feeding the soil first!

Thanks Linda! Good info.

Amy

Linda, that is exactly what I am talking about.

Now the only place I can place my lights once they are built is the dining room, unfortunately my DH has the garage filled to the top with stuff, he used to be a builder so he has every tool in the trade. Plus even when he organizes it, he is going to want it for himself.

I've been looking in Lowes and home Depot for shelving units that I can use to place the fluorecent lights but they are expensive specially the good sturdy ones.

About the maters growing in the coolest (non-drafty) room. I was told in other forums to place a small fan close to the maters and to let it blow for a couple of minutes per day, I was told that this helps grow strong and not leggy maters.

Carminator1,
WE ARE TWINS!

My light shelf is in our formal dining room against a back wall! The wood is blond and the room is a pale yellow, so it blends in perfectly! Also, when you walk into the living room and look into the dining room, the unit sits on a wall you can't see from that vantage point! Camoflauge!

I run my lights from the time I get in from work (around 6:30pm) until I get up in the morning (6am). Two reasons I run the lights at night:
1. The dining room is fairly dim during the day, simulating night conditions, and
2. If I leave the lights on during the day, my DH will turn them off when I leave for work....

The man follows me through the house turning lights off...a very annoying habit...

Linda

P.S. I think we're not Identical twins 'cause our garage is packed bottom to top, front to back, and side to side! Also, my DH used to be a welder. And, he just built an additional room on the back of the garage for yet more of HIS stuff. It's his new "man cave"...

^^_^^ ^^_^^



This message was edited Oct 22, 2009 8:44 AM

Linda, LOL!

That's great! Yes that's what I call the garage the man cave. We are in the process of building a shed, it is almost completed and it looks prety nice. This will help me a lot, this way I can keep all my garden stuff on the shed. I made my DH promise that he was going to give me just one wall just for me to put my stuff in it, if not he'll just take over the shed as well LOL, he is a little bit of a pack rat if I may say so.

I am going to show him the shelf unit you have since I am running out of space with my grow lights, and it is not even tomato season yet OH BOY!

By the way I got the square foot gardening book from my library and I am reading it again, it is a great book but a lot of his suggestions I already now and I am implementing them as we speak. I found tons of great gardening books though, so I guess I wont be buying any more books anytime soon, YAY!

Nice set up, Linda!

C - glad you found the book!

Hey Kelley,
That's NOT my setup. That's a pic of TCinKY's original design in his garage.

Carminator1,
When I moved into the home I had just bought before I met my DH, I had a completely EMPTY garage. Imagine what I would have done with that...

Well it's still a fine and dandy setup Ms. Linda - lol...

An empty garage? I didn't realize there was such a thing!

I agree, an empty garage is just unheard of, my father in law has a 3 car garage and it is packed to the top plus did I mention he has a wonderful basement and that is also packed to the top as well.

I am reading some of the books I got from the library, one of them is starting seeds manual by burpee and the other is the vegetable Gardener's Bible, great books to read and learn from, high;ly recomended, try to get it from your local library if you can.

Also I finally decided to turn the green manure on my 2nd raise bed, I have giant ants crawling all over it, I think they were man eating ants because they were huge! I sprinkled some grits, I hope they like it!

The other bed is doing great. By the way I am trying a new experiment. I planted some broccoli Rabb and they are getting pretty big, pretty quick so I decided to utilize the ground underneath to start some mesclum mix and arugula, I figure the broccoli Rabb will get bigger and bigger and the mesclum will grow at a different rate than the broccoli so maybe I can get 2 veggies on 1 square foot, also this could help diminish the weeds as well plus also could be used as a mulch, we will see if it works or not.

I experimented with LED bulbs costing 30 + dollars then found a website that used christmas leds and didn't like any of it. It didn't work for me. I have to put this disclaimer here - everything that follows i developed through trial and error. The system is made from cheap components easily available. So I have no doubt it will be packaged by some big company cause it works and it is the bomb! Here Goes.

It is in two Steps- Step one - Starting the seeds
Get a plastic tub that will accomadate the size container you plan to use such as flat, permanest box etc. I start in a flat. I put the seeds in soaked rockwool and leaving standing water in the flat for germination. In the past I have started seeds in 1x1 rockwool cubes then transplanted into 10-12 ounce plastic cups from any store. I use the see through ones to see root growth.
Anyway treat the rockwool or use coir which is better there is a DG supplier who is awesome.(hint-hint). Cut two circular holes equal distant in the box lid. Fix the CFL daylight bulbs inside the reflectors and suspend in the newly cut holes. I did not use bottom heat but the tubs where in a room that stayed roughly at 70 degrees. There is nothing special about the inside of the tubs. I had roughly 95% germination in roughly two weeks for tomato seeds.

I have bought the plastic humidity domes - and to keep moisture up put them on the flats and leave the lights on continually till germination. The domes I use have two vents so I can adjust the humidity level. Here is a list of sample of what I have grown. Tranplanting instructions follow.

Sorry list wouldn't download-- planted tomato varieties Feb. 18, transplanted into 16 oz cups March 3. is basically what the list said.

step 2 is on transplanting link- same forum

Wow Gerry, thank you for posting this.

