MEMBER PROFILE 



H EAT H' S 



A Lot in Small Spaces 



HEATH'S GREENHOUSE & NURSERY 

 is situated on twelve acres of south- 

 east slope between Route 18 and In- 

 terstate 93 above the village of 

 Franconia. 



Well back from Route 18 (the only 

 roadside indication is a hand-carved 

 wooden sign) and clustered together 

 in a cleared portion of the hillside, 

 the structures seem 

 small, but, as the owner, 

 Tom Heath, says, "You 

 don't need a lot of 

 space". 



Tom's a native of Lit- 

 tleton. He admits most of 

 his high school friends 

 have moved away, but he knew he 

 didn't like city life and made a deci- 

 sion ("it was a conscious choice") to 

 stay. 



He began a construction business. 

 The first structure here, the 24x30 

 barn, was built in 1978 (from trees 

 harvested from the land) to house 

 goats (he and his wife Mary sold 

 milk) and horses. 



Their home, built in 1980 ("Still 

 working on it...") is up the slope, 

 above the bam. 



When their third child, their 

 daughter Chelsea, was born in 1989, 

 it was also time to rethink the farm. 

 Tom wanted work that would allow 

 him to be with the child. He stopped 

 doing construction (he still has a 

 woodworking shop in which he makes 

 furniture), built a greenhouse, and 

 began developing a retail garden 

 center. 



The greenhouse, a 24x44 double- 

 poly house with a plexiglass end, 

 was built off the south side of the 

 bam. 



The barn was divided into a main 

 retail area and three smaller areas 

 used for storage, checkout, and pot- 

 ting. From the potting area, a small 



foyer leads down into the green- 

 house. The oil furnace is there and 

 creates a warm, humid place in which 

 to germinate seeds. (Flats are put in 

 a wooden shelving unit.) It makes 

 sense — a small space is more easily 

 heated than a large one, but you be- 

 gin to get the idea that every space 

 here has clearly defined — and often 



He releases ladybugs both inside and out — 



three or four gallons a year... 



they eat a lot more than apfiids — but there's also "a nice effect 



customers love buying plants with ladybugs on them." 



multiple — uses. 



The cement floor is painted 

 battleship gray and the walls and 

 ceiling, white; trim is blue-green and 

 dusty pink. The light muted colors 

 counteract the days when cloud builds 

 and moves northward from the notch. 



The wooden greenhouse benches 

 are also painted white in order to re- 

 flect light. Light is important. 



Connected to the north side of 

 the barn (you enter through the re- 

 tail section) is "the Milk House," ba- 

 sically a cold frame, its sides consist- 

 ing of the side of barn, latticework, 

 and stone set into the hillside. In 

 winter, its roof is two layers of plas- 

 tic — one clear, one translucent white. 

 He stores potted material here then. 

 In spring, when the material is set 

 outside again, the translucent white 

 plastic comes off, the clear plastic 

 stays, and the space fills with newly 

 potted perennials. A modine heater 

 is used when needed. 



Between these structures and the 

 woods that hide the road a series of 

 retaining walls have been built of 

 stone. Filled with soil, these terraces 

 contain a small nursery yard and pe- 

 rennial beds. 



HE OFFERS the traditional. Right after 

 Christmas he begins planting seed for 

 spring crops — annuals and vegetables, 

 in cell packs and 2 1/4-inch |iffy pots. 

 There's a lot of 4-inch material and 

 hangers. Annuals are big up here — 

 people like color; geraniums sell well. 



By May, the greenhouse is full, but 

 the season doesn't linger. Spring sales 

 are over by the end of 

 lune. 



In late summer there 



are mums and asters; 



at Christmas, he makes 



wreaths (500 or so), 



sells these and trees 



and dried flowers and 



ornaments (cones, etc.). Some years 



he grows a crop of poinsettias ("if I 



have the time"); this year he'll buy in. 



IT'S A SHORT growing season — mid- 

 )une to Labor Day ("our first frost 

 this year was August 28th .") and pe- 

 rennials and nursery stock are cho- 

 sen with this in mind. Hardy shrub 

 roses are popular; he sells 200 a 

 year, "which is good for up here." 

 This year euonymus 'Burning Bush' 

 and potentilla were his best sellers — 

 but this changes from year to year. 



He buys in all deciduous nursery 

 stock bareroot to prevent the intro- 

 duction of soil-borne pathogens. He 

 makes his own soil mix ("premixes 

 are expensive") of Fafard bark mulch, 

 peat moss, and sand. Lime and fertil- 

 izer are added as well. Proportions 

 vary according to the plants being 

 grown. "It works great." He feeds, us- 

 ing a injector, with an organic liquid 

 feed and also uses a dry top dress- 

 ing, sometimes incorporating it into 

 the soil. 



Small agricultural businesses in 

 New Hampshire often need to do 

 more than one thing. When Tom had 

 his construction business, he raised 



DECEMBER 1995 ♦ JANUARY 1996 



