Karyn

They're filling up fast!! lol! Words I don't like - 'Chop! 'Chop!' :) The end is upon alot of us! At least you have plants NOT all through your house like last year! That was too funny! Sorry - it wasn't funny, but the pics were. I still remember them!

Mike

Karyn, I can appreciate the "crammed" green house. Mine is over flowing too. Beautiful blooms !! Are you not letting the Plumeria go dormant ?

Oh, wow. I just got a great idea from your picks. I got this huge metal shelf basket looking thing today and don't know what I was planning to use it for except it had drainage. I think I can hang it from the ceiling and put plants in it, lol. Your plants are looking great Karyn! Sorry to hear chop chop but I know what you mean. I had to take the blooms off my oldest one even in the garage last year. The strong scent was coming in through the a/c ducts. I have to get John to stop watering our plumies. The leaves are beginning to drop off and I am gonna cut them all off this year along with the brug leaves and just leave the small stem part and let it drop off on its own and go dormant.

Karyn, your greenhouse looks incredibly packed. ha ha. What do you use to heat yours? This is the first winter I will be heating mine. I'm very nervous.

My gh is far enough away from the house that those wireless thermometers do not work. So I have to run down to the greenhouse periodically in the night to see if the temps are still adequate for my plants. Big bummer.

I'm glad you were able to squeeze everything in your greenhouse. Good luck on getting everything watered. :)

~Tj~

The small greenhouses in those pics use a 19,110 btu electric heater. The big GH has 4 or 6 (?) propane heaters suspended from the top supports. You can see two of them in the 2nd and 3rd pics at the far end of the GH. I'm not sure how powerful they are but the GH is 200' x 75'. We run minimal heat in there because fuel is too **** expensive now. The heaters cut on when it drops below 40F. Even running the electric heaters in the little greenhouses is expensive.

{{gwi:528196}}
{{gwi:528198}}
{{gwi:460498}}

Karyn
Do you have a job for me?? I was away dreaming working with plants and flowers. I forget everything when I in my little greenhouse. It is a lot of work in winter, but in spring, your hard work is paid off!!!
Mine is heated with natural gas, 3 month of heating about $400. I have to work to take care all my babies. Sigh!!
But I really enjoyed it, no complaint.
sue

Oh my I can relate! Some day it would be great to have a bigger one but ya know that would mean more plants, right?
I'm really impressed on how clean your larger ones are kept!

The last time we heated the big GH to about 60 F throughout the entire winter was 3 years ago and propane ran $8000. I can't imagine what it would be now. Last year I heated my little GH to 65-70 and my monthly electric bill was an average of $800/mo. We have to use the heaters Nov thru Apr though they don't usually run during the day if it's sunny. This year I'm only heating the small GH to about 50 F. This is a hobby for me and it's getting a bit too expensive. lol

That's because you are seeing pics of it in the summer when I'm not using it for wintering over my plants. lol You should see the mess I make!

Oh Karen, I love the picture of your large greenhouse. Do you sell plants?

Are you SERIOUS???? $800 electric bill. My hubby will put an end to my fun if that's the case. Yikes. I'm scared to see our first bill.

~Tj~

Karyn do you get to take whatever you want from the commercial GH?
Shawn

At our last residence, we had a nice greenhouse.. all glass and everything... but that thang about put us in the poorhouse with the heating bills... wow... So, now in this home we designed it so I have nice size 14' x 14' sunroom off the kitchen... it gets indirect sunlight in summer and some direct sunlight in winter.. but I have mini blinds so I can adjust the lighting pretty well. That was positively the best investment we made for this home and my tender plants.. It will get pretty crowded in there sometimes, but then I have to cut back some.. But now that I am getting out of Ebay.. I have one whole bay downstairs in the garage (under the house) that is heated some.. and I can clean out my studio there and fix it up for dormant plants. Plenty of room and that is where my vermicomposting bins are too..

Carolyn

TJ don't freak, our home electric bills are normally high.lol The lowest one we've had was last month and that was just about $500 so the GH really only adds about $300/mo which is still too much. I wish we could afford to keep the big GH heated where I need it but the only reason we run the heaters in the winter is for my plants. Plants for the business are mainly annuals or hardy perennials and don't require heat (see pics and the guy in the cold frame is not my DH). We can't justify running the heaters at a high temp just for my hobby, at least DH can't. lol

Shawn I take what I want from the farm GH but it's just stuff I use as fillers in the flower beds and hanging baskets. The pics below are the kinds of things we carry during the growing season. The farm is just a side thing and certainly doesn't generate enough income to support a family. The wholesale floral business, mainly cut flowers, is DH's "real job".
{{gwi:536828}}
{{gwi:221419}}
{{gwi:528199}}


{{gwi:528200}}

WOW Karyn I am on the floor. Suddenly I understand a lot more about my walking encyclopedia friend lol. Another thing. You are the luckiest woman. Man a DH who's work is what we love to do as a hobby. WOW what a match made in heaven :-)

Your greenhouses are a knock out. I want one. Now I know why you really do not need no pedro lol.

Lucy

I'd be happier if DH was in the jewelry business and I could always use a Pedro. lol

ha ha ha...Thank you for the laugh today Karyn. Jewelry business eh?

I always wish my DH would be interested in my plants. I hate those little 1/2hr preaching sessions I get from him quite frequently. It makes me feel so bad at times that I feel like digging up my gardens, planting grass and finding a less expensive, less hard working hobby. Perhaps something like sitting on my fanny and reading books.

Your greenhouses are fantastic Karyn. Everything looks so healthy and neat.

This is the first winter I'm heating my gh. It is built out of 2X6's and I used some good grade insulation. I'm sure hoping that my heaters will be enough to keep it at 40 deg. That is my goal this winter until I see what the cost will be for heating it. I hope it's not much more than $200 a month. But if you are in zone 7....I have a feeling it may not be good for me. Oh well, nothing I can do this year. Worst case scenario, I will be bringing into the house a LOT of plants.

If I would have been smarter, I would have built a solarium type area off of my house which we could eat and sit in also instead of my gh.

~Tj~