ITS OPPORTUNITIES
It cannot be said that America has yet reached the gardening age. There
is no doubt, however, that the appreciation of flowers, and the liking
for things horticultural in general, is growing rapidly. The stimulus
that compels hundreds to turn with delight to the joy in the creative
work of growing things arises from a sound foundation. Comparatively few
people, however, realize that this pleasure can be had by them around
the entire circle of the months. They look forward to planting time in
the spring and accept as inevitable the cessation of their gardening
adventures with the first frost.
It is to such people that the message of home glass must come as good
tidings indeed. For them the gentle art of gardening under glass has
seemed a distant and mysterious thing. Little indeed have they realized
how easily it might be brought within reach; that instead of being an
expensive luxury it would be by no means impossible to make it a paying
investment, yielding not only pleasure but profit as well.
As a matter of fact, when one's mind is once made up not to sacrifice
the pleasures of gardening for six months every year, a little energy,
ingenuity and a very few dollars will go a long way in providing the
necessary equipment.
Nor is the care of the ordinary flowers, and the vegetables suited for
winter use, such a complicated profession that the beginner cannot
achieve quite a considerable measure of success with his or her very
first attempts, provided that regular care is given the work in hand. It
is a much easier task than succeeding with plants in the house,
notwithstanding the fact that general opinion is to the contrary.
It is not necessary to start in on a large scale. A very few square feet
of soil, where all the conditions can be controlled as they are under
glass, will produce an amazing amount. Take for instance lettuce grown
for the home table. How good it is right fresh and crisp from the soil
compared to the wilted or artificially revived bunches one can get at
the grocer's! Outdoors you put it a foot apart in rows a foot and a half
apart; a patch 3 x 10 feet would give you twenty heads. In the home
garden under glass you set out a batch of Grand Rapids lettuce plants,
one of the very best in quality, six inches each way, so that a little
piece of bench 3 x 10 feet would give you one hundred heads (which
incidentally at the grocer's would cost you $10. or $12.--enough good
money to buy glass for a quite roomy little lean-to). (See page 164.)
Details of construction, etc., are given in the following pages, but the
most important thing of all is just to make up your mind that you will
have a little greenhouse of your own. If you once decide to have it the
way can be found, for the necessary cash outlay is very small indeed.
Think of the variety of ways you could use such a winter garden! Not
only may lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets and other
vegetables be had out of season, but you can get a better start with
your garden than ever before--put it weeks and weeks ahead of the old
sow-out-in-the-ground way. And then consider the flowers! A dozen
carnation plants, for instance, would occupy about six square feet of
room, say 2 x 3 feet of bench, and would supply you comfortably with
blossoms all winter long--nice fresh ones outlasting twice over the cold
storage blooms from the retail florist's--to say nothing of the added
value of having them actually home grown.
[Illustration: It is surprising how most people over-estimate the
difficulties and expense of maintaining a small greenhouse. In relation
to the pleasure one brings, the cost is exceedingly small]
[Illustration: A lean-to type of greenhouse, such as has been built on
the east wall of this house, is within reach of almost any owner of a
small country place]