Archive for December, 2006

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. Unlike flatted plants, which tend to grow into a jungle, individually potted plants can be kept for some time in a sheltered area as under shrubs or on a shady porch.

If your greenhouse is small and this is your first year in business, you may find it advisable to purchase ready-grown stock in lots of 25 to 100 for resale. The more popular plants are reasonably priced when you buy in lots, thus enabling you to make a substantial profit, at least 50 per cent, on them. Later, as you discover which plants your customers favor, you can make provisions for starting your own crop in the greenhouse, cold frame, or hot bed.

Since new varieties appear and sometimes fade away so rapidly, I’m not going to delve into them very much in the following plant notes. I urge you, however, to keep posted on the All-America Selections and other introductions each year. Don’t be afraid to be a leader in offering these to your customers, but don’t be too quick to discard the old reliable varieties, either.

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees

In the South

A Florida grower uses his lath house for growing many ges-neriads, caladiums, camellias, palms, potted kaempferias, and other salable plants. He engages in both local retail and mail-order selling, and to him this garden structure is as useful as a second greenhouse. From a flat slatted roof hang dozens of baskets of achimenes (his specialty). During the winter the achimenes rest and the small rhizomes are stored indoors.

On benches, grow pots of caladiums, bird of paradise (Strelitzia regina), unusual arums such as amorphallus, rare callas for collectors, and several kinds of kaempferias. His shipping season is finished by October 1 and the only items remaining at that time are stock plants to be used for propagating.

In California

California is famous for its gorgeous tuberous-rooted begonias, and a large percentage of this crop is grown in lath houses. To conserve room the hanging basket types are suspended from the ceiling. Other kinds grow directly in benches, in pots set on staging (steps), or shelves; some are planted into the ground.

Tuberous begonia seeds planted in November make flowering plants by spring. During the interim, when it is too chilly for the seedlings to be outdoors, they are usually grown in the greenhouse many of them being grown in plastic covered greenhouses. Staggered plantings of tubers from February until April produce flowers for most of the spring and summer.

Large commercial growers in California store the tubers in refrigerated or specially constructed and cooled cellars at 50 degrees F. The smaller grower plans his stock so he’ll have few tubers to store and these usually can be stored in a basement or a cool closet.

In the Midwest and North

A Kansas grower who specializes in sales of potted vines and trailers, propagates her plants in a basement fluorescent setup. When the weather is mild, she moves the plants to the lath house. In the lath house are top and side hooks for the plants. Moss-lined baskets of achimenes and columneas hang from the ceiling. Many varieties of ceropegia and episcias are grown on the sides. Here, too, are strawberry begonias, asarina, philo-dendron, and ivy.

Another Kansas grower who specializes in rex begonias and ferns starts all of her plants in the cool greenhouse. In April they are moved to the lath house. She sells both retail and through the mail. The lath house provides such a beautiful setting for these plants that it is easy to sell them to visitors. A grower in our area has made a lath house of discarded fluorescent light tubes. In it she grows for sale tuberous begonias and trailing geraniums. And in the shade of this same lath house she works at her favorite hobby, grafting shrubs and trees.

A Missouri grower uses the lath house for summering orchids. During the winter they are grown under fluorescent light and in a tiny greenhouse extended from the basement. Early in April the orchids are moved to the lath house. Here they remain until late fall.

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All annuals can be boosted into early growth in the hotbed. However, you should determine whether gardeners in your area are ready and willing to purchase them early, before you spend additional money starting them this way. Sow the seed in flats, pots, or directly into the hotbed. Fine seed such as petunia is sprinkled on top the soil or other growing media with but a light covering of sand sprinkled over it. Larger seeds daisy, castor bean, etc. are planted to inch deep.

In addition to the annuals mentioned in other sections of this book, these, too, are good sellers and easily grown in the hotbed: African daisy, angel trumpet, balloon vine, blue lace-flower (Didiscus), cardinal climber, cup-and-saucer vine, firecracker plant (Cuphea), flax, lupine, salpiglossis, and statice.

Vegetables in the Hotbed

Most small greenhouse operators do not find it profitable to grow and sell vegetable plants. But you should at least find out about the possible market for them in your area. If sources of supply are short, you may add considerably to your greenhouse earnings by selling vegetable plants grown in the hotbed. If you intend to grow the plants to marketable stage, be sure to keep them growing uniformly and as rapidly as possible without soft straggly growth. Careful watering and ventilation are among the greatest good-growth factors. If the plants appear to be growing too rapidly, decrease water and give them more ventilation.

Tomatoes

If you live in one of the warmer areas you can plant tomato seed from January to late February. In the North, seed planted in the hotbed in early March makes salable plants for late May.

Speed germination by having the soil temperature 70 to 75 degrees F. Once the seedlings appear, reduce the temperature 10 degrees. Germination takes place in less than a week. Given strong light and moderate watering, seedlings will grow stocky and are ready for transplanting to the cold frame 2 to 3 weeks after planting.

Approximately the same culture can be applied to several other popular vegetables eggplant, peppers, cabbage, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and summer squash. Check your local market for the possibilities of profit.

