Monday, February 26, 2007

I'm back!

The past week has been crazy! Last week our beautiful weather went poof! I woke up Thursday morning to 2 inches of snow and it continued to fall until yesterday. The good news is that the ground was still warm so none of it stuck around and it was all gone by this morning. I went shopping on Saturday and found a great deal on a metal gazebo, something we have been wanting. I'll post a picture once we get it up!

My broccoli and cauliflower seedlings are doing great. A few of the broccoli got a bit leggy though I had it positioned correctly from the grow light. None of the other seedlings on that row did, so I am going to guess these were just some over exuberant plants. My grow system is a bit odd. Since I have 2 kids, 2 cats, and a dog, my seedling trays have to be out of reach. Windows are pretty much off limits as the cats will climb curtains to get at the baby plants. Also, I do not have $500 to spend on the ultimate growing systems featured in every seed catalogue. So what I did many years ago was purchase some $10 grow lights from Wal-mart. Come seed starting time I clear off the top two shelves of my bookshelf. These are the type of lighting fixtures where you put in a couple of screws and the fixture can slide on or off the screws, so I can put the lights away when not using them. I place boxes under my seed tray to lift them to the proper distance from the grow light (empty cereal boxes work great), and remove boxes as the seedlings grow. I never invested in a fancy seed growing heat mat, but I have been known to place a heating pad under the trays to help the seeds germinate. (This can be a fire hazard, do not leave them on when you leave the house or go to bed). The set up only cost me the lights since I already had the bookcase. I promise to take a picture of this setup eventually and post it as well!

I have to go catch up now on all you guy's wonderful blogs, have a great day!

7 comments:

Miss Erica said...

Ooooh I can't wait to see your home made seed geminating contraption! It sounds amazing!
I came down the other morning to find one of my cats curled up asleep on my sweet-pea seedlings...what is it with cats and mud! hee heee

Erica
x

Judypatooote said...

I have tried to grow plants from seed, and they always seem to mold on me....I know to wet.....I live next to a green house with a field in between, and years ago they use to throw out their stringy plants... just toss out tray and all....so it was my hubby's favorite thing to do....go over and bring them stingy flowers home, cut them way down and in a couple weeks we had the most gorgeous flowers.....it wasn't that he didn't want to spend money on buying them, it was to see if he could grow them.....he did have a green thumb.....i miss his green thumb.....

Tea said...

Looking forward to seeing how things grow!
Lacking in green here badly at the moment.

tea
xo

Tea said...

Looking forward to seeing your home made seed thingy too. I have some packets of seeds and some egg cartons, no seed light and not a lot of space to try anything. But I`m going to give it a go anyway.

tea
xo

Bob said...

Hey Jenny, where did you go?

Unknown said...

I hardly have luck with seeds..instead I try transplanting seedlings.

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Unknown said...

Seedlings are quicker and this suits me too..as Im always bursting with excitement to see them grow asap.

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