It looks like a great set up. I bet you can even use bigger tubs if you need more room for your seedliglings right? the only question I have is what do you do when the seedlings grow really tall and reach teh light, are they big enough for tranplant in the garden? Also I was told that you need the lights pretty close to the seedlings when they are starting to come up to avoid getting leggy like some of mine do get sometimes and that you need to be able to prop the lights up and down to accomodate this, how are you able to do this with your system? Sorry about all the questions.

I have not been checking Daves as much lately, sorry. I have been reading the books I got from the library, I already read 2 of them and I am reading now "the Vegetable Gardener's Bible" by Edward C Smith, I love this book, it is full of great info, I am even thinking about buying it and keping it, it really is a good book and I live in the south but most of the information in the book can be used even by people living in the south as well.

The garden is doing great, and thanks to this cold spell we are having I have not had to spray for caterpillars, but I've had to put grits for the ants, sometimes they really like to crawl all over my raise beds.

The 2nd raise bed is already turned and I've placed some clear plastic to help decompose all the green matter. I am sure in about a week I'll be able to start planting. I have tons of seedlings under my grow lights right now so I will be placing these in my second raise bed.

The peas that I was growing in my EB is finally flowering, I almost gave up on these since they just looked pitiful but I am glad I decided to keep them, we will see if I get a good yield from these or not.

I've decided not to plant anything on my containers for right now, we are still getting a lot of rain and everything I plant just does horrible. I will post a pic of my raise bed as soon as I get my cameras battery recharched.

Yeah, Gerry,
What Carminator1 said....PLEASE post closeup pics of the setup. Thanks!

Glad to hear you are enjoying the books carminator! I like to read myself and there is great info to be found in books - lol.

Curious to see close up photos of Gerry's set up as well.

c - I think your peas are liking the cooler weather.

I have a question about beets.

I planted beets on my raise beds as well, germination rate on these were not really good, I planted them when it was still hot out about almost a month ago and I've had to reseed the bed again about twice now, acording to the package I could start these in September but I am wondering if they just don't germinate well in hot weather, they are also growing pretty slow and I am wondering whether or not to just pull them out and try to grow them again in jan-Feb time frame when the weather is colder.

Have any of you in the deep south had any luck with beets

c - they won't germinate well in the heat. I planted mine a couple weeks ago. Now that it is cooling off a little they are growing a little faster.

I grew beets last fall. The greens were to DIE for! And I THOUGHT that I like the pickled roots best -- now I LIVE for the beet greens!

I sowed my seeds the week of Thanksgiving last fall, and actually, that was a bit late. Carmenator1, try again for the first week of November (which is actually THIS weekend), and sow every two weeks thereafter until around December 1st.

Here's a pic of my beets: Bull's Blood (the reds) and Chioggia (the greens).

P.S.. THIN IS IN!!!!! Don't be tempted to let 'em all grow cause they're soooooooooo cute...they're even MORE cute when you have a nice big root ball hanging off of those lovely greens. THIN! THIN! THIN!!!!

P.S.S. I preferred the Chioggia greens to the Bull's Blood greens, and don't think I'll grow the BBs again. Also, I hear there's a specific type of beet that has huge greens and negligible roots. I'm going after these next fall...

Linda

This message was edited Oct 27, 2009 3:25 PM

Thank you so much Linda, Kelly.

I almost pulled the ones that I am growing out but since the cold weather is getting here I decided to leave them in place, they do look a little bigger now than they did before so I'll give them a try, my DH loves beets so I thought I would try to plant some and since I can use the greens as well I thought this would be a good allpurpose veggie to plant this winter. I am thinking next time I'll start them later though, the package of beets I bought was from Jungs seeds and it has a mixture of different beets, even the golden type, I thought this would be a good way to try different ones and see wich one I would like best. There was a spot where only a few sprouted so I decided to take that square and planted some spinach mustard greens that I had under my grow lights and were just getting too big.

I'm going to have to re-sow my beets too. I think only 3 came up and I thought I'd have to thin them.

Does anyone know if root crops can be transplanted? I've got to thin my rutabagas and would love to just move some of them.

They don't like it but you sure could give it a try. I'd use a small small trowel or even a spoon - lol. Pull them out and plop them into a premade hole and see how they do. Disturb them as little as possible.

Why not just reseed some beets in the rutabaga bed? I'm with Kelly, root veggies do not like getting moved. Since there's only 3 beets, not much to lose either way I guess. ^_^

I'll be planting mine soon. Love 'em.

Well hello McDisappeared - where you been hiding? I planted some beets a couple weeks back and so far so good. I like the greens - the beets, not so much!

The plants will grow tall in the bins but the kind I have is roughly 2.5 to 3 foot tall. When the transplants get tall- I use cut window blinds and pipe cleaners to support them and start harding them off outside. The only thing I left out by accident is when you buy the CFL bulbs get the highest wattage you can find. This equals more light.

THANKS Gerryd41!


