browndrake
07-19-2009, 10:35 AM
if you give a mouse a cookie... if you give a guy a banana....
if you give a guy a banana.... he will want another to go with it.
if you give him another banana.... he will want a greenhouse to better care for them.
if you give him a greenhouse to better care for them.... his wife and kids will try to take control of the greenhouse.....
....................................
I made the enormous mistake of buying a banana or two (really 8) about a month ago. There have always been plans for a greenhouse, but they were set for a year or two out. Bananas and other similar addictions have brought about a change of plans. Plans are now to start building a 'starter greenhouse.'
I hope to get it done next month, if I can scrape together what it will take to do it. I plan on this one being 15'x25' and probably 12'-14'tall ... likely 10'-12' tall with 2'-4' underground..making total 14'. Will probably put in a subterranean heating cooling system. If all works out like I want I will build larger when when I build my new house.. still 3-5 years out.
.......................................
I like to grow edibles...my wife likes to grow pretties. I fully understood from the get go that I would be able to grow my veggies and bananas, and my wife would grow all of her flowers. Heck, without that I wouldn't have been able to talk her into the greenhouse.
What I didn't count on was my oldest daughter... When she heard me talking about planting a vanilla orchid to grow some vanilla beans, she started thinking. She went to work with my Wednesday and while there told me that she wants to start growing some tropicals....and that there should be no problem, as we were going to build a greenhouse. She started listing different plants she wanted. She even told me that we could dig a really deep greenhouse so that she could plant a coconut tree.....
Most of all, she told me, she wanted to start growing orchids.
I figured that orchids couldn't be too dangerous and talked to my local nursery about them. He chuckled....(I think I have been his most frequent visitor this summer and I am already in the middle of projects with pitted fruits and bananas,that people think can't/shouldn't be done here). He wasn't making fun of what I am doing, just what I keep getting myself into.
He told me that there was an expert orchid man, Dean Stock, that lived near by and that I should give him a call. I called Dean up and made arrangements for my wife, daughter, and me to go visit.
..........
Dean Stock is human geneticist that worked with orchids to escape, ie. personal therapy. He is well known for his breading of tetraploid orchids.
..........
We had a wonderful time. His 'small' 1500' greenhouse was packed as tight as you could get it with thousands or beautiful orchids. He spent a couple hours talking about them, explaining some of the breeding history, and how he bred for different colors, size, etc.
My wife and daughter fell even more in love with the beautiful flowers. When Dean offered to help them start growing orchids and supply all the orchids they needed, as they learned...they were hooked completely, and I realized that I need to hurry and make a lot of money....my starter greenhouse wont be near big enough. Nor really set up for what they now want.
He explained to them that the best way to learn to grow orchids is to kill a few... He also explained that no matter what size greenhouse you have...it is never big enough.
After the greenhouse he invited us to his lab. I really liked the greenhouse, but the lab was NICE. He showed us many orchids in various stages of development, and how he got them there, from pollinating them (in the greenhouse) to growing the seeds on sterile medium, to growing them in flasks. We talked of tissue culturing, mutations, all kinds of neat things. (I asked him if he were the place to go when I want to play with tissue culturing bananas...he told me that he would be glad to help and that tc is quite simple.) My daughter was thrilled when he let us all look at human chromosomes through his microscope. (I have used one or two...and his is pretty nice)..... He then took us upstairs, into his home, to meet his wife and visit a while.
We had a wonderful experience. You don't meet nicer people than is he. His hospitality was as beautiful as his orchids. Not only did he offer my wife and daughter orchids and to help with them, but also volunteered to come help build my greenhouse, stating that he has built several and learned from many mistakes along the way.
....................................
So everybody be careful...you never know what you are getting into....if you give a guy a banana.
aaron
if you give a guy a banana.... he will want another to go with it.
if you give him another banana.... he will want a greenhouse to better care for them.
if you give him a greenhouse to better care for them.... his wife and kids will try to take control of the greenhouse.....
....................................
I made the enormous mistake of buying a banana or two (really 8) about a month ago. There have always been plans for a greenhouse, but they were set for a year or two out. Bananas and other similar addictions have brought about a change of plans. Plans are now to start building a 'starter greenhouse.'
I hope to get it done next month, if I can scrape together what it will take to do it. I plan on this one being 15'x25' and probably 12'-14'tall ... likely 10'-12' tall with 2'-4' underground..making total 14'. Will probably put in a subterranean heating cooling system. If all works out like I want I will build larger when when I build my new house.. still 3-5 years out.
.......................................
I like to grow edibles...my wife likes to grow pretties. I fully understood from the get go that I would be able to grow my veggies and bananas, and my wife would grow all of her flowers. Heck, without that I wouldn't have been able to talk her into the greenhouse.
What I didn't count on was my oldest daughter... When she heard me talking about planting a vanilla orchid to grow some vanilla beans, she started thinking. She went to work with my Wednesday and while there told me that she wants to start growing some tropicals....and that there should be no problem, as we were going to build a greenhouse. She started listing different plants she wanted. She even told me that we could dig a really deep greenhouse so that she could plant a coconut tree.....
Most of all, she told me, she wanted to start growing orchids.
I figured that orchids couldn't be too dangerous and talked to my local nursery about them. He chuckled....(I think I have been his most frequent visitor this summer and I am already in the middle of projects with pitted fruits and bananas,that people think can't/shouldn't be done here). He wasn't making fun of what I am doing, just what I keep getting myself into.
He told me that there was an expert orchid man, Dean Stock, that lived near by and that I should give him a call. I called Dean up and made arrangements for my wife, daughter, and me to go visit.
..........
Dean Stock is human geneticist that worked with orchids to escape, ie. personal therapy. He is well known for his breading of tetraploid orchids.
..........
We had a wonderful time. His 'small' 1500' greenhouse was packed as tight as you could get it with thousands or beautiful orchids. He spent a couple hours talking about them, explaining some of the breeding history, and how he bred for different colors, size, etc.
My wife and daughter fell even more in love with the beautiful flowers. When Dean offered to help them start growing orchids and supply all the orchids they needed, as they learned...they were hooked completely, and I realized that I need to hurry and make a lot of money....my starter greenhouse wont be near big enough. Nor really set up for what they now want.
He explained to them that the best way to learn to grow orchids is to kill a few... He also explained that no matter what size greenhouse you have...it is never big enough.
After the greenhouse he invited us to his lab. I really liked the greenhouse, but the lab was NICE. He showed us many orchids in various stages of development, and how he got them there, from pollinating them (in the greenhouse) to growing the seeds on sterile medium, to growing them in flasks. We talked of tissue culturing, mutations, all kinds of neat things. (I asked him if he were the place to go when I want to play with tissue culturing bananas...he told me that he would be glad to help and that tc is quite simple.) My daughter was thrilled when he let us all look at human chromosomes through his microscope. (I have used one or two...and his is pretty nice)..... He then took us upstairs, into his home, to meet his wife and visit a while.
We had a wonderful experience. You don't meet nicer people than is he. His hospitality was as beautiful as his orchids. Not only did he offer my wife and daughter orchids and to help with them, but also volunteered to come help build my greenhouse, stating that he has built several and learned from many mistakes along the way.
....................................
So everybody be careful...you never know what you are getting into....if you give a guy a banana.
aaron