Mom's Greenhouse

Our greenhouse is moving along slowly, thank you very much. In the meantime, I have noticed that greenhouses come in all shapes and sizes.  For instance, my mother has a “greenhouse” of the type I would put in quotation marks. She lives 35 miles north of me in Sharon, CT.  This morning we visited a couple of garden centers in her neighborhood and presented the Womanswork line of garden gloves, then we went to her house for lunch. This is her “greenhouse.” It was purchased by mail through one of my favorite gardening companies, Lee Valley, and it consists of a lightweight metal frame with 2 shelves,  covered in clear plastic with a zippered window for entry. She puts her seedlings in there during the day, while the sun is shining , but she brings in her trays at night since temperatures are still low in northwestern Connecticut. In fact tonight they are predicting a frost in her area.

Another type of “greenhouse” is the window extension. You can have this built onto an existing window. It offers sun from the top and 3 sides and is very useful for a few seedlings and potted houseplants.

The next level up in greenhouses is the free standing greenhouse kit such as the one shown below. These greenhouses are often sold as “do-it-yourselfers” and are situated in an area of the yard where they can get full sun.

Finally, there is the type that is part greenhouse and part sunroom. Although our greenhouse will not be ornate like the ones shown here, it is more along the lines of these greenhouses because it is being designed to fit the architecture of  the house. In winter it will get full sun but in summer a large oak tree will shade it so it won’t need as much ventilation and cooling as most free standing greenhouses do.

The Conservatory Greenhouse

Free Standing Greenhouse from a Kit

Window ExtensionGreenhouse and Sunroom

Greenhouse and Sunroom

Ruth's Greenhouse

Welcome to my 10′ x 9′ greenhouse.  It faces south with a sliding door from the living room. When spring comes I can walk through it onto the deck where I pot up lots of fun combinations in planters. Many of the plants I use have been overwintered and propagated in my greenhouse.  My nitrile garden gloves live there too where they are close to hand. At the moment several varieties of velvety-leaved aromatic Cuban oregano (Plectranthus), a current favorite of mine, are being propagated through cuttings. Coleus and Streptocarpella do well, the latter in full bloom along with mini-fuchsia (Fuchsia cana). I keep geraniums, especially scented ones, growing and blooming through the winter. Chives, parsley and mint are residents too, of course. I’ll be starting seeds any day now—sweet peas in cardboard egg cartons, sweet alyssum (8 weeks to bloom), and spinach.

Plants are Propagated with Cuttings

Propagating plants with cuttings is an easy task. Clip a 1 ½” to 3″ long piece of a young shoot from the mother plant, recut where leaves emerge, remove the lower leaves, and insert the cutting into damp rooting mix: perlite or vermiculite. Water gently. I enclose the whole thing in a plastic vegetable bag, blow it up, and secure tightly with a twistie. This balloon-like cocoon prevents the cuttings from drying out. Keep them away from direct sun or they will cook.

I realized at that moment that I had constructed in my mind an elaborate fantasy that involved growing things from seed to transplant to harvest to preserving.  I pictured a factory production line in my kitchen, with canning jars being boiled and cute little labels being printed off the computer.  I would give away my homegrown preserves as gifts or someday sell them on my Womanswork garden glove website. 

cute little jam jars

I am not the kind of person who lets fantasies go to waste.  First thing we did was punch a big hole in the back of our house and put in a doorway that will lead to the future greenhouse.  At that point I knew there would be no turning back. We call it ‘the door to nowhere.’  

Door to Nowhere with Foundation in Progress

Then in October we built a full foundation ‘to code’.  We completed it just before the first snowfall. (read about that in my October blog entry) 

Poured Slab With Snow

Cozying up to Green house Catalogs and How To Books

There are many things to think about when planning a greenhouse.  I got three books on building a greenhouse for Christmas and on cold days I can be found reading in front of the fire, sipping hot tea and hibernating under a fluffy throw, thinking about the fun I will have.  In my next post I will review some of my reading material. I have also learned of websites for canning supplies, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

How-To Greenhouse Books

Delivering cement blocks for greenhouse foundation

What’s that noise?” my husband Tom asked.  “Oh that?  It’s just the cement truck backing up in the yard,” I answered.  Last week it was the jack hammer digging the hole in our yard.

When I said I wanted to build a greenhouse I did not mean the kind you pick out of a greenhouse catalog and construct in a weekend if you are a “handy do it yourselfer.” I meant the kind that is attached to your house, and you can walk into on a cold snowy day in winter to pick lemons from your lemon tree.

Planning A Greenhouse Can be Blissfully Complicated

Call it part of my charm, but my idea of a greenhouse is extremely involved. First, we enlisted a talented architect friend up the road, Eduardo Faxas, to help design the greenhouse so it will look like it belongs to the house, since it will be visible from the front.  Then we made the decision to bring in the local building inspector and build a cement foundation ‘to code’ just in case we ever want to dismantle the greenhouse and create a real room with insulation and flooring, etc. (With a lesser foundation we would not have that option down the road). It is also better for resale value because a greenhouse could be seen as undesirable by prospective buyers.

Last spring we did some interior renovations in my Womanswork home office and while the office was torn apart for that, we had the doorway to the future greenhouse installed.  We call it the ‘door to nowhere.’  For now. 

We are trying to get the greenhouse foundation wall completed and the cement slab poured before winter sets in.  My stepdaughter Eve and I have been donning our work gloves and shoveling in top soil around the wall to make it easier for our mason to continue his work.  The actual construction of the greenhouse will take place next spring when temperatures permit outdoor work again. Where we live (Dutchess County, NY), it is cold by mid-November. It won’t warm up until April or May.

Door Leading to Future Greenhouse

Dorian and Eve doing some digging