Friday, March 15, 2013

Spring is in the Air

Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
I wonder where the flowers iz?

My seedlings are doing wonderfully in my little make shift greenhouse thing. I know, that is the technical name for it. Really. I looked it up. 

Basically I purchased a metal shelving unit, 4 shop lights for florescent lights and some S hooks. It is very simple and effective. With the purchase of some heavy plastic, it will go outside when the weather warms up a touch more so that I can keep a steady supply of seedlings since there isn't a lot of room to seed bi weekly for an extended harvest. 

Here is the set up:

     There is an outdoor surge protector for the lights so they can all be turned of with one switch. I am using regular old cool light florescent bulbs and the seedlings are loving it. When they first started to sprout they were trying to lean towards the only window in the room, but only an hour or so after turning the lights on they were growing pretty straight.

See how pretty? Those are the nasturtiums. Their leaves are peppery and look so pretty in a salad or as a garnish on any other dish. The way I have the lights set up, they can be moved higher or lower depending on the needs of the plants. These light were raised up a lot since this picture was taken as the lights were too close to the seedlings. 
Here are my lovely little Toy Choy seedlings. I have never tried growing this type of vegetable before. I really want to try celery too, but that may have to wait until next year.

So, there we are, starting off the Spring on the right foot. The tomatoes are growing, but much more slowly. They don't even have their second leaves yet, but I have had excellent results with my own seedlings in the past.

Next will be the yard clean up. My leftover Chard from the Fall is still in there kicking, but oddly the rosemary died. Plants can be weird. The old compost area needs to be taken town and the old garden bed needs to be turned to get rid of some very aggressive weeds that moved in a couple of years ago. We need to keep on top of them or they will take over. 

I hope that everyone is having a great start to Spring! (Yes, I know that it isn't technically here yet, don't harsh my mellow.)


2 comments:

  1. Everything looks great! Love nasturtiums!

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  2. Thanks! There will be more pictures today or tomorrow, they are taking off like wild fire! I even prestarted some snow peas because our spring seems to be lasting a bit and here in New England the ground doesn't warm up soon enough for peas (I don't think anyway).

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