So, I bought a greenhouse
I’m an avid novice gardener and because I live in zone 10 also known as Chi-town — I have a shorter winter than say Hawaii, BVI, Bali or Jamaica. Lies, I don’t even think they have what I as a Chicagoan would call — winter. They have November, December and January, but it’s not the same. So, while my new favorite flower is the Hawaiian punch hibiscus they needs a little help in the temperature department come our slow starting spring. It has snowed in April for the last couple of years, that I noticed. I seem to notice the weather a lot more now that I garden. This year is all about the flowers I want it to be pretty and colorful. I have some food and herbs going too, but the theme for this year is flowers.
I’m off to a good start, I’ve got a couple of ikea shelves with greenhouse covers and the seeds I started a while back have sprouted and need to be moved. Which be ok, but I don’t trust the Chicago weather yet. My friend gave me a hat tip that Aldi was preparing to have its seasonal greenhouse available this week. And that was the solve for all of my problems if I could just get my hands on the coveted, scarce and ridiculously priced walk-in greenhouse.
So, I went on safari looking and hunting for the greenhouse to snag one before all the members of all the other Facebook Black girl gardeners members bought them all. I already knew that they dropped on Wednesday, but that they might put them out a day or two early to be prepared for the horde rush. I also knew that I needed to go to one outside of my zip code to get a better chance. I happened to need to go to Cicero for work and there was an Aldi right across the street. It was providence. Plan was to go in to grab one and leave victoriously or leave and try my luck top of the morning at the Aldi in my zip code, if my day of meetings would allow me.
As I walked in I saw a manager and asked her if she had the greenhouse and she was nice enough to let me know that she had 4 on her manifest. She had just cleared the shelves and would be putting them out right now, tonight, but it would take a while. My heart soared I would get my “Red Rider BB gun” after all, um I mean my $40 dollar holla walk-in greenhouse. So, I went back out to grab a cart because I figured I might as well get some groceries while I waited for her to pull it off the pallet. 20 minutes later I’m done, to be fair I’m the fastest grocery shopper ever, according to my husband. I like to get in and get out, but now I’m waiting. I have a little bitty issue with patience, which is prolly why I wanted/ needed a greenhouse in the first place. But I held out and waited and and got all the random grocery items that I rarely have bought, lately, especially due to the pandemic. But I prevailed and I got it.
I had to lurk and wait and shop and try not to look like I was lurking or rushing while I was lurking and wished that she would just hurry up already. I finally broke down and asked her about it again when she pulled the second pallet out. It wasn’t on it, but she was nice enough to go look in the back and she came back cradling my precious in her arms. In my lurking I hadn’t realized that my friend had texted back after I have given her the 411 on the greenhouse sighting to ask if I could snag one for another friend. I told her how I had barely gotten mine and wished them luck in securing their own.
I am proud of myself that I didn’t start assembly that night, but by the time I got home it was cold and dark. The next day it snowed so the make do Ikea weather proofing that I had done in my garden was going to have to last another day. But Thursday morning I was up bright and early and put it together before work and after my workout in under an hour or so — and it is glorious. It is a bonnie green, comes with shelves and is 6 feet tall with enough space for me to go inside and pretend its summer on my lunch breaks because it is a steamy 90ish degrees in that mug. I’ll spend the better part of the weekend staging it and putting in the precious plants I scored at the fabulous luxury nursery that I visited last weekend. It’s a wee bit of paradise and a touch of Bali, BVI, Hawaii and Jamaica in my backyard.
