Planted Seeds

[MadTripper]

This is the first year we've decided to work on a garden. We've had some small items when we rented but nothing major. Of course we just moved in last June so I suppose this was about as soon as we could start.

Since I don't have a ton of experience, I asked around and got some basic ideas. We live in a zone 5 but close enough to 4 to take that into consideration.

So I bought about 70 of those peat cups and a bag of soil. I'm sure I could have done other things instead of spending the money but for ten bucks, it was a nice way to get started. I don't have a grow light set up yet so everything will have to make due on one of our counters until I get time to piece something together.

Growing up, my parents and grandparents had a huge garden but not much after 2nd grade so I didn't really have a big hand in the planting and prep. Because of that, I'm kind of throwing darts but whatever. Worse case I planted something too early.

We planted about 10 types of peppers, peas, tomatoes, broccoli, watermelon, green onions, and probably some others. I still have about 6 weeks before things can be put outside but hopefully everything will work out.

Tripper

[sbemt456]

Tripper this is the first year that I have started my seeds inside, usually get them from a friends greenhouse. I found one of our old waterbed heaters and used it with the thermostat set on 75 - 80 and set the seed flats on that to sprout them, I worked like a charm. My seedlings are looking good, and it will be about another 4 weeks or so before we can put them in the garden and they will be good size by then. As for green onions, I filled an old flower pot with potting soil and put the bulbs in there about 10 days ago and by this weekend we will have green onions. I was shocked at how fast they grew.
You will surprise yourself at what you can grow when ya try. Good luck!

stella

[MadTripper]

As it stands, I'm relying on the ambient temperature of the house which is 65-70. I'm hoping to build at least one rack with a 4ft florescent lamp this weekend downstairs. Of course at this stage of the game, it might be just as easy to use a spare desk I have down there and hang a light from the ceiling.

My onions were actually seeds so we'll see how they take. Some of the seeds were older as well so I hope I didn't set up for failure but I'm sure we'll be fine.

Tripper

[Virgil]

That's a sweet idea. We went into the internet and tried to find some sites where you could maybe order the seeds and we did. Almost every delivery service does that. We tried our luck with a
london flower delivery (http://www.serenataflowers.com/sendflowers/London.htm) service and it worked out pretty sweet. Usually you also get a little bag with some extra seeds to try them out. :)

[MadTripper]

I didn't get space cleaned out for the 4 foot lamp so I tried something new. We use those compact florescent bulbs in the house so I have spares around. I also had a few desk lamps I use for keeping the temperature when brewing cider. So, I combined the two and setup a mini grow light. So far its working very well. In the day time, everything goes towards the window and during the night, I have a 100 watt equivalent cfb helping out.