If I had a Greenhouse......

[Jane23]

Buying a plant may be controlled, but buying the pods and growing your own plant is not (provided you buy your pod from a legal source, which both a southern US based fruit vendor (like Miami Fruit) and a supermarket (like H-mart) is. You may also be able to find a Florida or Southern California based private seller somewhere like Esty, and they're OK as well (it worked when I needed some exotic citruses). Avoid sellers in Hawaii, while technically U.S. soil, it has its own set of import rules (from what I have heard, it can be hard to legally transport plants and animals from island to island, let alone to the mainland).

And I understand the wishes overtaking the reality. My perfect world greenhouse would have to be big enough to hold a whole FOREST. Actually, it'd have to be big enough to hold about a dozen different ecosystems, since my seeds are hardly limited by any particular climatic zone. In fact I'd actually need some REALLY special enclaves for some of the more finicky ones, like the Chilean Hazel (Gevunia avellana) with it's need for sea spray cold and totally phosphorus free soil. Or an area for the Andean stuff that I could set up at early spring temperatures and more or less equal days and nights year round. Heck, they could hand me the keys and title to Epcot Center, The New York Botanical AND Kew Gardens, and it STILL probably wouldn't be enough room. I suppose what I REALLY need is someone to invent a way to teleport to anywhere on Earth instantly and the legal right to set up a garden anywhere AND move the products wherever I wanted, so I could grow all these things in situ.

This sounds 100% right. Now I just need infinite amounts of time to care for it.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

This sounds 100% right. Now I just need infinite amounts of time to care for it.

And infinite assistants to help you. My corn breeding projects stall on two fronts, not nearly enough land to try and work on all of them at once (my idea corn farm would look truly bizarre, as it would tend to have (at least initially) 12'x12' or so corn patches separated from each other by two miles (to keep pollen from crossing). Either that or some sort of baffle and fan arrangement (use baffles to keep the pollen inside each block, and the fans to replace the wind that is now being blocked by the baffles.) and the lack of labor to help me deal with the fact that it's gotten too big for me to handle alone. Finding someone with space enough for corn breeding is hard enough, finding someone with such space and interest in growing YOUR corn and selecting it to YOUR specifications is much harder (even if they are willing, they aren't YOU, and so can't be 100% trusted to notice what you would, or know how you would re-select each time.)

 

[Jane23]

And infinite assistants to help you. My corn breeding projects stall on two fronts, not nearly enough land to try and work on all of them at once (my idea corn farm would look truly bizarre, as it would tend to have (at least initially) 12'x12' or so corn patches separated from each other by two miles (to keep pollen from crossing). Either that or some sort of baffle and fan arrangement (use baffles to keep the pollen inside each block, and the fans to replace the wind that is now being blocked by the baffles.) and the lack of labor to help me deal with the fact that it's gotten too big for me to handle alone. Finding someone with space enough for corn breeding is hard enough, finding someone with such space and interest in growing YOUR corn and selecting it to YOUR specifications is much harder (even if they are willing, they aren't YOU, and so can't be 100% trusted to notice what you would, or know how you would re-select each time.)

I have the land, the problem is needing time and good soil. It would take years for it to get to the point of growing anything well.

 

[Zeedman]

If you COULD grow sword beans, you would want to try out some of Jibril's stuff (only available as an all in one mix at the moment) He has the most INCREDIBLY colored and patterned sword beans.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/878024046/13-in-1-multicolored-african-sword?click_key=fce814968171cde131e329e48127f48705e42ca8:878024046&click_sum=a73aa7e0&ref=shop_home_active_10&frs=1

He also may have the African Lablab beans I have searched for, eventually (he had them last week, but his shop was saying that all his seeds were "not available in my country". Now the seeds are available again, but those seeds are not there. I assume he'll get this all straightened out eventually (at least, I hope so, besides the lablabs, he has a brown seeded version of Kersting's Groundnut now.)

I took a look at those; the seller seems to be legit (since he can send with a phyto). If I wasn't scrambling to preserve what I already have, I'd think about ordering those & doing a mass planting, just to see if ONE would produce seed at this latitude. I grew a sword bean once, starting it early in the greenhouse, and keeping it there to protect from cool spells. I got large, thick pods (the flowers seem to self pollinate) but they were not even close to mature when the unheated greenhouse got too cold.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Oh, he's legit; I've bought from him frequently. The problem is that, at the moment, when you go into his shop and try an click on any seeds to take a closer look or order them, Etsy sends you a message that the item "is not available in your area". Whether there is a glitch in the system, Jibril cannot get phyto's anymore (which would seem odd, given that the phyto is PART of his rather high per seed pack costs) or U.S. customs rules have changed again so that now even a phyto is not good enough to get seeds in (they already now require an import permit number as well if the plant is a tree or woody; maybe that was extended to cover all plants.) but at the moment, I at least cannot order (and I really want to, I want those lablabs and those brown Kersting's groundnuts.)

