Page 28 - Sun Rays Febuary 2013

28 | SUNRAYS FEBRUARY 2013 ONLINE: SCTXCA.ORG
After years of planning, the Horti-
culture Club finally has one of the
finishing touches to the original
master plan for the community’s Sun
City Garden: a fully-automated green-
house.
If you ever drive toward or fromHighway
195 on Sun City Blvd., you’ve probably
seen club members building the 24’ x 36’
greenhouse. The club started planning
for, and raising money for, a greenhouse
in late 2010; however, the vision for it
began about seven years ago. Since then,
many clubmembers contributed by main-
taining the vision over the years, provid-
ing ideas and assisting in fundraising.
In July 2012, the materials were or-
dered, and in August the building of the
project began. It took 12 men to unload
materials from the truck, and, through
the intense summer heat, five to seven
members would come in every morning
to construct the building. Many of the
construction workers included residents
Randy Brown, Vern Gonion, Paul Berry,
Bill LaFrance, Steve Fry, Charles Cape-
hart, Ben Cardinal and Bill Greenhalgh,
as well as many others who would drop
in to lend a hand. By Halloween, most
of the construction was complete, and
by the end of 2012 the greenhouse was
fully operational.
The Greenhouse has a built-in auto-
mated system that controls the climate
as necessary, monitoring temperature
and humidity by opening or closing roof
vents and managing exhaust fans. The
building currently houses geraniums
and begonias, and will start tomatoes
and peppers for spring planting.
The Greenhouse is only one component
of the 6-plus-acre community garden
operated and maintained by Horticul-
ture Club members. The garden also
features a vineyard, a nursery, an herb
garden, and an orchard, as well as 265
raised garden beds available for rent.
The garden, located at 141 Sun City
Blvd. right next to the Del Webb Soft-
ball Field and the Sun City Dog Park, is
a licensed retail nursery in the State of
Texas with access to several local whole-
sale nurseries.
The Horticulture Club will host an Open
House on Saturday, February 23 from2-4
p.m. at the community garden. The Open
House is open to all Sun City residents
A New Green Space
The Sun City Horticulture Club debuts Greenhouse
By Maggi Jones