NatureFresh Farms: Delta, OH

To shift gears a little bit, I would like to tell you all about the greenhouse built very close to my mother's home town.

In Delta, Ohio Nature Fresh farms has built a 15 acre greenhouse! After doing some online research, I found out that they are starting with tomato production and are hoping to do so year round.

Link to more info: here

Of course I had to go check it out while in Ohio:

The greenhouse is more towards the left of where I am standing.
The buildings directly above my right hand are not part of the greenhouse facility. 

After getting a bit dark, the greenhouse is still visible! 

Contacting NatureFresh Farms

They are not giving any formal tours at this point in the year. I contacted them via their Facebook page and I was quite pleased with their response time. I got a reply through Facebook messages, here is our conversation:

Me: Hello, My name is Olivia Horning and I am a student at North Carolina State University studying Agricultural Education. I will be traveling to Ohio over winter break and am very interested in the newly build greenhouse in Delta, Ohio. Do they provide tours? Who would be the best individual to contact about this?
NatureFresh: Hi Olivia - Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, we are not conducting tours right now as the facility has just got up and running. We should be a in a better position later this year.As well, we will be looking to hire college students this summer to support our #GreenInTheCity tour with our mobile Greenhouse Education Center. Stay tuned to our Facebook page in January when the postings come out, maybe you might be interested. Thanks.
Me: I appreciate all the information, thank you for the update and I will stay tuned with the Facebook page about the upcoming job postings. Thanks again!

Extra Note: I added the link to the NatureFresh website article about the greenhouse education center in the above conversation, if anyone is interested!  

Personal Greenhouse Guidance

This is the look of my personal greenhouse when I approached my horticulture professor for guidance:

So how do you keep from baking your plants in the summer and deep freezing them in the winter?

These are the recommendations that I received:

• Keep the temperature above 40 degrees in the winter. 
• Provide a shade cloth in the summer to keep the temperature no higher than 80 degrees.
• Humidity is only something to worry about if you are propagating plants, for example, by cuttings or seed.
• Managing the humidity in such a large structure would be tricky, so if I decide to start plants from seed, place a clear plastic container over the flats to increase humidity. 
• Don't worry about watering too much [which is what I tend to do] because once you "water in", it may not be necessary to water the trays until germination of growing seed.
• Most plants won't need water everyday, but you may need to water every day in the summer when starting veggies from seed. 

So my next mission is to relocate the greenhouse to a more shaded area to better regulate the temperature. One step at a time to build a more functional greenhouse. 

Interested in buying your own? 

$61.99 at Sears: Here
$101.84 at The Home Depot: Here
Although, my recommendation would be to watch for sales at Big Lots. That is where I was able to find the greenhouse pictured above for a very good price!