Currently, I want a greenhouse.
A big, beautiful, greenhouse.
I want to be able to keep a salad garden thriving throughout the winter months without stalled growth, and potentially cool weather tomatoes as well (such as Sub-Arctic Plenty.) I imagine several beds on either side, lining the path to floor-ceiling shelving, which will hold my hopeful little seedlings each and every spring.
I want to be able to extend the growing season for any container grown tomato plants that I love by tossing them into the greenhouse each and every fall, keeping my garden active for just a little bit longer.
The idea of biting into a juicy yellow pear tomato in the middle of a chilly November is incredibly enticing….
Enticing enough to launch myself into this greenhouse-building adventure!
Growing All of the Seeds; All of Them!
Every year, I start wayyyyy too many seeds.
I start more seeds than I can even plant, and I want to kick myself in the rear for it each time. I can’t help it, especially when I can buy these seeds for $0.99 to $1.99 a pack, with free shipping ONLY getting me into even more trouble during the winter months! (they send me an offer for free shipping at least once a month… It gets out of hand at times, or at least my family thinks so…)
All of those beautiful little overdone seedlings usually need a new home, yet other people seem to have the hardest time getting seeds to grow; clearly, there’s a market for those seedlings.
I don’t mean to be Captain Obvious or anything, but the amount of seedlings that these hardware and department store chains sell is absolutely flooring; to boot, they usually don’t offer anything aside from the standard varieties, such as California Wonder Bell Peppers, Red Beefsteak Tomatoes, Purple Cherokee Tomatoes, standard Jalapeno Peppers, Banana Peppers, or Roma Tomatoes.
Now, they have a reason for that: people want what they’re familiar with….
The People Need Some Variety, Though!
People know these names, they’ve grown these varieties for years, and they know they work for them.
Without variety, though, these people won’t get to experience anything new; in addition, your typical hobby gardener may not be interested in starting their plants from seed and having to care for them through the late winter months, just to try something new.
These are the people I’d like to sell my plants to!
I would greatly enjoy growing varieties like Jubilee, Big Rainbow, Dad’s Sunset, Black Beauty, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Black Krim, Striped Roma, and more for this crowd. My variety list won’t be massive this year, but it’ll be significantly larger next year; hopefully, I’ll have some great repeat customers to kick the 2021 season off right!
But, I also want to offer some of those “old faithful” varieties too- at a discount. This way, customers can get exactly what they’re after as far as tomatoes are concerned.
In addition, I want to offer other great plants, including Lavender, Various herbs such as mint or Thyme, some delicious squash varieties like White Scallop, and my personal favorite melon: Sakata’s Sweet Melon. I’m a bit ambitious, but that’s a-okay.
The Two Year Plan for “Operation Greenhouse”
It may seem odd, but I’m actually planning for TWO greenhouses in the next two years!
- First, I will use small low tunnel structures for starting my seedlings this spring (2020), composed of stakes, hoops, and plastic. Nothing fancy, but it’ll protect them on chilly nights.
- Then, I will build a temporary greenhouse in the fall of 2020 for the spring of 2021, from those sales.
- During the fall of 2021, I hope to build my permanent greenhouse. The temporary greenhouse will remain either as a backup greenhouse for overflow, or it will be converted into a shelter for pigs, turkeys, quail, or… more goats. It may even be converted into a second she-shed, because we all need more she-sheds, right??
I promise, it all makes perfect sense!
First, we must remember that I’m starting with no greenhouse at all; it would be virtually impossible to manage 1,000+ seedlings in the space that I have available, with the seedling lights that I have available. A few hundred, I can manage.
When you factor in how many seedlings I reserve for our personal use, the numbers add up quickly.
In order for me to offer a large variety of seedlings in the spring of 2021 to truly fund the greenhouse I’d like to own, I’m going to have to build a smaller, cheaper, temporary greenhouse during the fall of 2020. This greenhouse will hopefully manage roughly 800-1,200 seedlings, which will get my foot in the door for the permanent one.
The Current Plan: A Frugal Low Tunnel
As for this year, I am preparing to purchase the materials for some low tunnels, which will hopefully be adequate for keeping the plants warm. I will update this post with images of the incredibly cheap and affordable structures I’m building, so that you can build them if you need them, too!
The idea is to utilize:
- Cheap, 18″ to 24″ tomato stakes
- $1 Hula Hoops (from Dollar Tree) or PVC pipe, whichever turns out to be cheapest
- Painting drop cloth
- Water Jugs and rocks, painted black (for solar heat collection and retention)
Stay tuned for the results!
