by Jamie Hanley

 Well, we’ve officially gone a full year – and then some! – with the backyard greenhouse, and it has most definitely been a learning experience. We consider this past year as kind of a “year in review” of what we learned and what we grew.

Spring of 2025 🌸

After its construction, the greenhouse soon became the first stop on my rounds of daily work in the yard and garden. It was a place to store pots, hand tools, bags of peat and fertilizers. It was a space dedicated to starting seeds, transplanting seedlings, and served as a nursery to get all our little plant friends ready for the great outdoors.

 Summer into Fall 2025 ☀️ 

The built-in vents in the greenhouse became my friends early on in the summer – because the need for temperature regulation goes both ways… too cold is as impactful as too warm, and there are plenty of times when the weatherman isn’t right.  So between the vents, and the automatic fan set to go on at 95 degrees, the greenhouse truly became a hothouse. With the ever present high humidity (or so it felt), certain of the plants absolutely thrived. When the Christmas cactus began bursting from their pots, I took as many cuttings as I could find pots for and started a propagation station. They were so prolific that each of my kids, and a few select friends, got one at the holidays.

 Fall 2025 🍁

During the shoulder seasons (late spring and early fall), the greenhouse served as a peaceful place to sit and relax. The addition of a small cafe table and chairs was perfect. The rainy days were made more palatable when I could be in the greenhouse potting plants or sitting with a cup of tea and a book. Even now, as the evenings become cooler, it’s a place to unwind after a long day – with the bonus of being screen-free and sitting in Nature. At this point in the season, as things are slowing down in the garden, we are starting to think about what method of heating we’re going to try this year. At the moment, we are still debating the options but more research definitely needs to be done on the water barrel method. Look for an update next year on what we chose and how it worked!

 Winter 2026 ❄️

In what seemed like a very long, cold, dark winter upstate, the greenhouse served as a beacon of hope – that spring would come eventually.

 Spring again – 2026!

Despite wanting to start seeds, it was a challenge this year – life gets in the way. Nature, however, waits for no one – and the dahlias and the cannas started growing all on their own in their window boxes and tubs of dirt. They were 2-3 feet tall when I finally got around to planting them all. Sadly, the only survivors of the hungry rabbits were the tubers that I planted in pots. And while they are indeed spectacular, I don’t think they are as prolific a bloomer as compared to when they are growing directly in the ground. The seeds were a late start, and they were slow to get started, but some of the best performers were the hollyhocks. 

 The biggest surprise of all this Spring was the variety of MUSHROOMS we had emerge…morels, meadow mushrooms, and cinnabar chanterelles!  They were all incredible, and highly prolific. Typically I find exactly two morel mushrooms on the property each year, but this was out of the ordinary. We have theories as to how and why, the most plausible being that during the dirtwork portion of the greenhouse construction we must have unearthed morel spores. The growth pattern supported this theory, as the bulk were found in the crusher run around the perimeter of the greenhouse itself. We know the cinnabar chanterelles grow off the roots of the beech tree, and we take special care when working in that area. The meadow mushrooms grow in the wood chip that we have on the property. We try to do our part and recycle, so any of the big tree work that is done here always ends with a hefty pile of mulch that is then used in all the garden beds – any and all mushrooms that emerge are welcome!

In terms of general gardening this summer, the long-blooming beebalm in various heights and colors was stupendously showy! New additions to the gardens this year were balloon flowers (so fun to watch the progress of the blooms), foxglove (one of the only things not bothered by the critters), and the garden phlox giving us a late season show.

But what did we learn???

We learned that we made mistakes. Geraniums were unfortunate early tenants of the greenhouse, and victims lost to frost because the leaves touching the windows could not handle the cold of the late Spring nights. Seedlings do not like the cooler temps despite being on heat mats – they want their roots and their leaves in warmth.

The heat lamp and grow lights were not sufficient in helping to keep the temperature regulated in the greenhouse itself. We tried the composter method for warmth, but once that froze solid in December, there was no coming back (plus it meant having to shovel a path from the house to the greenhouse for daily kitchen waste dumps and spinning of said composter).

We also learned that the placement of the greenhouse in the yard is such that, on those sunny summer days, it brings an inordinate amount of light into even the darkest corners of the house! Live and learn.

And now…

With the start of another autumn, impossibly shorter days, and those comfortably cooler nights that are great for sleeping, we will soon be putting the greenhouse to bed for another long winter’s nap. The pots will be stacked, the seeds awaiting spring, and my plans for next year’s growing already in progress.