​     We who reside in Minnesota, have resigned ourselves to the necessity of heating during our winters.  Greenhouses, during the winter, must be kept at a plant-happy temperature.  It is us, the heating system, to the rescue.  We, in the most efficient way possible must keep the greenhouses warm at night.  Of course, the greenhouses utilize solar energy as much as possible.  During the day, the sun is our friend and allows us to rest.  But during the Minnesota nights we must go to work to keep the plants from freezing.  We are a special bunch of heaters, in that we are of the highest efficiency.  We try to sip our fuel judiciously and make the most heat possible.  We direct much of our heat down under the plants to warm the soil.  Working in conjunction with heat retention curtains and extra energy-saving insulation, we keep the skinniest profile possible as we put energy into the growing plants.  As the daylength increases during springtime months our work gradually decreases.  Finally, as we enter summer, we finally get to rest as the longest days turn up the heat naturally

     All of the plants grown at Glacial Ridge Growers have an ultimate destination.  They all need to reach an inviting garden or other plot of soil that is ready to have them settle in.  If not for us, the dependable trucks, the plants would have no place to live their beautiful lives.  We trucks are set up with a large enclosed cargo space to hold the plants safely in transit.  The racks that are loaded with plants roll onto our backs for the trip to various destinations.
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     We travel to locations all over Minnesota and surrounding states.  Garden centers, landscapers, and various fun-raising groups receive our plants.  During our busiest season we bring in extra recruits from a truck-leasing company.  We even enlist semi-trailers from a local trucking company.  It’s a big job, getting all those plants delivered.  Of course, everyone seems to want the plants around the same time, so our spring is very hectic.  Our winter break is well-deserved, with nowhere to go but settle into a big snowdrift and wait for spring.

     One of the most important things in the greenhouse business is keeping everything organized.  The test each year is to get everything grown and ready at the right time.  It is important to do the right things at the right time.  That is where we come in.  We are the computers in the office.  We are the heartbeat of the greenhouse operation.  Each week we print the agenda needed to accomplish the crop.  We put out seeding schedules, transplanting schedules, tags for seed flats and may other things.   What might appear to be a monumental task, that of filling and emptying all the greenhouses, and having the task broken down into doable increments is a breeze for us.  We also keep track of everything that is completed, so inventory is always current.
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      Our ability as computers is very diverse, keeping track of so many things about the plants in the greenhouses.  Certainly, we are dependent upon able, hardworking fingers to drive us each day.  But just between us and the readers, we really aren’t all-knowing but they don’t give us credit for all we know.  Scary thought; we just might be all-knowing, and we may not always carry out the exact directions given to us by those agile finger tips!

​     As indicated last week, the greenhouse roofs are very important, but just beneath them, we reside.  We are the retractable heat-retention curtains.  In winter we remain folded-up during the day but at night we are pulled out over the inside of the greenhouse.  We insulate and cause the heated area to be reduced at night.  This reduces the amount of heat needed to keep the plants warm.  During the day we fold up again to let the sun’s solar energy warm the greenhouses. 
     But wait there’s more!  During the hot part of the summer, we can again be unfolded, but it is during the day, and we then act as shading to help cool the greenhouses.  This helps reduce cooling costs in summer and enables plants to grow better during the hot months.  Yes, we are indeed a very versatile part of the greenhouse and we like to think that we keep things under control.

     What can I say about us, other than we are the most important part of any greenhouse operation.  Yes, we are the roofs that cover the growing areas.  We greenhouse roofs are the barrier between the outside weather and the warm, moist area where the plants grow and survive despite sometimes-harsh weather outside.
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     We roofs are really quite unique.  We must allow as much light as possible, yet keep the cold winter weather out of the greenhouses.  We accomplish this feat by being very transparent, yet able to keep warmth inside.  As sunlight passes through us it is absorbed by plants and the other surfaces inside, which allows light energy to be converted to heat energy.  We are a very special type of plastic that is made to resist ultra violet light which tends to weaken us.  We convert sunlight to plant life.  These plants use carbon dioxide to produce oxygen.  Our ultraviolet resistance allows us a number of years of usefulness and it shields workers from sunburn in the greenhouses.  We roofs are incredible at capturing solar energy.  We catch sunlight, allowing plants to grow during Minnesota winters.  When our usefulness is gone we are recyclable.  For anyone who appreciates plants and wants them to be ready for spring planting, “we got you covered.”

