Greenhouse Operations Throughout the Year
I worked for a great family owned nursery in Signal Mountain, TN. I worked as a greenhouse technician and assistant to the lead grower and nursery manager. What I loved about this place was that they had such a superior selection of plants, and incorporated native plant species to their stock. We grew over 50% of our stock and roughly half of that were native plants to Tennessee.
Scroll down to view my portfolio on the work I did here throughout the year, and how nursery work changes by season.
01
Winter
Tasks:
During the winter, we primarily focused on orders, securing shipment dates, and getting the greenhouses ready for spring planting.
For a Greenhouse Tech that worked on the team responsible for the growing of nursery plants, Winter was our second busiest time of year.
We spent our days:
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organizing upcoming inventory
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cleaning the greenhouses
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figuring out spacing, rotation, and watering for the upcoming season
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labeling and filling thousands of pots
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Planting bulbs and cold-hardy plants
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Planting early season plugs to be ready in time for Mother's Day
02
Spring
In the Spring, it was a mad house to get ready for the last frost and our busiest day of the year: Mother's Day
Tasks Included:
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Planting the rest of our stock for the season, which included: annuals, perennials, bulbs, some shrubs, hanging baskets, cuttings, and seeds
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Rotating Plants
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Fertilizing on different schedules for different plant needs
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Setting and fixing irrigation clocks for different greenhouses with varying watering needs
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Sorting and spacing out plants as they grew
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Trimming plants to have optimal growth by the time they were ready to be brought to the retail store.
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Spraying or including pesticides on a rotational basis for certain greenhouses with susceptible plants
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Weeding
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Finishing plants and stocking them in the store to be sold
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Watering, taking care of all plants
03
Summer
Summer was the time to take care of existing plants and make preparations for fall. In the summer we:
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Watered all the time
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Fertilized plants
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Rotated and cleared greenhouses
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Cleaned greenhouses needed for fall
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Ordered fall plugs and pots
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Planted fall annuals
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Potted up plants into larger gallon sizes
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Started Mums and Poinsettias
04
Fall
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Fall was the season where we sold our last round of annuals and perennials before winter and started winding down for the winter season. In Fall, we:
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Potted up the perennials we wanted to sell the following spring
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Planted some winter/early spring bulbs and perennials
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Cleaned out greenhouses
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Made any necessary repairs to greenhouses, irrigation, or anything else
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Covered open hoop houses with plastic before the first frost
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Built new greenhouses or repaired outdated ones
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Made spring orders
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Took care of existing stock
