The Greenhouse

My mom passed away three years ago leaving a house filled with stuff.  It's taken me this long to liquidate and sort all of it.  Now admittedly, I have procrastinated on parts of the project.  There was just so much to go through, it was pretty overwhelming.  One of the things I've wondered what to do with was the greenhouse.  My mom had an 8-foot by 17-foot molded fiberglass greenhouse in her backyard.  I don't think I ever saw her really grow much in it.  At first I remember her starting some seeds, or baskets of fushia starts or begonias.  But I don't think she ever really "grew" plants in it.  Later on, she used the back half for storage and gradually it just kind of filled up with stuff.  When we started working on the house, when she was still in the hospital, we needed to move some of the stuff out of the house so my brother could have a bedroom to live in.  He emptied one bedroom to a rental storage place for several months.  When my mom passed away, I suggested he move the stuff back since it probably wasn't worth what he was paying in storage.  We decided to empty out the greenhouse and store the boxes and tubs in there.  In the process of cleaning out the greenhouse, he found a bunch of bees and a nest of rats, plus tons of blackberry vines.  For three years, we stored all the garage sale stuff in there between sales.  Then the estate sale ladies sold the rest of it.  Now the house is being sold and what to do with the greenhouse?  It is old, very dirty and a little fragile.  It has been sitting there for at least 25 years.  I doubt it was ever washed.  My mother had often commented that she wished it was smaller and could be moved to my place, since I have always wanted one.  I had visions of it shattering if we tried to move it.  I finally decided at the last, that I wanted to try to move it to my place if possible.  My son-in-law did a wonderful job of stabilizing, moving, and installing it in my yard.  This morning my husband and I scrubbed down one side of the greenhouse.  The two of us worked a couple hours on it, scrubbing and spraying.  Wow, what a difference!  Next Saturday, we'll clean the other side. Then to get things set up inside and start growing. I can just imagine my mom up in heaven saying, "Hank, look! She got the greenhouse home."   She would be happy, I know.

The greenhouse before cleaning.  It is black with dirt and mildew.

After cleaning.

 



Left side dirty, right side clean.  What a difference in the amount of light coming in.

~Jane