The Greenhouse Saga

Finally, I have my little greenhouse ready to propagate the herbs and perennials that I will use and sell next year! I wanted to show you the set up from start to finish and even had some cool video of the men moving it into place but I deleted it by mistake!

I spent several months researching hobby houses, prices, construction, etc. As some of you know, I owned a fairly large greenhouse and operated a small nursery out of that facility. I knew I could not put a large house on my current property and I didn't want to drive somewhere to tend a greenhouse and plants daily. Set up was a big thing for me. My husband and I are not as young and strong as we used to be and Bill is a totally non-plant person. He does not have a clue about growing or propagation so I knew it would be mostly up to me.

On a trip to McMinniville, TN this spring, we stopped by Morton's Horticurtual Supply to buy potting soil. There in their parking lot was just what I had been looking for. 8'x18', solar vents top and back, large vent fan, heavy duty benches down both sides, extra shelves,basket rods and even the ground cover to go under.  The best thing was they deliver it set up and ready to go!

I placed my order about a month later. I added all the components for an intermittent mist system to go with it. My son, Josh came with his backhoe and dug a trench to bury the plumbing and electric. He recommended someone to do the electric and Josh did the plumbing including the mist system.

We took delivery on July 12. I've never seen anyone work as hard as Eddie from Morton's and his helper. Because the house was loaded on the truck with the door to the back, they had to physically turn the house around to fit my site. The thing weighs about 2500 pounds and they only had a couple of heavy duty dolly wheels to help them. It would have been much easier if my site had not been covered with small gravel. Thank goodness, my church had team out in the area helping people with landscaping. I called my friends and they showed up with 5 strong men and boys and moved that baby in place in no time flat!

Josh set up the mist system (with his helper,my grandson Tad). I'm ready to go to work! I still need to landscape around it and build a small retaining wall but I have all fall to do that. We haven't covered the trench because Josh's backhoe is tied up on a construction site but we will get it all done before frost.

I already have been collecting plants to use for cuttings to grow herbs and perennials that are not available locally. I am especially happy about all the flavored Thyme and Mints I found on one of my plant searches this summer.