The BulleTin • Sunday, May 23, 2021 D5
Insurance
Greenhouse
Continued from D1
• Where should the green-
house be located? Do I have a
sunny location? Are there trees
close to a possible site? Is the
location close to the house?
Would water and power be
easily available?
• What type of accessories
will be needed?
If your intent is to have a
space for seed starting and
plant propagation from cut-
tings, the greenhouse could be
a structure consisting mainly
of shelves to accommodate the
filled seeding trays. You might
consider designating and de-
signing one area for potting. If
you intend to grow the plants
on to production you might
want to consider a raised bed
system to accommodate a
larger soil volume.
If you have idealistic ideas of
growing vegetables through-
out the winter be prepared to
mortgage the house and dip
into what is left of the IRA. In a
few short steps the $4 summer
tomato plant has turned into a
$164 winter tomato treasure.
Overwintering semi-hardy
patio containers might require
some pot protection but no
heat as you wouldn’t want to
break plant dormancy. You
would have to water several
times during the storage pe-
riod to avoid dehydration.
An 8-by-6 space may sound
and look large enough on a
piece of graph paper, in reality
it may not be. A popular size
for a hobby greenhouse is 12
feet by 8 feet.
A good exercise would be to
buy some stakes and colored
plastic tape to outline the di-
mensions at waist height. Then
step inside and visualize how
you would use the space.
Your greenhouse should be
located where it will receive the
most sunlight, ideally with a
southern exposure. Could you
incorporate some solar fea-
tures? An important consider-
ation should be an easy access
to the house. A greenhouse can
lose its appeal if you have to
hike across the yard through
high winds and rain. In the
excitement of planning make
sure you don’t block a price-
Thinking about a
Peloton or trampoline?
BY LAURA DAILY
Special to The Washington Post
D
Plants grow under a covered garden bed at the community garden at
Discovery Park on Wednesday.
less view, but at the same time
miss the opportunity to block a
neighbor’s ugly shed.
What were some of the
points we missed investigat-
ing? We should have installed
a fan system rather than using
the free standing household
type fan. The one problem that
causes the most grief is that the
greenhouse is situated fairly
close to two juniper trees. The
juniper roots are so invasive
that every spring I have a mas-
sive job of turning the soil and
pulling out roots from the foot
high concrete raised beds.
We tried the year-round
growing plan but the results
in February and March were
dismal. The plants weren’t get-
ting enough light. Economi-
cally it didn’t seem feasible to
add grow lights and use the gas
heat to sustain growth.
A greenhouse is an invest-
ment of money and time; make
sure your greenhouse will ful-
fill your specific need and ex-
pectation. Don’t let it become a
repository for outdated garden
chemicals or plastic containers
you will never use. Taking the
time to do some size and site
planning will keep you from
having the “whoops” conversa-
tion later.
Niki Jabbour, author and
monthly garden column writer
for Horticulture magazine
proves there are alternatives
to growing in a greenhouse.
Jabbour is noted for her year-
round gardening techniques in
cold frames, plus low and high
polytunnels, also called hoop-
houses. The best part of her
story is that Jabbour gardens in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her latest
book, ‘Growing Under Cover”
is on my shopping list.
Jabbour’s writings inspire me
to either try new techniques
and to revisit container garden-
ing. Carrots in a pot, why not?
As long as the container is deep
enough for a long variety, or if
the container is short, choose
a short variety. Even corn has
been developed to produce in a
container.
Discovery Park Community
Garden, located on Discovery
Park Drive is an excellent ex-
ample of raised bed cloche gar-
dening. Assignment of avail-
able beds is done by lottery
every April.
The cloche protects, and ex-
tends the growing season and
harvest.
The raised bed structure
also presents the opportunity
to grow short-term varieties
of tomatoes, peppers and mel-
ons. The program is under the
management of the OSU Mas-
ter Gardener Volunteers with
support from Bend Park &
Recreation District.