This message was edited Oct 28, 2009 8:49 AM

Gerryd41 wrote:
When I say reflector this is what I mean. It is roughly 8 dollars at HomeDepot or Lowes.
Measure the reflector and cut the hole smaller. for example if the reflector is the size of a 8 inch pot cut the hole the size of a 6 inch pot. Lay the reflector flush with the lid with the bulb in the hole shining down on the plants. I don't have a picture of the plants inside. I just place the cups side by side until there is no more room. Yes the plants do eventually get tall. I roatate them and then make supports out of window blinds and pipe cleaners and begin to harden them off for the garden. I also should say CFL come in equal to 40 watt bulb or etc. Buy the largest wattage you can it gives you more
light.

__________________________________

Thanks, Gerryd41!

Gymgirl added:
Use a protractor? compass? to draw the circles on the lid. Then, use an Exacto knife with a sharp blade to cut out the circles!

This message was edited Oct 28, 2009 9:08 AM

Gymgirl I never thought of that lol. I just found a old saucer traced the circle and hacked it out with a pocket knife. I don't know if an exacto knife is strong enough for the plastic- mine was kinda thick. It definately will be sharp though.

A good steak knife is a great multipurpose tool. In fact, they're so good that they're scattered in the garage, out in the yard and almost none in the drawer.

hahaha - and my DH is always wondering what happened to all the knives . . .

And my grandkids love to dig in the dirt with our spoons. We give them buckets and little play shovels but no- got to have the tea and tablespoons- lol. We just make sure they are washed and bleached.

I collect the large black or clear plastic serving spoons, sporks, and tongs from the serving setups at work....they make great diggers!

LOL! yes my kids love to dig with spoons as well, talking about a cheap way to entertain them.

By the way I finally had my first salad out of the raise bed it was great! 4 season lettuce, black seeded simpson, arugula, a few pieces of my purple basil, it was really great!

I also planted my second raise bed yesterday and started more lettuce seeds as well, this time I placed things a little closer though expecially the 4 seasons lettuce.

I wanted to post a couple of pictures of my raise bed, the lettuce patch is growing well. Not much damage by caterpillars at all.

The second bed that I planted yesterday was infested by little catterpillars of all colors and sizes. I spent about 30 min picking them up and throwing them in a glass with soap, then I also sprayed with BT, boy those little plants, I really hope they survive.

In the other side I have swiss chard, one square is planted with onions and broccoli, radishes as well ( they are splitting a little bit probably because of all the rain)

Looking good, C!

Gymgirl please don't mention other kitchen implements to my grandchildren. It's hard enough to find a spoon nowdays- lol. Carminator I was thinking there of a good gardening books I've read. One would definately be One Straw Revolution- it's in paperback. It turns agriculture on its head with how things don't have to be. For example rice does not have to be grown in water. etc. Another topic that is awesome is biodynamics. I know there is the mystical side i.e. earth breathing etc but many of the concepts are good. Feeding / building the soil every time you plant with natural substance vs petroleum fertilizer, cover crops etc.

Thank you gerry, now that I have a really nice library I'll be looking for those books.

My mother in law is here visiting for hallowing and since her birthday is coming up I bought her the book "The Vegetable Gardeners Bible" for North american regions. She lives in Michigan and plants a veggie patch as well, but only does it in the spring and summer time, I thought maybe this book would help her get ideas on how to build cold frames so she can plant even in the winter time frame.

On another note, I was very dissapointed yesterday, I went to Lowes, the only place were I could find seeds and no seeds were to be found, they said that they usually take out the seeds and then don't bring them again until spring time, I was looking to purchase different lettuces and other greens and nothing. Walmart and other stores are not carrying seeds at the moment, so I guess I'll have to order my seeds through seed companies. Anybody know when Walmart starts carrying veggie seeds? Is it after Christmas?

I forgot to ask. When can you grow stir fry mixes? Do they do well in the cold weather?

One Book I forgot to mention that is really awesome is The Family Kitchen Garden.
It is new. It has monthly to do lists, vegetable descriptions. Also I was thinking about the catapillers in your lettuce. Is it possible to plant a trap crop in the far end of your raised bed. We have problems with little flea beatles in our garden eating up everything. We have found out that they love and I mean love eggplants the most. So we put out 2-3 eggplants and they swarm all over them. Unfortunately for the eggplant. The wipe out the eggplant but leave everything else alone. Also catapillers are usually from an egg laid by moth or etc. what if you covered you beds with a light remay which didn't all the moths to lay. Just a thought.

Gerryd41,
Please read the last part of your post, and resend. Not quite getting it...Thanks!

P.S. Thanks for the light kit instructions. Hope you didn't mind my edit and photo collage of your grow box. I'm visual and thought some others might be, too.

P.S.S. I'm slowly moving toward the winter sowing idea for starting most all of my spring veggie seedlings. The more I've read, the more it makes sense (to me) to start the seeds outside, let God take care of them like He does, and they'll already have begun the process of hardening off. I figure those that make it through winter sowing will be the hardiest of the bunch, and ready to take off in the early spring. I'm shooting for a much earlier plantout than the past (February 13th), with a stagger planting every other week from then.

This'll be an interesting experiment with my timing...

Linda