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Regulate hotbed temperatures so the soil is 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the air; this encourages heavy root growth and stocky plants. Most plants and seeds start root growth at 70 to 80 degrees. All need proper ventilation, watering, and shading. Transfer to the hotbed any of the spring bedding plants you have started in the greenhouse; use the hotbed for starting summer-flowering bulbs; to hasten growth of flowering annuals or vegetables; for propagating cuttings of perennials; or for starting herbs from seed or cuttings.

Tubers, Bulbs, and Corms

Bury potted tuberous begonias, caladium, tuberose, tigridia, and other tender summer-flowering bulbs in the hotbed soil. Start with a bottom heat of 70 to 75 degrees and, as strong leaves appear, decrease the bottom heat to 65 degrees.

Perennial Cuttings

If you have wintered perennials in your greenhouse, take cuttings in early spring and transplant them into the hotbed, directly into the soil or into pots plunged in the hotbed. Most of them form roots easily making salable plants by mid-May. The following perennials are among those that are readily propagated from cuttings: chrysanthemums, clematis, dahlias, hollyhock, lobelia, penstemon, phlox, plumbago, and sedum.

Herbs in the Hotbed

There are not many herb specialists and with cookbooks and magazine articles stressing the value of herbs in cooking, gardeners have shown a renewed interest in them. Thus they may appeal to you as a specialty crop. These herbs are especially popular: balm, basil, borage, coriander, caraway, parsley, rosemary, sage, and sweet marjoram. (Other herbs, page 295 ff., can also be handled in the hotbed.)

Sow herb seed April 1 to May 15, to inch deep, directly into the hotbed or in flats. Give bottom heat of 70 to 75 degrees. When the plants have their second set of good leaves, transplant to small pots or thin them and grow them on in the flats.

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The small greenhouse operator cannot successfully compete with large commercial growers in the production (or with dime stores in the selling) of hardy spring-flowering bulbs in pots. But if, after observation, you feel there is a potential market in your area, you should find potted spring bulbs a good sales item.

In late August or September (or even October), plant hardy hyacinth, tulip, narcissus, or some of the little bulbs such as crocus and scilla, in pots of greenhouse soil. Water thoroughly and bury the pot 1 to 2 feet (depending on winter temperatures in your area) in the ground. Cover to ground level with straw and leaves. In February or March, bring the pots into the cool greenhouse and water them. With Dutch hyacinths, keep the top growth shaded with an inverted flower pot. As top growth elongates remove the shading.

Bulbs left over from spring sales should be planted in the garden; retaining all the foliage and roots. They should bloom in a year or two. Do not use them the next year for forcing.

Other Uses for the Cold Frame

You can use your cold frames as winter storage quarters for newly purchased chrysanthemum, hemerocallis, iris, and rose plants. When these arrive too late to become established in the garden, it’s good insurance to winter them in the frame. I use one end of the frame for growing hemerocallis seedlings. When the frost disappears, I transplant the seedlings directly to the cold frame. Here they stay through the following winter. After that they are planted into the garden.

If you hybridize amaryllis or other amaryllids, you will find it practical to summer the seedlings in the frame. Here you can easily attend to watering and fertilizing chores. Use the cold frame in the spring for starting cuttings of perennials like carnations, chrysanthemums, delphiniums, and gerberas. Once rooted, they can be potted and sold or transferred

46, 47, 48, 49. A quartet of profit-makers valued particularly as dried material for winter bouquets: Celosia, Pampas Plume (top left); Limonium sinatum or sea lavender or sea pink, often listed as statice (top right); Bells of Ireland (Molucella laevis) (bottom left), and the huge Ricinus, Crimson Spire. (Courtesy, Bodger Seeds and W. Atlee Burpee)

to your garden to be grown and sold as specimen plants. Then there are cuttings from shrubs such as mock orange, blue-flowered caryopteris (Blue Mist), and hydrangea, among others, which will root and winter well in the frame.

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All popular bedding annuals are good sellers and can be grown in the cold frame as well as in the cool greenhouse. Sow them in flats about 4 to 6 weeks before outside planting time in your locality. In Minneapolis, we sow annuals in frames about April first and later sell them right from the planting flats. These are some of the popular kinds:

ANNUALS BY COLOR

WHITE

Ageratum mexicanum album

Dwarf Phlox

Flowering Tobacco

Petunias

(varieties Popcorn, Paleface, White Magic)

Poppies

Sweet Alyssum

YELLOW

Calendula

Cosmos

Marigold

Nasturtium

Zinnia

BLUE-PURPLE

Ageratum mexicanum

Bachelor Buttons

Browallia

Forget-me-not

Lobelia

Morning Glory

(variety Heavenly Blue)

Petunia

(varieties Blue Lace, Blue

Lustre) Phlox

Sweet Peas Verbenas

PINK AND RED

Clarkia Cockscomb Morning Glory

(variety Scarlett O’Hara)

Gaillardia picta

Moss Rose

(Portulaca) Petunia

(Fire Dance, Red Satin,

Sugar Plum) Poppy

(Pink Champagne) Salvia coccinea

GREEN-FLOWERED

Annual Poinsettia

(Euphorbia heterophylla) Bells of Ireland

Keywords: Greenhouse Gardening, Landscaping, Plants, Pool, Gardener, Landscape, Trees