It is still early enough in
the season to do some experi-
menting with a new technique,
maybe a simple cold frame
using cinder blocks and dis-
carded windows. Or maybe a
container of carrots.
e e
Author: douville@bendbroadband.com
id you recently receive
a letter from your
county’s assessment
office? You know the one. It
lists your home’s estimated
market value so you can
(gulp) prepare yourself for
your property taxes. Whether
your home increased or de-
creased in value, this may be
a good time to also review
your homeowners insurance
policy.
Though your coverage
may have kept pace with the
cost to rebuild in case of a to-
tal loss, have you made any
upgrades or purchases, such
as an aboveground pool or
trampoline, since you last
chatted with your agent? Sure,
these purchases seemed like
good ideas at the time, mak-
ing your home more livable or
your backyard more suited to
socializing, but they can also
lead to higher homeowners
insurance costs.
People assume that their
policy covers everything, but
it has its limits, says Carole
Walker, executive director of
the Rocky Mountain Insur-
ance Information Associa-
tion. “You need to know what
is covered and what is not,
because it can come back to
haunt you,” she says.
Insurance rates are based
on a home’s replacement cost
— the amount it would cost
to rebuild your house in case
of a total loss. A policy also
covers the contents of your
home and provides liabil-
ity protection against claims,
should someone be injured
on your property.
Before you take steps to
improve your home or add a
“fun” element, such as a fab-
ulous “she shed,” consider
how doing so could affect
Insurance help
Looking for more helpful
advice? The Insurance Infor-
mation Institute has a num-
ber of consumer-friendly
articles and videos on its
website, iii.org, including
one called “What is covered
by standard homeowners
insurance?”
you financially. This type of
upgrade, Walker says, is “not
necessarily a bad idea. It just
may have financial conse-
quences.”
What you don’t want to
do is keep your insurer in
the dark, says Michael Barry,
spokesperson for the Insur-
ance Information Institute.
“Insurers look favorably on
homeowners who proactively
reduce risks on their property
and let them know in advance
of any major purchases or im-
provements,” he says.
There are three types of in-
creases that your purchases
might trigger.
1. Replacement cost
Any home extension, such
as an additional bedroom, en-
tertainment center, backyard
kitchen, screened porch or
finished basement, is going
to add to your home’s value,
because it expands your us-
able square footage, Barry
says. Outdoor structures, like
a large, finished deck or a
tricked-out shed, are viewed
the same way as additional
bedrooms when it comes to
increasing coverage.
The same goes for those
major home improvements,
such as replacing carpet with
hardwood floors or laminate
countertops with granite. Re-
member: If it was expensive to
build, it’s going to be expen-
sive to rebuild in case of a loss.
Policyholders who find them-
selves underinsured could
face out-of-pocket costs.
2. Contents coverage
According to Kenton
Brine, president of the NW
Insurance Council, the more
money you invest in an item,
the more money it’s going to
take to replace it. Although
the contents of your home
are covered as a percentage
of your insurance policy, you
may need to increase your
overall coverage or purchase a
rider — extra coverage — for
pricey personal possessions.
“A $1,500 road bike may be
covered, but a rad $6,000 elec-
tric bike may not,” Brine says.
The same is true for high-end
golf clubs, art, an ergonomic
office chair, a Peloton-type ex-
ercise bike, a Pilates tower or
new, sleek, chef-quality appli-
ances, outdoor grills or firep-
its. A basic rider to insure that
new treadmill or office equip-
ment may cost as little as $25.
3. Liability
Big purchases to entertain
yourself and your family are
the ones that can make your
home riskier in the eyes of in-
surers. Insurance companies
call such purchases an “attrac-
tive nuisance,” meaning you
have something that could
entice children (and adults)
into entering your property.
If people are injured, you can
be sued, even if they gained
access to the equipment with-
out your permission. Think
swimming pools, trampo-
lines, treehouses, playground
equipment, archery ranges,
homemade ice rinks or skate
parks, a waterfront floating
dock with a slide or even a se-
rene koi pond.
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