Free Gardening Supplies Search! Enter Your Topic Below:

Green House Nursery Sitemap

Foreword - The most thrilling pursuit in amateur horticulture today is certainly greenhouse gardening. It is only recently that modern technological developments have made the small greenhouse a practical reality for the average gardener. Now for the first time, almost anyone can have the facilities for that complete control of plant growth formerly enjoyed only by the wealthy hobbyist or the professional grower.

Acknowledgments - I am most grateful to all the greenhouse owners who shared their experiences with me. Many are mentioned by name in the pages of this book, and if the book were longer it would, indeed, carry scores of other names—growers for profit who want to share their experiences with other kindred souls.

01. Greenhouse Profits - 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.

02. My Profit-Making - The highlight of the story of my own greenhouse—a 12-footer plus workroom-annex—is that it paid for itself in 9 months. I will give you a few of the salient points of its con­struction, but mostly I'll describe operation, for it has been successful enough to warrant expansion to twice the size—and after only 4 years.

03. Best Greenhouse - Before you do anything—even before you start dreaming about building a greenhouse—check with your city engineer or building inspector. It is important to know what the building regulations are as to greenhouse placement and construction. In some residential areas, construction of any kind of commer­cial structure is prohibited. Find out everything about all rele­vant laws—and don't consider yourself "too smart" to need a lawyer

04. Plastic Greenhouses - Plastic, as a substitute for glass in greenhouse glazing, is here to stay, but it is still in the experimental stage. It probably always will be, as long as new materials and different uses con­tinue to appear, so you will have to keep yourself abreast of new developments. Two types of plastic generally are used: smooth transparent sheets of polyethylene and vinyl film, and corrugated and special types of plastic such as Fiberglas, Al-synite, Mylar, Filon, and Corrolux. Commercial builders are finding the smooth film plastic increasingly useful, especially when they want economical, rapid construction for additional plantings or a quick seasonal crop and aren't too concerned with the lasting qualities of the glazing. (See Photo 12.) The more expensive corrugated types have great endurance. Tests indicate they may last 25 years without deteriorating.

05. Cold Frames - Owners of home greenhouses invariably have one problem in common. They do not build them large enough. This is an especially knotty situation for those of us who have profit in mind. If you are in this boat, you will welcome ideas on obtain­ing more growing space with the use of "auxiliary growing facilities," such as cold frames, hotbeds, and lath houses.

06. Practical Greenhouse - The temperature you maintain in your greenhouse plays an important part in plant growth. Greenhouses are classified as cold houses (unheated), cool houses (55 to 60 degrees at night), or warm houses (60 to 70 degrees at night). Whenever night temperatures are cited you should figure on a daytime requirement about 10 degrees higher. Each of these three classes of greenhouses is suitable for growing certain kinds of salable plants.

07. Heating + Ventilating - Ample light and ventilation are essential in any greenhouse, while heating, humidification, and cooling must be considered in most operations. What you need will depend on where you are located and the crops you grow.

There are many types of heating units. Choose one which will keep the temperature of your greenhouse at desired levels for the full 24 hours. With any of the nationally advertised heating systems, spare parts are easily purchased. This is a good feature as it may save you time (and thus money) in case of a breakdown.

08. Watering + Fertilizing - Greenhouse plants in pots, flats, or benches are completely dependent on the grower for their needs. Watering is perhaps the most important and demanding job of all. Most plants are largely made up of water. A growing plant gives off tremendous quantities of moisture (in the form of vapor) through its leaves; this is called transpiration. If water is not available in the soil so the plant's roots can replace this transpiration, the plant will wilt and quite possibly die.

09. Soils + Potting - You will make bigger profits from your greenhouse crops if you plant them in the right soil mixture, in the proper kind of pot or other container, and shift or transplant them at timely intervals.

. The first-time greenhouse grower often faces the problem of finding organic material, an essential component of a light and rich potting soil.

10. Plant Supply - As the owner of a small greenhouse, you will find it more profitable to buy rooted cuttings of foliage plants, geraniums, hoya (wax plant), hydrangeas, and many others than to give over space to propagating them. But in the case of rare plants, such as hybrids you have developed or collector's varieties of African violets or gloxinias, you will want to grow your own stock. With African violets you need not wait for good-sized plants to develop from cuttings; zealous collectors will buy rooted or un-rooted leaf cuttings taken from choice plants.

11. Price + Market - The price you charge for your plants will depend on whether you sell finished or unfinished stock, and whether your enter­prise is a full-time business or just a profitable sideline or self-supporting hobby. In this and some of the succeeding chapters you will find discussion of large-scale, home greenhouse grow­ing and sales operations.

12. Spring Bedding - Owners of small "commercial" greenhouses are naturally alert for ways to save labor and stretch their producing areas. Both ends can be served by starting annuals (including bed­ding plants) and tender perennials in flats in late winter or early spring, and moving them to cold frames as soon as freez­ing -weather is past. Once the flats are moved out, the green­house space can be filled with other things.

13. Salable Plants - You can grow any plant to perfection in a properly regulated greenhouse, but there may be times when you need all of your greenhouse space for selected pot plants or other specialties. If you are faced with this predicament, grow your annuals, biennials, and perennials in cold frames, hotbeds, and lath houses.

