Garden Update : Part 1

So, I don't know about everyone else out there, but this winter seemed to last forever. I have been itching for spring for the past 3 months, and I don't really feel like I'm alone here. It seems like everyone has had a hard time weathering the winter this year,but the question remains, what made this winter so much worse than the past? We didn't really have all that much snow here in Columbus, but we did have our share of ice and below freezing temperatures. Our theory is that it has been consistently below 25 degrees since late November, which isn't really characteristic of Ohio winter. Those nice little temperature spikes along the road to spring sure seem to make the cold easier to swallow.

Anyway, enough about the weather. It's been gorgeous here the past few days (I'm just going to ignore that we're supposed to get a "wintry-mix" tomorrow night) and I'm really glad spring has sprung. As I mentioned earlier this week, I will be trying to get caught up on the garden posts over the next few days. So with the spring in the air, here's part 1 of my garden updates...

I didn't have great success with my seeds last year - I ended up buying most of my plants - so I wanted to try something different this year and really make it work. That meant starting things a little earlier to make sure everything got a good start. I did have one slight problem, I had nowhere to keep them once they were planted. Solution: a PVC plant shelf. Back in January I found these instructions: extension.usu.edu/saltlake/htm/horticulture/indoor and took some pictures as I made it. I didn't follow this plan exactly, but it provided a nice base plan for what turned out to be a great growing stand.

STEP 1: Cut all the pieces

STEP 2: Hang the lights


STEP 3: Add plants

And voila! A functional, indoor growing station! Ben stepped in and helped here and tied an X of sailing line across the back to keep the unit from swaying side to side and used some of the same line to tie the lights up. He tied them up first with a bowline knot and then trucker's hitches so that I can adjust the height of the lamps and raise them as the plants grow. [Very easy!] Plus, the grand total didn't really break the bank (I had a light fixture and 2 bulbs from last year.)

5 10-foot PVC pipes and fittings = $30 ish
2 shop lights = $20 ish
4 grow bulbs = $40
2 wire linen shelves = $14
TOTAL = $104

Added bonus: This can be disassembled and stored in a box when not in use :) All-in-all, very successful and highly recommended.

I got all of my veggie seeds planted in 2 trays of peat cups and planted all of my herbs and lettuce in pots. Unfortunately, something just wasn't right with the first round of seeds in the trays and I ended up replanting all of them. :( The pots of herbs, however, grew like crazy!

I wanted to keep track of germination rates and sprouting, so made this handy little chart to keep in my log book: --->

The new round of seeds have been extremely successful, and it's almost time to replant some of the seedlings into bigger cups.

Hooray for spring!

Happy Gardening!
Amanda


Keep an eye out, Part 2 coming tomorrow...