Bees N Blooms has completed construction of our first greenhouse. We chose a 20’x30′ low-profile quonset design from Oregon Valley Greenhouses (OVG) and assembled it in between the rain showers with about 4-5 days of work, with the expert guidance of David Brewer and assistance of Brian Hill. We had some great help from Kip at OVG, welding assistance from Kai Klaassen, and a very helpful YouTube video from the Michigan Farmers Market Association showing how to use tennis balls to pull the poly over the structure, a technique that made the work easy and kept the plastic intact.
The new structure will help us shepherd young trees from seed to sapling and launch our cut flower production early in the spring. We’ve already put the greenhouse to good use, with 48 Red Flowering gum trees now calling it home and another 80 or so to be moved down there soon. The flower starts won’t be far behind. The trees inside survived several nights of freezing temperatures, with the greenhouse staying a few degrees above freezing, even before the doors were installed. We still have plenty to do to fix up the greenhouse, including putting some base rock down for the floor, installing more permanent benches to hold the plants, and connecting the electric and water lines. Now, if only it would stop raining!
