New greenhouse now open

Pam Sutton and Kim Gray opened Kim’s Country Greenhouse on Hwy. CC about four miles north of Hamilton on April 1.

The new business utilizes three green houses which have been set up since January. The bedding house contains vegetables and flowering plants which were started from seeds and plugs.

“We got lots of help from our families,” says Pam. “We had planting parties.”

The other two buildings house a unique gardening system utilizing hydroponics. These are herbs raised in water.

The flowers and plants from the bedding house are open to the public Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 1-6 p.m. A wide variety of flowering plants, hanging baskets, primitive baskets, pots and buckets, along with vegetable plants for the garden are being offered.

Pam and Kim also offer a potting service to customers. Bring in an empty planter, buy your flowers at the bedding house, and they will pot it for you while you wait for the cost of soil and fertilizer.

Originally Pam and Kim only planned to set up the bedding house. Then they had the opportunity to purchase a hydroponics garden from Bob Ketchem of Rayville, who had been in the business for five years. Mr. Ketchem’s wife had health problems and he needed to make a change.

Mr. Ketchem kept the greenhouses for a month after Pam and Kim had purchased them. They went down every day and he taught them how the hydroponics system worked.

In January Pam and Kim tore down and moved the three houses and put them back up at their present location.

The hydroponics system is very rare.

“There is one in Oklahoma, but it doesn’t grow herbs,” says Kim. “There is one in California and another in Florida but they grow in the soil.”

In Kim and Pam’s hydroponics house, the process begins with 372 seeds in a flat. It takes three to five days for the seeds to germinate. They break the plants apart and put them in 12 foot long channels.

Water and fertilizers run through the channels every 10 minutes for two minutes. The water is recycled through a holding tank which holds an average of 150 gallons. When the weather gets hotter, even more water will be required. Fans run constantly, keeping the temperature a cool 60-64 degrees.

The women check the drippers three times a day to make sure they are not plugged up. If they get plugged, they would lose everything in the channel.

They grow ruggala, which is of the lettuce family, watercress and basil. They sell the products wholesale to Italian restaurants in Kansas City and affiliated grocers. They also have thyme, mint, and rosemary to offer their accounts.

Pam and Kim harvest the herbs on Monday and Tuesday and deliver on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday they transplant seedlings in the harvested channels.

All three greenhouses are 30′ x 96′ framework enclosed in durable plastic. The plastic is in two layers which allows air to be blown between the plastic to act as insulation. The plastic requires replacement about every five years, a job known as “skinning the house.”

The two women work in shifts. Pam has a full-time job. She lives close by the greenhouses. Kim lives in Hamilton.

Stephanie Dowell will be helping them after school and on weekends. She will be trained to be responsible for the hydroponics house. It will also be an FFA project for her.

Kim worked at the Cameron prison for six years and for three of those years she was in the greenhouse at the prison.

Pam thinks she inherited her green thumb from her grandmother who always had a big flower garden. “It’s like an addiction,” she says.

Kim grew up in Hamilton. Her mother and father are Randy and Donna Alexander. Her paternal grandparents are Voncille and Harold Alexander. Her maternal grandparents are Bud and Goldie Leabo. Her husband in Michael. They have three children, Dakota, Karly and Hanna.

Pam grew up in Gallatin and lived there most of her life until moving to the rural area. Her mother is Maxine Linville. Her father, Hardy, is deceased. Her husband is Kenneth, from Gilman City.

They have one daughter, Jennie. She is married and lives in El Dorado, Kan.

Be sure to stop by Kim’s Greenhouse, located at CC 33408B on State Hwy. CC for your vegetable and flower plants. They hope to have mums and pumpkins in the fall.