I own a small nursery and produce a range of hardy and half hardy
shrubs which I intend selling in a local  market twice a week.  I have
a glasshouse and an outdoor standing area.  I need to produce plants
quickly in order to make a living.  What is the importance of
photosynthesis to these plants and the factors that will affect their
rate and hence the growth of these plants. How can I control/enhance
the rate of photosynthesis both in the glasshouse and outdoors.  The
plants are grown in peat based compost.

Perhaps this will help a bit.


http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/encyc/cePS.htm

Importance of Photosynthesis
 
Animals and plants both synthesize fats and proteins from
carbohydrates; thus glucose is a basic energy source for all living
organisms. The oxygen released (with water vapor, in transpiration) as
a photosynthetic byproduct, principally of phytoplankton, provides
most of the atmospheric oxygen vital to respiration in plants and
animals, and animals in turn produce carbon dioxide necessary to
plants. Photosynthesis can therefore be considered the ultimate source
of life for nearly all plants and animals by providing the source of
energy that drives all their metabolic processes.

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Protect your plants at night if temperatures go below freezing.