Welcome To
Jerry's Hobby Greenhouse

I designed my greenhouse to be more of an indoor garden space than the normal rows of benches. I was inspired by a local arboretum here in western Michigan to create an environment for year around plants as well as gardening. It's not easy doing this in a northern climate. The arboretum we visit maintains 75 to 80 degrees inside and in our cold winters we only manage to hold a minimum air temperature of around 40 degrees F. It varies a great deal with sunlight of course. On sunny days in February the temperature can easily be in the high sixties to low seventies. In the early spring, before the leaves emerge, we open the doors to the house on sunny days to take advantage of the supplemental heat.

There are two methods of heating the greenhouse. I installed a hot water radiant heating system under gravel and a small wood stove to supplement the radiant heat. My theory, which turned out to work well, was that if the plants had warm “feet” in pots on the radiant heat source, their foliage would withstand cooler temperatures than normal. I decided against a gas fired blower system that is a common way to heat a greenhouse because I didn’t want to constantly cycle the environment from cool to hot by blowing dry air on the plants. The second heating source is a small Canadian made wood stove. A ceiling fan moves the heat around.

The one disadvantage with the gravel is that, even infiltrated with clean sand, it is not dense enough to provide as efficient radiant heating as concrete. Therefore I am gradually removing the pea gravel and am installing poured concrete a small section at a time. I’ve already seen an improvement in the efficiency. Since I've become interested in plant crosses in recent years the arboretum look will give way to a more conventional greenhouse look. I need space for maturing the multitude of seedlings in small pots.

We have a porch inside the greenhouse that preceded its construction. It is still accessible through our dining room French doors. The Adirondack chairs make a great place to sit with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee in the winter when the sun is out. There are two areas on either side of the center path of compacted dolomite for plants. The north side of the path has now been converted from pea gravel to concrete. The path leads down a slope between the two separate areas to the pond and a small patio paved in slate. (Not entirely completed yet) The patio also has the small wood stove. On the south side there is a recessed hallway/work area hidden by a fence for the potting bench, the sink and storage.

The pond was of readymade plastic and holds around 100 gallons. I purchased "feeder" goldfish at a pet store and they flourished. "Feeder" goldfish are normally sold for feeding larger fish and aren't viewed as the best quality but they grew to about 6-7 inches with a surprising variety of attractive markings and began reproducing. The number leveled off at about eleven after a few were moved to an aquarium in the house. They are probably eight years old now.

I've been a long time member of the Hobby Greenhouse Association (HGA) and enjoy their publications. I've also recently joined the  Epiphyllum Society of America due to my interest in Orchid Cactus.