Revived greenhouse a real garden starter

COEUR d’ALENE — Inch by inch, row by row, what will make your garden grow?

For the city of Coeur d’Alene and the Jewett House, teamwork can.

After a decade absence that included a collapsed roof from heavy snowfall, the Shared Harvest Community Gardens Association and the city’s water department want to restore the decrepit greenhouse in the back yard of the Jewett House near Sanders Beach.

The goal is to help provide a local source of Xeriscape-friendly plants as a part of the water department’s conservation program.

So, soon gracing the backyard will be regional plants such as snowberry, wood's rose and Siberian pea shrubs — all for the public to view.

For the last 10 years the building, whose roof collapsed from heavy snowfall two years ago, has been used for storage.

But an operational greenhouse could add character to the house and the community, the city says, and could also be able to be part of garden starts and tours.

The cost to rebuild the roof and make necessary electrical repairs would be $5,500. The water department has agreed to pay that amount out of their water conservation fund, and shared Harvest has agreed to pay the utility bills.  There wouldn’t be any cost to the city’s general fund.

The city could agree to the restoration deal next week. - Tom Hasslinger