​     I am already well into my spring season.  My job at Glacial Ridge Growers entails the most time spent of all the greenhouse components.  I am the seeding machine.  The technology that flows in my metallic veins is amazing.  I am able to pick up literally millions of seeds during a growing season and place them accurately into the seed flats.  I can change my configuration to accommodate various flat and cell sizes.  Of course, a skilled human helper needs to know how to push my buttons, but my skill is still quite impressive.  I can space seeds accurately into a flat in a half minute and can do it all day long.  My busy season begins in October of the year before the crop is ready, and extends through the spring and the summer of the greenhouse crop.  It may seem strange to say that I am an expert at dropping things, but my expertise lies in my speed and accuracy of dropping seeds.

     If I say so myself, I am a big, hard-working part of the greenhouse operation at Glacial Ridge Growers.  As the new growing season begins for spring 2026, I find myself getting busier each day.  It is my job to accurately and in a timely fashion to dispense thousands of cubic feet of soil into various pots and plant flats.  I am the flat-filling machine.  I have the ability to reconfigure myself to fill many different types of plant containers.  I can accurately fill tiny plug cells, four-inch diameter pots, and even the large hanging baskets.  I work closely with the electric fork lift which loads soil into my soil hopper.  I have a multitude of settings to dispense various volumes of soil depending upon container sizes and shapes.
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     I work very hard, sometimes many hours a day, but my heavy-duty motors make it light and fast work.  Of course, I am assisted by workers who load empty containers into me and also catch the filled containers and place them onto carts to be taken to have plants transplanted into them.  I will have to say that my job is very fulfilling (no pun intended) as I see the greenhouses turn green with planted pots.

     Let me introduce myself.  I am the walk-in cooler. You might wonder what my function could possibly be at Glacial Ridge Growers.  Actually, I am an illusion artist.  It is my job to trick seeds into thinking they are going through winter, when they are merely spending time in my company.  Right now, I am in my busiest time of year.  Many thousands of seeds have been seeded for next spring and they have been put into my possession.  When these seeds are taken out later in the winter, they will believe they have spent a winter in the soil and are tricked into believing its time for them to germinate.
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     It is my job to keep these seeds safe and secure in their trays, at the correct temperature, until they are taken to the greenhouse for gemination.  I have the ability during any season to create the illusion of winter dormancy encouraging seeds to germinate when they are needed.  Cart-loads of seeded trays are moved in and out of my protective custody, ensuring young plants will be available when needed.  Even though I get all the seeds with tough dormancy issues, I enjoy my work and get great satisfaction as my clients emerge as fine citizens of the plant community.

     We are the greenhouse carts and we wanted to put in a word about ourselves, before turning in (no pun intended) for the slow season.  We are a very mobile bunch.  We keep the plants moving in the greenhouses.  It is our duty to help move the plants and deliver them to their final destination.  We carts are a very specific and select group.  We are made to exactly fit the flats used at Glacial Ridge Growers.  Our twenty-inch width and sixty-inch length allows us to transport five flats per shelf.  We can be adjusted to hold different numbers of shelves, allowing us to each carry anywhere from twenty-five to forty-five flats.  This size is the mainstay of our cart fraternity, but we also have a very specialized but much smaller number of carts called “skinny carts.” They have a very special skill and smaller size, which allows them to sneak down the narrow aisles and between benches.  We carts are the work horses of the greenhouses and during our busy season we put on many miles, helping to move the plants.
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     Right now, we are quite dormant.  It is our season of rest, after we each received our annual greasing, to keep our wheels and bearings in top shape.  We are now ready to doze off for a couple of months, resting our weary wheels until the busy season awakens us.

     We are the plant tags that identify every plant that leaves Glacial Ridge Growers.  We are a very literate bunch, with accurate descriptions of all the plants that we accompany.  Our diversity is amazing.  Not only do we represent vegetables, annual flowers, native perennials, herbs, and others, but we find ourselves divided into many groups or classes of plants.  As an example, there are many vegetables in the group of cole crops, such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and many others.  Our collective knowledge of plants is incredible.  We need to inform gardeners about how each plant will perform in the garden as to height, color of bloom, light requirements, and many other attributes. We plant tags need to be informed and completely knowledgeable about nearly a thousand different plants.

      At this time of the season we are all snuggled in boxes either on the tag library shelves, or some of us are still in a box on a pallet, yet to be unpacked and put into the open spaces on a shelf.  We know that our time to shine will come, as the plants grow and are put into their pots.  We will accompany the plants to their final destination, our feet soaked each day and we nearly drowned as the plants get watered. We will all join our plant friends and guide gardeners to a wonderful summer of enjoyment.
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