GREENHOUSE LIVING
by Carole Schwalm

This is a greenhouse …

... or you might think of it as the same size addition to your home.

This fall when the weather turns cooler – too cold for your flowers outside, bring them into the greenhouse and they bloom through late fall, often into the winter months. We had petunias and lilacs through mid-December last year. We were also picking ripe tomatoes through mid-November. You have room for plants, growing in containers from the ground up and hanging planters from the top down. Elevate container plants to several different levels.

What do you do as fragrant flowers bloom, the tomatoes and lettuce grow around you? A section of your space contains a couple of chairs and a small table. You can go the romantic route and use candles, and/or pretty lights. Solar lights soak up the sunshine during the day and glow all night. Think about up-lights to highlight the plants (fan-like and feathery create a tropical mystique). For privacy bamboo roll-up shades or Roman shades. Imagine music in the background. How about the natural music of a water fountain? As it gets cooler, a fire pit perhaps?

Once you get used to the serenity guess what happens? You want to make the space bigger! You can do that too with greenhouse extensions that increase the square footage.