not necessarily a high-priced one. Proper planning and various economies, which will be suggested in this book, can keep construction costs to a minimum. But whatever you plan to spend (or have already spent), you'll find that your outlay can be completely recovered in earnings from a single plant project. I did it—and you can, too.

A Greenhouse for You

There are many types of greenhouse to choose from. There is the low-cost (often heatless) pit greenhouse; the lean-to; the attached-to-the-dwelling greenhouse; and the free-standing greenhouse which often has a handsome exterior. The outside design, however, no matter how beautifully executed, is of minor significance when it comes to profits. In greenhouse growing, it's the interior that counts.

Building your greenhouse can be a family project, or you can get professional help to erect all or part of it. A cement con­tractor built the foundation and walk for ours, and we did the rest ourselves. Your first profit-making greenhouse can cost you as little as $75.00, or it can run into hundreds and even thou­sands. You can build with inexpensive second-hand materials from an old dismantled greenhouse, buy all new material, build a plastic greenhouse or construct your house with com­pletely or partially prefabricated sections.

What to Grow

Your very first year of under-glass gardening (a term that now means under-plastic, too) can show a profit, even if you are not an expert gardener. Indeed, the plants that are easiest to grow may be the very ones to click in your neighborhood. Wax begonias, ivy, marigolds, philodendron, petunias, coleus, and cacti can be real profit-makers. Today every city has super­markets, dime stores, and roadside markets, and these are all potential outlets for such plants. In Minneapolis, some of the drugstores carry small plants, and there are cafes where you can buy a pretty pink begonia as well as a blue-plate luncheon.

Many new home owners know little about gardening but welcome colorful plants if they don't cost very much, say 49 or 98 cents each. These may or may not be profitable enough for local florists, but suit to a T your kind of business.

Mail Order

Your choice of profit-making plants may be dictated some­what by your indoor gardening experience and the time you have spent as a hobby gardener or collector. As you gain experi­ence your horizons will widen.

Many amateurs have learned through round robins (corre­spondence groups) what collector friends through the coun­try are buying—or trying to buy. If you plan to go into the mail-order business, it would be a good idea to join one or more of these groups. They will give you some good leads. Some garden magazines and many of the plant societies sponsor round robins. Membership in plant society round robins is free with membership. The addresses of various plant societies will usually be found at the back of any magazine which sponsors round-robin groups. But the most complete source of addresses of all kinds of plant and garden organizations is the "Directory of American Horticulture" published by the American Horti­cultural Council, Jamaica Plain 30, Massachusetts (Price: $1.50).

If you enjoy growing uncommon or exotic plants—the so-called collectors' items—and yours is a small community where sales for these would be limited, you can solve your dilemma by carrying on a mail-order business. Doing business through the mail is not difficult. Later I will tell you about shipping restrictions and packing and how to develop a customer list for this type of business.

2. A glass or plastic greenhouse makes its own weather. This attached unit even puts the wall of the dwelling to good use.  (Photograph by Tully)

Without Heat

Heat is not essential for all kinds of greenhouse gardening. Although gloxinias, for instance, usually are grown in a well-heated house, a Minneapolis man has found out how to make a tidy profit from them without heat. In late February, he starts seedlings in his kitchen windows and in his basement under fluorescent lights. When the weather warms up in late April, he moves the seedlings to an unheated pit greenhouse. By August, when the local market is just right for selling gloxinias in flower, he has quantities—and florists clamor for them. Actually he could sell many more if he wanted to expand his little project. And this is carried on in a greenhouse, without heat, in Minnesota's cold north country.

Another friend makes money from an unheated greenhouse by using it as a potting shed and starter room for potted roses, daylilies, and iris. She also has a heated greenhouse—a glassed-in extension of the south portion of the basement—which she uses for starting seeds of tender plants. She has found that this is also the perfect place for a few potted orchid plants whose blooms are always in demand.

Potted conifers grown in a cool greenhouse bring profit to an­other Minnesota gardener who prefers growing trees to flowers.

House Plants

A young man in Oklahoma made a success of growing many kinds of house plants in a 6- by 9-foot plastic-covered green­house. Total outlay for all materials was $70.00, and it was not unusual for him to net that amount in a single month.

An enthusiast in Maine invested $75.00 to transform an old chicken coop into a small lean-to greenhouse. She soon devel­oped it into a profitable hobby, and today she owns and operates four large greenhouses. Her specialties are potted ges-neriads (African violets, etc.) and bedding plants, such as coleus, wax begonias, and geraniums.

And what about growing plants just for their seeds? Seeds of newer varieties of saintpaulias often bring as much as $750.00 per ounce! There is also a steady market for seed of rare plants and extra-fine strains of garden and house plants.

Help Yourself—Take Courses

If you want to enlarge your field of operation you can learn to be a florist or landscape nurseryman by taking a correspond­ence or extension course. Nearly every state university gives extension courses; nationally known and advertised florist and landscape schools teach you through the mail.

These schools have prominent horticulturists on their staffs, and they stand ready to help with all of your "growing and selling" problems. One of the landscape schools is now adding to its curriculum a course in greenhouse growing and manage­ment.

My brother, a major in the United States Army, will retire at the age of forty-three. Looking ahead, he and his wife took a florist course. Upon retirement, they will build and stock a small greenhouse and open a florist shop.

Glass-House Gardener s Club

Amateur greenhouse growers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have formed a group which might well be emulated in other cities. They call themselves the Glass-House Gardener's Club. The members exchange growing methods as well as successes and failures. This makes for easier under-glass growing for all and offers pleasant social contact, too.

Once you have established your own greenhouse business, you won't mind the fact that most of the plants are only rent-paying tenants (or profit-making transients).

3. Big, multi-stemmed begonias will provide many cuttings to replace plants sold from this sturdy bench. Tip for owners of crowded green­houses: note the narrow shelf that utilizes the space behind the strings for sweet peas.  (Photograph by Roche)

You will enjoy these plant "guests" because they pay expenses and net you some profit too—profit that, if nothing else, will permit you to enjoy your own plants without tight-budget worries. "Money doesn't grow on trees," you'll find, but you can make it grow in a home greenhouse.

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