 

[flowerbug]

I was reading about getting chocolate tree, but they are a controlled plant. It is not something you can easily, or legally buy in the United States. It is a silly dream I know I will not be able to realize, but in a perfect world I would have one.

I definitely am planning on expanding my garden to include a lot of herbs for tea next year. If I can improve the soil enough for them to go. A nutmeg tree sounds like a good thing to add the fantasy green house.

I love bananas and so does my husband, which is why I was debating the banana tree.

@SprigOfTheLivingDead has a lot of experience growing bananas but i don't know that he ever managed to get fruit from his plants.

chocolate would need a pretty big space kept consistently warm enough and the right kind of light, which would be a challenge, plus if it ever flowers you'd have to hand pollinate to get the pods to set. a very dedicated and long term project for someone in a cold climate. if you had a well insulated room underground you might carry it off more easily with modern LED lighting. keeping the temperature and light consistent enough above ground in a house in the north just may be too difficult.

 

[flowerbug]

Buying a plant may be controlled, but buying the pods and growing your own plant is not (provided you buy your pod from a legal source, which both a southern US based fruit vendor (like Miami Fruit) and a supermarket (like H-mart) is. You may also be able to find a Florida or Southern California based private seller somewhere like Esty, and they're OK as well (it worked when I needed some exotic citruses). Avoid sellers in Hawaii, while technically U.S. soil, it has its own set of import rules (from what I have heard, it can be hard to legally transport plants and animals from island to island, let alone to the mainland).

And I understand the wishes overtaking the reality. My perfect world greenhouse would have to be big enough to hold a whole FOREST. Actually, it'd have to be big enough to hold about a dozen different ecosystems, since my seeds are hardly limited by any particular climatic zone. In fact I'd actually need some REALLY special enclaves for some of the more finicky ones, like the Chilean Hazel (Gevunia avellana) with it's need for sea spray cold and totally phosphorus free soil. Or an area for the Andean stuff that I could set up at early spring temperatures and more or less equal days and nights year round. Heck, they could hand me the keys and title to Epcot Center, The New York Botanical AND Kew Gardens, and it STILL probably wouldn't be enough room. I suppose what I REALLY need is someone to invent a way to teleport to anywhere on Earth instantly and the legal right to set up a garden anywhere AND move the products wherever I wanted, so I could grow all these things in situ.

Biosphere II was an interesting facility (and probably still is) to read up on.

 

[Jane23]

Biosphere II was an interesting facility (and probably still is) to read up on.

I kind of wonder if I could create a controlled enough environment by digging one into the ground. The ground is a consistent temperature, but with a bit of work, I wonder if I could create a warmer controlled environment. It would remove the variation in temperature and bug destruction.

It is something to think about.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Biosphere II was an interesting facility (and probably still is) to read up on.

In one of the story settings I am writing, the main problem humanity is facing is making what amounts to a universal biosphere, a small area where EVERY kind of life can be put (due to the fact that, after a disaster, not only is nearly all life on Earth gone, but what is left is spread so thin that, if left to it's own devices, nearly all of it will go as well due to things like the next nearest member to reproduce with being 800 miles away. So humanity is going out, collecting what little life is left they can find, and bringing it back to a single place in order to re-concentrate it into a state where it is stable and can be used to re-populate.) I still haven't even figured out WHERE to put it (Middle America with a large artificial ocean? some island in the tropics where you can count on the sun always being predictable year round? Splitting it up into biosphere dotted all around the globe won't work, there's too little life left to pull that off.)

 

[flowerbug]

I kind of wonder if I could create a controlled enough environment by digging one into the ground. The ground is a consistent temperature, but with a bit of work, I wonder if I could create a warmer controlled environment. It would remove the variation in temperature and bug destruction.

It is something to think about.

the problem with any digging type of place is that you have ground water potentially being a problem and/or constant issue to deal with. it is rare to find a place that is both stable and dry. then once you do that then you have to figure out ventilation (heat exchangers are well worth it), etc. geothermal heating, solar lighting with LEDs.

personally i think all of this is worth a space novel in the middle of an asteroid someplace...