When Jeff Scharf first set up a prototype of his four-season greenhouse, he was mostly looking to test the performance of its envelope, and he planted a few seeds as an experiment. But he didn’t anticipate just how well it would work.
“Within weeks we were cropping all our lettuce; our cucumbers were putting out 40 to 50 pounds per week, and we only have four plants,” Scharf said. “It’s been amazing.”
In August, Scharf launched the design through Greenhouses Canada, an offshoot of the Helios Group of Companies, established by Scharf and his partner, Trevor Tario, four years ago. The greenhouse technology was developed in partnership with Cambrian Innovates, the research arm of Cambrian College, and Helios Whitefish River First Nation.