Fred Brodbeck began farming at this location in 1910 primarily producing seasonal vegetable crops outside. As with many vegetable growers, the need for greenhouses started with the ability to start young vegetable seedlings a few weeks ahead of the last frost in Spring to bring local produce to the market sooner. This was initially done with hotbeds that would protect the young plants from frost. Eventually larger walk in glass greenhouses were built and allowed for better heat management and crop diversity that included some flowers that local gardeners would plant around their houses.
Over the coming years flowers and vegetables sold in containers became more and more popular and by the mid 1960's the focus of the business was focused solely on greenhouse plant production for the Spring market. In the years since, we have invested heavily to keep up with the advances in greenhouse structure, containers, labor saving machines, soil and fertilizers that have allowed us to bring consistent quality plants to our customers year after year.
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Fred and Howard Brodbeck 1915 |
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Crew headed out to the fields, 1931 |
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Howard Brodbeck loading for the Detroit Market |
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Transplanting Spring 1936 |
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Howard Brodbeck 1948 |
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Venting Hot Beds, 1938 |
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Flats ready for transplanting, 1967 |
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Filling flats by hand, 1967 |
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Load of plants with deckboards, 1964 |
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Wood frame houses being built, 1968 |
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New greenhouse construction, 2001 |
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Heat lines being installed |
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Unloading boiler |
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Dircect sowing alyssum |
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Filling soil hoppers |
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Transplanting impatiens |
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Lily and Ben showcase red verbena |
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Liv and Baron |
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