Have a Greenhouse - DID IT

The ultimate gardening tool is the greenhouse.  I love puttering around in mine in the late winter when it's cold outside, but inside is warm and humid.  It feels like I'm visiting a jungle oasis.  It smells like damp dirt and if I'm lucky, plants and seedlings are sprouting everywhere.  I grow lettuce in there almost year-round.  It is probably the most expensive lettuce ever eaten if you consider the cost of electricity to keep the place warm, but it is delicious.

This year I started heirloom tomatoes and tri-colored cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, basil, cilantro, dwarf dahlias, miniature zinnias, sunflowers, and cantaloupe.  I try cantaloupe every year, but have never coaxed one to an edible state - not for lack of trying.

Miniature roses, begonia bulbs, and fuchsia baskets fill the rows of shelves along with containers filled with mixed plantings of colorful annuals. The large pots of basil are usually the last greenhouse resident to get moved outside, they love the heat and are not fond of cool evenings.

 Years ago I had a small business selling vegie seedlings at the local farmer's market.  My greenhouse was called The Fern Factory.  One day I got a letter from Publisher's Clearinghouse informing Ms. Fern Factory that she could be a winner.  "Yes, Fern, you could be our next millionaire."  It never happened for poor Fern!