| Building your greenhouse can be a family project, or | | | | be found at the back of any magazine which |
| you can get professional help to erect all or part of it. | | | | sponsors round-robin groups. But the most complete |
| A cement contractor built the foundation and walk | | | | source of addresses of all kinds of plant and garden |
| for ours, and we did the rest ourselves. | | | | organizations is the "Directory of American |
| Your first profit-making greenhouse can cost you as | | | | Horticulture". |
| little as $200, or it can run into hundreds and even | | | | If you enjoy growing uncommon or exotic plants-the |
| thousands. | | | | so-called collectors' items-and yours is a small |
| You can build with inexpensive second-hand materials | | | | community where sales for these would be limited, |
| from an old dismantled greenhouse, buy all new | | | | you can solve your dilemma by carrying on a |
| material, build a plastic greenhouse or construct your | | | | mail-order business. Doing business through the mail is |
| house with completely or partially prefabricated | | | | not difficult. Later I will tell you about shipping |
| sections. | | | | restrictions and packing and how to develop a |
| What to Grow | | | | customer list for this type of business. |
| Your very first year of under-glass gardening (a term | | | | Without Heat |
| that now means under-plastic, too) can show a | | | | Heat is not essential for all kinds of greenhouse |
| profit, even if you are not an expert gardener. | | | | gardening. Although gloxinias, for instance, usually are |
| Indeed, the plants that are easiest to grow may be | | | | grown in a well-heated house, a Minneapolis man has |
| the very ones to click in your neighborhood. | | | | found out how to make a tidy profit from them |
| Wax begonias, ivy, marigolds, philodendron, petunias, | | | | without heat. In late February, he starts seedlings in |
| coleus, and cacti can be real profit-makers. Today | | | | his kitchen windows and in his basement under |
| every city has supermarkets, dime stores, and | | | | fluorescent lights. |
| roadside markets, and these are all potential outlets | | | | When the weather warms up in late April, he moves |
| for such plants. In Minneapolis, some of the | | | | the seedlings to an unheated pit greenhouse. By |
| drugstores carry small plants, and there are cafes | | | | August, when the local market is just right for selling |
| where you can buy a pretty pink begonia as well as | | | | gloxinias in flower, he has quantities-and florists |
| a blue-plate luncheon. | | | | clamor for them. Actually he could sell many more if |
| Many new home owners know little about gardening | | | | he wanted to expand his little project. And this is |
| but welcome colorful plants if they don't cost very | | | | carried on in a greenhouse, without heat, in |
| much, say 49 or 98 cents each. These may or may | | | | Minnesota's cold north country. |
| not be profitable enough for local florists, but suit to | | | | Another friend makes money from an unheated |
| a T your kind of business. | | | | greenhouse by using it as a potting shed and starter |
| Mail Order & The Internet | | | | room for potted roses, daylilies, and iris. She also has |
| Your choice of profit-making plants may be dictated | | | | a heated greenhouse-a glassed-in extension of the |
| somewhat by your indoor gardening experience and | | | | south portion of the basement-which she uses for |
| the time you have spent as a hobby gardener or | | | | starting seeds of tender plants. |
| collector. As you gain experience your horizons will | | | | She has found that this is also the perfect place for |
| widen. | | | | a few potted orchid plants whose blooms are always |
| Many amateurs have learned through round robins | | | | in demand. |
| (correspondence groups) what collector friends | | | | There are lots of types of greenhouse to choose |
| through the country are buying-or trying to buy. If | | | | from. There is the low-cost (often heatless) pit |
| you plan to go into the mail-order business, it would | | | | greenhouse; the lean-to; the attached-to-the-dwelling |
| be a good idea to join one or more of these groups. | | | | greenhouse; and the free-standing greenhouse which |
| They will give you some good leads. Some garden | | | | often has a handsome exterior. |
| magazines and many of the plant societies sponsor | | | | The outside design, however, no matter how |
| round robins. Membership in plant society round robins | | | | beautifully executed, is of minor significance when it |
| is free with membership. | | | | comes to profits. In greenhouse growing, it's the |
| The addresses of various plant societies will usually | | | | interior that counts. |