Picardo Greenhouse, Millcreek Township, March 2021
In mid-March, the Picardo greenhouse in Millcreek Township bloomed lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, and other vegetables and flowers.
Valerie Myers, Erie Times-News
Gus and Mary Picardo have been eating their own salad since February.
In mid-March, tomatoes grew on more than four dozen healthy plants. Their fig trees bore fruit while most of the region’s figs were still buried to protect them from the cold. And their perennials and annuals grew vigorously from seeds even when temperatures dropped below freezing.
The Millcreek Township couple got a head start in their garden when they stayed at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They typically spend three months each winter in Florida.
That year they lit the stove in the 18 by 48 foot greenhouse in the back yard of their home on West Ridge Road just after Christmas.
“I’m used to being in Florida, playing golf and enjoying the outdoors,” said Gus Picardo. “I’m not someone who sits around the house all winter and does nothing. I was going to go crazy. That gave me something to do.”
And the greenhouse has a Florida feel to it, said Mary Picardo.
“When it was cold and snowing outside, it was good to be in the greenhouse with the plants growing,” she said.
The oven in the greenhouse is set to 60 degrees, but even in winter the sun can raise the temperature much higher.
“Sometimes we have to open the door, otherwise condensation will drip from the ceiling,” said Gus Picardo.
The cost of heating the greenhouse is approximately $ 150 per month.
“It’s cheaper than going to Florida,” he said.
The young vegetables and herbs that grow in the greenhouse belong to Gus Picardo. There are leaf, endive and escarole salad; red cherry, yellow cherry, and 47 large Florida tomatoes; Cucumber; Celery; Zucchini; Basil; and parsley.
Mary Picardo prefers the flowers, including old-fashioned and double hollyhocks, white and apricot foxgloves, lupins, and other flowers planted from seeds; Plate and pompon dahlias, phlox, and more flowers planted from onions; plus 200 geraniums, 200 petunias, and 50 colored lips planted from sticks.
“I love flowers. Flowers don’t speak back to you. I always told my children that,” said Mary Picardo.
Greenhouse plants are brought outside to continue growing when Erie weather permits. And the couple’s sprawling garden will feature even more native goodies this summer, including 900 garlic plants in 12 varieties, 500 onions, peppers, eggplants, and lots of berries including blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries, and strawberries.
“I added elderberries because I love elderberry cakes,” said Gus Picardo. “And Mary is a great baker.”
“His work becomes my work,” said Mary Picardo.
Nozzles embedded in the ground water the plants as needed.
“I’m just pushing a lever,” said Gus Picardo.
Your grandson helps out by picking out bugs.
“We don’t spray. Everything is organic now,” said Gus Picardo.
Other crops of fresh vegetables and flowers go to family and friends, a local school, Mary Picardo’s garden club, and others. The Picardos also have four freezers to keep the taste of summer all year round.
“I love growing things,” said Mary Picardo.
“I love to see the fruits of my labor,” said Gus Picardo.
They even grow plants they didn’t want to grow, including a cherry tomato plant that grew on the floor of their greenhouse, spread out over a table, and produced a lot until it was pulled to make room for other plantings in February.
“That’s nature,” said Mary Picardo. “Just let them do their thing.”
The Picardo family have been running the property near Colonial Avenue since 1956 when Gus Picardo’s family bought it.
“My father was the farmer,” said Gus Picardo. “My brother and I took over later.”
The family sold what they had grown on a stall in front of the house for 25 years until June 2000.
“I taught in school for most of the year and did farming in the summer,” said Gus Picardo. He retired from the Erie School District, where he also coordinated athletics and the Academic Sports League.
Mary Picardo is a housewife.
“Housewives are not retiring,” she said.
As much as they had fun in their greenhouse last winter, the Picardos plan to return to their normal planting routine in late March next winter.
“Are we going to Florida next year?” Said Gus Picardo. “Oh yeah.”
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmyers.
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