Introduction: Cashing In On Your Backyard Greenhouse

Although the number of home greenhouse owners is increas¬ing every year, the total still is relatively small. But I believe that most gardeners would like to have a small backyard greenhouse. The original cost of a modest-sized structure is within many a gardener’s budget. Why, then, don’t more of them have a greenhouse? It is probably because they think that even if they can afford the original building cost by doing most of the work themselves, they will not be able to meet yearly operating and maintenance costs.

For years this idea kept me from enjoying a greenhouse. But one day I had an inspiration. Why couldn’t a little greenhouse be run for profit, or at least on a self-supporting basis? If this could be managed (even though the income paid only the running costs and upkeep), a greenhouse would not have to be a luxury. I thought of my plant-collecting friends who often asked me where to obtain rare plants. And I thought, too, of various growers seeking to buy hard-to-get plants in quantities not large enough for a big commercial house to bother with— perhaps no more than a hundred or so plants or bulbs of a rare kind for which usually the only sources are in foreign countries. I realized that in my home I had grown all of these out-of-the ordinary plants, so I felt reasonably sure of my ability. I simply lacked space to produce them even in small quantity. With a greenhouse, however, I knew I could supply these rare items— yes, and offer other exciting things, too. The more I thought about it the more certain I became that a greenhouse could be put on a paying basis. My “inspiration” soon became an actuality: I built a greenhouse.

Through experience I have learned that a profitable green­house is not necessarily a high-priced one. Proper planning you can keep construction costs to a minimum. But whatever you plan to spend (or have already spent), you’ll find that your outlay can be completely recovered in earnings from a single plant project. I did it—and you can, too.