Archive for the ‘Greenhouses’ Category

May 12th, 2007

Greenhouse Rant!
It has happened again! Twice! In one day! Not to me, but to complete strangers.

Every spring, out of curiosity, I will visit a couple of the so called “garden centres” the big box and chain stores put up. Every spring I am appalled by the condition of the plants and the complete lack of knowledge the people generally staffing those centres have about plants and gardening. Yesterday, while wandering in disbelief through one of them, (that anyone would really sell such poor quality plants) I overheard a customer asking about a particular plant. The employee proceeded to expound the virtues of this plant. One would think the employee knew what she was talking about to hear the confidence with which she spoke. As the conversation continued, I glanced over to see what plant was being discussed. Much to my horror, the customer was holding a completely different species of plant than employee was talking about. As I listened, the poor customer was being advised to plant it in full sun, that it was drought tolerant, bloomed all summer and required very little maintenance when the exact opposite is true for that particular plant. Then I thought maybe she was discussing another plant the customer was interested in. No, the customer said “Perfect! This is what I need!” purchased that one plant and left.

Later in the day I ventured into another one of those garden centres. A similar conversation was taking place, but this time the employee at least had the species of plant correct. And that was all she had correct. Once again the customer, believing what she was told, purchased that plant and went on her merry way.

The cynical side of me thinks that if a customer is going to go to one of these temporary garden centres and trust the staff, they deserve what they get. Should not the condition of the plants alone be an indication of the level of the centre’s professionalism? On the other hand, the Horticulturalist side of me feels badly for the customer who is being misinformed and mislead. And it makes me feel ashamed for the entire industry, which is getting a bad reputation because of these temporary garden centres.

Here’s where the real rant begins:
I am tired of seeing these large stores putting up temporary garden centres and staffing them with plant-challenged employees pulled from the clothing department or the hardware department or the dairy department. I am tired of seeing truckloads of plants being brought in, sold at prices at, or less than, wholesale (lost leaders), just to draw in customers. I am tired of seeing plants that are neglected, dried out, withered and full of spent blooms and insects. I am tired of these stores luring the customer to visit their centres because of low priced plants in an effort to entice the customers to purchase fertilizer, mulches or hard goods while there. (It is on these items the stores really make their money. If you have noticed, they are never a deal.) Whatever happened to quality? To good customer service? To integrity? In the majority of these temporary spring garden centres, these basic principles do not exist. Management has no qualms about selling a poor product or giving poor advice if it means they can get you to part with your money. If they truly cared about quality, the plants would be well maintained. If they truly cared about good customer service, they would hire knowledgeable employees to staff their garden centres.

To be fair to the greenhouse and nursery growers that supply plants to these places, the plants are usually in good condition when they are delivered. It is not the growers’ fault that they go down hill so quickly. That responsibility lies directly with the management and staff of the stores who seem to know little or nothing about plants and how to maintain them.

I have probably offended some people with this rant, but I cannot be honest with you or myself by keeping quiet about this problem. And I am sure there are exceptions to the temporary garden centre plague. I just haven’t found one yet.
On a final note, Horticulturalists and Nurserymen do not go into their fields to get rich. They chose their professions because they enjoy growing plants. They spend their lives learning their trades and developing their skills to provide you with quality plants and accurate information, which in turn is reflected in your own gardens. The next time you are in a temporary garden centre, look carefully at the plants. Then go to your local greenhouse and check out their plants. I know you will see the difference in the quality. The grower is the plant expert and it shows. The big box/chain stores are experts in marketing. Period. You get what you pay for.

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April 8th, 2007

From Seed To Bloom

On your trips to the greenhouse to purchase annuals for your gardens, have you ever wondered how all those eye catching flowers got there? What’s to think about? They stuck a seed in some dirt and watched it grow, right? Hardly. If you’ll bear with me, I will take you through the journey from seed to bloom.

The annuals that fill the greenhouses every May, actually began their voyage early the previous fall. The greenhouse grower, armed with seed catalogues and sales statistics from the growing season just past, begins the slow process of determining next season’s annuals crop mix There will always be geraniums, petunias and pansies to grow, that’s a given. The tricky part is selecting the colours. What is the current colour trend and what is the new one on the horizon? Has that trend exploded onto the gardening scene, or is it creeping in? The answer helps determine the number of plants of each colour required of a particular variety of annual.

Next the grower has to analyze the current trends in plants. If petunias are the current passion, then they will devote more bench space to growing those than they will salpiglossis. The grower knows how much bench space is available for the spring crop. That information is then translated into the number of individual pots they can grow. Then he or she determines the amount of seed required to fill those pots. Eventually, the seed order is completed.

While awaiting the seed order’s arrival, the amounts of pots, trays, soils, fertilizers, pesticides and growth regulators required to produce the crop is calculated and those are ordered. Hopefully they are delivered before the seeds.

Next the greenhouses and growing benches have to be cleaned and sterilized, top to bottome, before a new crop can be started.

The head grower must also prepare a crop schedule. They need to know how many weeks each variety of seed takes to produce a saleable product. They need to determine a target date for their finished crops – usually the first week of May, then count backwards to determine what week to begin planting each variety.

When the seeds arrive in the fall, some will need to be started right away (geraniums), some shortly after the Holiday Season to ensure a saleable plant by the first week of May. Before the seeds can be planted, hundreds of the seeding flats must be filled with “soil”. Then they can begin planting seeds. To give you an idea of the vast quantities involved, in our greenhouses we used to plant 50,000 petunia seeds every year and the same for pansies and impatiens.

Waiting for the seedlings to reach transplant stage, all the pots and cell packs must be filled with potting mix and set into trays. By now it is the middle of winter, still cold and snowy outside, but warm and sunny inside the greenhouses. But that warmth doesn’t come cheaply. If you think your heating bills are high, think of the greenhouse operations that must spend three, or five thousand dollars or more per month on heating just to grow annuals.

When the seedlings reach the transplanting stage, all those flats of seedlings need to be potted up into their final containers. Again, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of tiny plants needing to be potted up by hand. Once that is completed, the fertilizing and pinching, applications of growth regulators and pesticides, all need to be attended to daily.

Even though it is winter and your favourite greenhouse is closed, the owners and staff are not relaxing on a warm sunny beach throughout the winter months. They are busy in their greenhouses, seven days a week growing annuals for your gardens.

In May, when you go to the greenhouses and purchase annuals, think of the many months it took to grow them. Think of the thousands of dollars and man hours already spent producing the crop. And, if the greenhouse operator has increased the retail price by a few cents, perhaps now will understand why.

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In The Greenhouse

March 28th, 2007

Yesterday was absolutely glorious! It was the second day in a row of sunshine and record breaking high temperatures! Today, though it is cooler, the high is still above normal.

As if Mother Nature’s gift of beautiful weather was not enough, my day was made even better by spending it in the greenhouse, transplanting seedlings. Three hundred and forty eight seedlings comprised of twenty-two varieties of plants are now potted up and growing on in the greenhouse! This, to me, is very exciting. Tomorrow, after I’ve picked up more potting mix, I will transplant the remaining seedlings.

What I will do with all of the five hundred plus plants I have started, I’m not exactly sure. Most will end up in my garden. Some will be given to family and friends. If there are any left, I may have another plant sale. We’ll see. But for now, I will simply enjoy all of the hours spent in the greenhouse, potting and pinching, fertilizing and, watching the plants grow into the beauties the seed catalogues promised they would be.

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