AIR DATE DECEMBER 15, 2022

Title: Greenhouse Gardening

Take your gardening skills to whole new level with greenhouses.

Guests and Locations

Infinite Zion Farms, Founder – Ray Warthen

Fleet Farming, Greenhouse Manager – Sam Somers

Greenhouses Do More Than Support the Local Food Cycle

Greenhouses allow us to save money on our food needs because they let us cultivate and seed our own plants. Those who already have one on their property also know how much water they save, their soil propagation benefits, and the relaxation that comes when spending time in one.

I recently spoke with Ray Warthen and Sam Somers regarding the benefits of a greenhouse and how to start growing your own plants at home.

Warthen is the co-founder and president of Infinite Zion Farms. He recommends placing a new greenhouse in partial shade or under a large tree with excellent airflow. “A lot of times when you place your greenhouse with those solid white fences, there’s no airflow happening in the summer. That causes condensation, mold, and mildew.”

Somers is the manager of the Fleet Farming Greenhouse. He recommends starting your first season with relatively simple plants to cultivate and seed. “Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and various pollinators and greenhouses, a lot of the brassica too, and greens.”

Is It Better to Build or Buy a Greenhouse in FL?

Warthen recommends building a greenhouse with a consultant for anything up to 20 feet. Anything larger than that size typically requires a contractor because you’ll need a strong foundation. He recommends focusing on the flooring once the main structure is up.

“Building a greenhouse sometimes on an all-concrete floor can be detrimental because you have to have what they call an engineering soil permeability,” Warthen said, “where you want water to escape out of the greenhouse.”

When everything is done correctly, Somers says that the satisfaction of having a greenhouse is worth the investment. “I think having a garden is really good for the mind just as a way to escape from your day-to-day routine, and to tend to something else other than yourself,” he told me. “I know people who are senior citizens who have various mental diseases that they’re combating, and they find great satisfaction in having a garden and just taking care of something.”

Somers says Fleet Farming provides free consultations of its edible landscape program. Not only does that involve building greenhouses, but it also includes farm strips and raised garden beds.

Greenhouse Programs Are Available

Warthen told me that plant donation programs are available in areas with less than $20,000 yearly income. People come to the garden, and they subsidize the purchase of plants.

“We donated over 86 plants in our first year of having a greenhouse,” he said. “That’s something that we do every single year in our program.”

Once your greenhouse gets going, Somers says the joy that comes from producing your own food is something that is hard to replicate. “Just [to] know that what you’re eating is from your own property; you didn’t have to go to the store to get it; you didn’t have to go and buy something that might have pesticide on it because you know it’s completely organic since everything that was put into it is directly from you.”

You can learn more about Fleet Farming by visiting their website at https://fleetfarming.org/. Infinite Zion Farms also has a website for you to explore at https://www.infinitezionfarms.org.