What Is It About Greenhouses, Anyway...?

Last month, we threw caution to the wind and ventured out to buy some plants. We feel plants need to be classified as "essential." We bought some plants and peat moss to prepare the ground for the vegetables we hope to grow this summer. With things the way they are, that survival mode kicks in and an overpowering urge to grow your own food, make your own clothes, and build your own shelter takes over.

We can't really build another house, we could try and make our own clothes (it would not be pretty...), but we can try and provide food for us--be self-sufficient in at least one thing.

We drove to our nursery of choice, Joe's Greenhouse on the Kaysville/Layton boarder in Utah. We love that place, and not just because the owner/operator is a friend I've known for almost thirty-five years. It's because it's not a mega-place that has everything for your yard like lawn gnomes and fountains. Nope--Joe's Greenhouse has plants and supplies you can use to keep those plants alive.

We walked in. My wife began looking for plants. I looked for something to photograph. Halfway through the second greenhouse I stopped and took in a deep breath, smelling that familiar aroma of clean dirt (yes, there is such a thing...) and new life.

I love that smell.

Which, is interesting because I do not love yard work.

That smell conjures memories going back to the late 1970s. My first job was at a greenhouse. Where Farmington Jr. High now stands Miller Floral once stood as a monument to local business. Decades ago a few of my friends and I were paid next to nothing to plant starts. We were paid by the flat--it was probably only pennies per flat, but we didn't care too much. It gave us money for stuff like playing pinball at Lagoon's Penny Arcade or buying candy at the Farmington A/G.

There's something about the smell of a greenhouse that stops me. 

Since that first job I worked a season on the Lagoon Garden's crew as well as helping out at the no-longer-there Pineae Greenhouse in Centerville. Over the years I've worked a lot of side gigs. I could think working at a greenhouse again. Joe's Greenhouse brings it all back and, at the same time, makes me think about doing it once more.