Behind the Scenes in the Greenhouse

Door County Master Gardeners’ annual plant sale fundraiser is the public-facing culmination of many months of work in the greenhouse. Let’s take a look behind the scenes.

The greenhouse team is at work long before the first seeds are sown. In November a seed selection committee convenes to review the previous year’s growing and sales results to  prepare seed orders. Facility details are ironed out with the staff at the Peninsular Agricultural Research Station (PARS) and The Flying Tractor, our two greenhouse locations. Then greenhouse leaders plan the desired quantities of each variety, the target dates for planting, and the number of volunteers needed each week for seed sowing and transplanting. Next the volunteer watering schedule is set up to ensure that all the seed trays and transplants are watered twice daily from planting right up to the sale days. Much has taken place – and the seeds have not been planted yet!

After a safety presentation and greenhouse orientation meeting, volunteers are ready to go. Beginning in March, seeds are sown in a soilless planting medium which is lighter than soil, and free of insects, bacteria and weed seeds. It is also better for drainage and root development. Seed trays are lightly misted and monitored until the seedlings are ready to be transplanted into individual pots. Every Saturday morning (and a few other days in between), greenhouse activities begin when the “dirt baggers” fill trays of individual pots with planting medium in preparation for the transplanting teams to gently move the new seedlings from the trays to individual pots. A labeling crew has already printed and applied water-proof labels to plant stakes which are added to each pot for identification.   

Now the daily watering schedule kicks in. Twice a day volunteers show up to water plants, check the greenhouse thermometers (which may read anywhere between 65º to 101º), and open or close the vents as needed to regulate the temperature. The weather characteristics, temperature and any other relevant notes are recorded in a binder to keep greenhouse leaders and other watering volunteers abreast of all activities.

You may wonder about the earlier reference to two greenhouse locations. PARS (our primary greenhouse) is also host to the U.S. Potato Genebank. Because nightshade plants (Solanaceae family) can pose a danger to potatoes due to their potential to host a devastating potato pathogen, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and petunias must be grown in a separate location. The Flying Tractor greenhouse filled this need very successfully.   

As the sale date nears, plants are moved out of the greenhouse into screened huts to ‘harden off’ and become acclimated to outdoor weather conditions. The final move happens just days before the sale when all plants are moved to the sale buildings and tents, organized by the plant experts and made ready for customers.

It truly ‘takes a village’ to make our annual plant sale a success. In the late winter months in Door County, DCMGA volunteers learn and grow in the warm and inviting greenhouse environment to make it all possible!