14. Garden Plants - Annuals and many of the biennials and perennials can be grown in and sold directly from 2-, 3-, or 4-inch pots, or started in flats and grown on in pots. Grown and sold in pots (and especially in the organic pots) plants suffer little or no setback when transplanted to the garden, terrace, or window box. The busy gardener appreciates the fact that he doesn't have to plant potted plants immediately.

15. House-Plant Market - Tropical foliage plants are enormously and deservedly popu­lar. Many new homes are being constructed with built-in planter bins and unusual planters or combination planter-room-dividers, some with artificial lighting units. This—combined with the long-standing market for potted and bare-root foliage plants for old-fashioned window gardens, water planters, etc. —spells "ready money" for almost any kind of foliage house plant you may grow.

16. African Violets - The African violet (Saintpaulia) first headed the pot-plant popularity polls about twelve years ago and has held the top spot ever since, with each year bringing an increasing number of friends. Varieties of this gesneriad are numbered in the thou­sands, and it is one of the few florists' plants which blooms throughout the year.

17. Gloxinias - When it comes to growing for profit, gloxinias (sinningias) have two real advantages: They are among the showiest of flowering pot plants and they also make excellent "specializing" material. The heaviest flowering of these gesneriads occurs during the warm months, but staggered plantings will produce some flowers the year round, so plants are almost always sala­ble. Colors range from purest white through blues and purples to the brightest red. There are selfs, bicolors, margined vari­eties, and some with speckles and dots. There are older vari­eties with narrow tubular throats and modern hybrids with large wide faces and nodding "slippers" large and small.

18. Gesneriads - African violets and gloxinias are two members of the Ges-neriaceae family which also includes Achimenes, Aeschynan-thus, Columnea, Episcia, Kohleria, Rechsteineria, Smithiantha, and Streptocarpus—a wide variety of forms and colors. There are climbers, trailers, shrubs, and low-growing, rosette plants in white through shades of yellow and orange to brilliant scar­let. Small wonder that collectors have taken such a fancy to them! Most gesneriads thrive under the same conditions as African violets and gloxinias. Since many can be grown in hanging baskets they offer a profitable way to use space at the top of the greenhouse.

19. Geraniums - Wherever you are located, you can be sure of an active de­mand for the geraniums (Pelargonium). You will sell bright-flowered singles and doubles as spring bedders, for foundation or patio plantings, for window boxes or planters. Zonals and Martha Wellingtons are specialties for Memorial Day, and the trailing ivies for poolside plantings and hanging baskets. The dwarf, cactus, fancy- and scented-leaved varieties are year-round sellers to collectors.

20. Amaryllis Family - Few large growers have made a specialty of the amaryllids, which include the handsome Agapanthus, Clivia, Haemanthus, Sprekelia, and Zephyranthes. Currently the main sources are foreign, but there is no reason why you couldn't grow and sell them here. Many have only basic cultural requirements.

21. Orchids - No matter how new you may be in the greenhouse-for-profit business, you need not fear failure with orchids. They are not all costly or difficult, as you may have supposed. Orchids offer double profit—as flowering pot plants and as cut flowers.

There are terrestrial (earth-grown) types such as the cypripe-diums (lady slippers) and calanthes. These are popular collec­tor plants, easily handled by the amateur grower.

22. Cut Flowers - Flower arranging and designing will help you make more profit from your greenhouse. Some of the flowers and foliage you use can be grown in your greenhouse or garden—other material will have to be purchased—preferably from a whole­saler, if one is accessible to you. New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Decoration Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are the big holidays when cut flowers, arrangements, accessories, greens, and corsages are in greatest demand.

23. Hybridizing - Hybridizing, or plant breeding, offers many profit-making op­portunities to the new as well as the experienced grower. It is in this field that your greenhouse is most essential—an in­dispensable time- and money-saver for you.

Many of the varieties you originate will appeal to the "des­sert market"—collectors and other gardeners who, unmindful of cost, want to have the latest thing. You will find some of these customers in your vicinity, but you may have to rely mainly on mail-order sales.

24. Other $ Possibilities - Perhaps you are not particularly interested in making money from selling potted plants, bulbs, or seeds. Still, you want a self-supporting or profit-making greenhouse. A number of hybri­dizers use their greenhouses to hasten the growth of many plants, including iris, hemerocallis, and roses. Others devote their houses to the propagation of dahlias. Still others find a greenhouse ideal for promoting the growth of young evergreens which will eventually be sold for landscaping.

25. Packing + Shipping - You may pack and ship hundreds of different kinds of plants but the procedures you use will fall into methods of packing dry material such as dormant bulbs, tubers, and rhizomes; bare root plants; cuttings; leaves such as those of African violets; small and large plants, and seeds. The suggestions that follow are generally for mail orders, but many of the packing methods also will be helpful when you have to transport plant material in your car (or pack it in a customer's car).

Appendix - Everyone is eligible to subscribe to the national garden and greenhouse magazines, and as a commercial or at least semi-commercial grower or retail florist, you are also eligible for professional trade papers. In these publications, you will find ads of firms which sell all types of greenhouses, greenhouse and florist's supplies, and almost any plant you want to purchase.

THE END