MEMBER PROFILE 



CAMPBELL'S COUNTRY GARDENS 

 Part of the Community 



Greg Campbell came to Thorn- 

 ton "just for the summer" 

 from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 

 in 1975. He never left. He worked in 

 the ski resorts awhile, but a degree in 

 math and science from Harrisburg 

 Community College got him a job as 

 a lab technician at the Waterville 

 Valley water treatment plant. He's 

 been there 18 years. 



Campbells Country Gardens is on 

 the land where Lynne grew up. Her 

 mother lives in a house on the prop- 

 erty; the meadow alongside is Lynne's 

 grandmother's field. An aunt lives 

 across the road; an uncle, down the 

 street. "The family used to have crops 

 and cows and a horse or two," Lynne 

 says. Now, most of the farming is in- 

 side the greenhouses. 



For the first few years after they 

 married, Greg and Lynne did have a 

 garden where the main greenhouse 

 now stands. "It was big," Greg says, 

 "about 50'x50' — big enough for me 

 to buy a new rototiller. We grew veg- 

 etables and flowers and sold to local 

 restaurants. We also had a small 

 greenhouse at our house (a quarter 

 mile up the road) where we started 

 the seedlings. We both like working 

 with plants, so after Adrienne was 

 born and Lynne wanted to spend 

 more time at home (she'd previously 

 worked as office manager in one of 

 the local hotels), we decided to set 

 up a greenhouse and see if we could 

 grow plants for spring sales. 



"I wanted a 45-footer — "Do you 

 know how big that is?' I said, but 

 Lynne insisted that it wouldn't be 

 enough. In 1995, we bought a 28'x96' 

 hoop-style frame from Ed Person. It 



was delivered in October; we had it up 

 and covered by November." 



The two-acre property is bisected 

 by a drainage ditch. Lynne's mother's 

 house is on one side; the greenhouse 

 is placed in the center of the other. 

 It's sensible and straight-forward: 

 double-poly, ground cover on the 

 floor, wall fans at the south end; 

 shutters at the north; four horizontal 

 air flow fans; propane-run furnace — 

 "we use propane at work; the system 

 never seems to require maintenance." 

 Shade cloth keeps the temperature 

 down in warm weather. 



Two rows of 4'x8' wood-and-wire 

 benches run down the center. Nar- 

 rower 3x8' benches run along the 

 walls. Smaller units (2'x6') are placed 

 on top of the center benches to cre- 

 ate two-tiered displays. Conduit pipe 

 bolted to the frame is used to hold 

 hangers. Potting is done at one end. 

 Tidiness is important — for pest con- 

 trol and for making it an attractive 

 place to shop — word gets around if 

 your houses aren't clean. 



The business has three seasons: 

 spring (the longest and most in- 

 volved), fall, and Christmas. 



Preparation for spring starts in 

 February, when seeds are hand-sown 

 into trays. The trays, with propaga- 

 tion domes set on top, are set on 

 capillary matting on a greenhouse 

 bench; trays of the more difficult to 

 germinate are on a heating pad. By 

 March, Lynne, her mother Charlotte, 

 and her sister Brenda are transplant- 

 ing the seedlings into 806s. 



Plugs are bought in as well. Pan- 

 sies were grown from plugs this 

 year — it was quicker: the warmer 



weather of the last couple years has 

 had customers looking for color ear- 

 lier. 



Everything is fed via a Dozatron a 

 1 50ppm feed once a day; heavy feed- 

 ers — particularly some of the hang- 

 ers — are given controlled release fer- 

 tilizer tablets as well. 



"We were open this year during 

 weekends in April. We play it accord- 

 ing to weather, but the first weekend 

 in May is official." From then on, 

 Lynne runs the place while Greg's at 

 work, with Greg helping evenings, 

 weekends, and days off. Bedding 

 plants are bright and traditional — ge- 

 raniums, marigolds, salvia — but some 

 trends are reflected (ipoemea is here). 

 There's a strong selection of accent 

 plants — several types of Helichrysum 

 petiolatum, lamium, dusty miller, a 

 white lobelia, a vining plectranthes — 

 "this is what people use." 



Although there are a lot of sum- 

 mer people in the area, locals — from 

 Thornton, Campton, Lincoln, some 

 from Plymouth — are the customer 

 base. Many grow vegetables and a 

 wide range — tomatoes ("at least a 

 dozen types"), peppers, cucumbers, 

 squash — is offered. The season is 

 short — from the last full moon in 

 May (this year the temperature fell to 

 34F on June 14) until late August — 

 although last year, there was no frost 

 until mid-September. 



HANGERS ARE BEGUN in early 

 March. Campbell's produces 600 — 

 ivy geraniums, impatiens, supertunias, 

 proven winners — in both ten- and 

 twelve-inch sizes. Million bells are 

 very popular — "we start it early — it s 



16 



The Plantsman 



