under the lights

Nice set-up Darrell.. Your garden projects look like they are coming along nicely. It's a lot of work isn' it? Some days, I question myself whether it's worth the time and effort. And the flower and vegetable seeds I grow are only for my own garden. I commend you for a production your size. But then come July and August, I'm sure we'll both be glad that we persevered. Good luck the rest of the way. Ü

Don

Wow Darrell, you've done a lot of work. Well on your way. I'll bet you are dying to get into a greenhouse now.

Don - It is a lot of work, to be sure. If I had enough lights, I wouldn't have to move these back and forth. Watering takes a while too. I water twice a day and it averages out to be about 5 hours a day, just watering and rotating these seedlings.

It won't be too much longer and most of them will be planted outside. I'd like to have the vegetables in the ground by April 15th and that isn't too far away.

I have 120 boxes to build. They are 3 feet wide and 8 feet long. I take 4 of these boxes and put them end to end, making a 32 foot long row and there are 30 rows of new boxes for this year.

Greenhouse......I thought for sure I'd be able to swing a greenhouse this spring but it didn't happen.

Instead, I bought lumber and other things to improve the "Healthy Harvest Market". My first market last year was pretty good for what I had to offer the customers. So I focused on expanding the garden and the market. I'll start a thread later today.

Maybe, if I've planned this right, I'll get a greenhouse later this year for next year's use.

Darrell

"Healthy Harvest Market". Great name! Good luck with it.

Don

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/585071/#new

Darrell's thread in Market Growers that he mentions earlier.

Beautiful, Brenda! You should have woke me up sooner to see your goregous bloomers!!!

Way to go Sanannine, Joan & Darrell!
:) Donna

Hi Donna, what have you got started? Spring is coming here too isn't it? The rain is washing all the snow away. I saw some Lamium peeking out today.

Brenda, I have started seeds of Japanese Morning Glories, brugmansias, datura, hibiscus, cup & saucer vine, natto mame, winged bean and bauhinia vine that have come up. There are a few other ones that I don't see them popping their little heads like dutchman's pipe.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/586097/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/576737/

I wanted to do some winter sowing but it hasn't happened yet. I wonder if it is still to late?

Brenda, I have some special MECONOPSIS POPPIES seeds for you.

:) Donna

Wow Donna, you sure go for the unusual. Don't know what is natto mame or winged bean. What kind of hibiscus? I have some manihot going.

Keep the Meconopsis seed in the fridge. We'll talk. (Why are you doing this to me). What kind are they?

Here are some better pictures.
Picture 1 is Petunia's

Two kinds of Salvia. "Fire" and "Purple"

Bacopa - "Blue Showers"

Calibrachoa - "Million Bells 'Yellow" and Bacopa in the foreground.

Begonia's - Red, Salmon, Yellow, and Pink

Closer look at the Begonia's

Darrell, wow! You blow me away with all the plants you have going. You definitely need to create a course for called Gardening 100. Like when do you pinch this plant to make it bushy.

Brenda, these seeds are from Plants of Distinction. They are a Meconopsis Species Mix. The colors range through several blues to the rare deep red puniceus. Okay, I'm off to put them in the fridge for you.

:) Donna

Darrell, your plants look great! Very healthy. Ü

Don

Darrell, a healthy lot of plants these are.

Good stuff!

Joan

Darrell I con't know how you do it all. That's a lot of transplanting. Looking real good.

Thanks Donna, I think.

Wow, you all are way ahead of me. I'm just going to start things this weekend.

I'm going to try seeding the Nicotiana and the Hutterite Breadseed directly outside. I'll save a few to start inside too, in case that doesn't work out.

Darrell, I've been scouting around to see if you were here this year. I have a brass bell on a horseshoe that hangs on the wall. I used to use it to call my kids from the schoolyard for supper. I wondered if you would like it for your veggie stand? It's not too big and heavy, so won't cost that much to send, but is quite loud if you hang it up about 6 feet and use a longer string. You should be able to hear your customers even if you're out in the back 40.

Let me know . . .

I'd better get to bed now if I'm going to do all that planting tomorrow, and I have to go see the in-town grandkids too since I'll be seeing the out-of-town bunch on the long weekend.

Awesome setups Brenda & Darrell! I started indoor sowing in earnest on March 6/06 and have finally have the daily routine down pat. It is a lot of work!!!
You folks must have endless energy to keep up with the seedling demands. Hats off to you both!
Brenda, I just loved the pics of your pansies, soooo....I picked up some seed for Ultima Morpho (Viola x wittrockiana), sowed them the evening of Mar 27 following the directions for darkness and in the am of April 1st, I'm pleased to report germination like crazy! So question for you: when do I bring these babies out of the dark and can they go under grow lights right away just like my other seedlings? Right now they look so "white" that I'm afraid I'll blind 'em, lol.

Thanks in advance,
Erynne

Yes bring them into the light. I just covered them until I could see them germinating. I think I started mine too early. Wish they could be planted out already.

Thanks Brenda! I was at the gardening center yesterday and as I was going in, a couple of ladies were coming out with a bunch of pansies. I didn't think they could be planted yet but maybe I'm wrong?!

Erynne

I've seen the pansies come up in January so I think they would be safe now Erynne. My 'Katharine Hodgkin' dwarf Iris are up. Whoo whoo

Joan

cybercrone,

I've sent you a d-mail. Yes, I would like the bell you described.

Let me know how much the postage is and I'll send you the money, straight away.

Thank you.

Darrell

I love the detail in your Iris Joan! You take such good photos. A bunch of pansies followed me home today when I was on my way home from up north and for a $1.29 for a 6 cell pk I thought okay, lol. Love when that happens. But I loved it even more when half a dozen heucheras and heucherellas jumped in the cart with the pansies!!!
Anyhow, I've finally got around to taking some pics of my grow-op. It isn't a huge amount but just enough for me to handle with everything else going on. I do have to rotate a bit so everybody gets their fair share of light.

Number 2

Number 3

Heavenly habit

My baby hostas (in total I managed to get 13 to sprout)

Verbena bonariensis (germination was better for the ones I wintersowed)

These are new today; Hellebore orientalis. It was in the fridge, outta the fridge, in the fridge, outta the fridge. Sheesh, but at least they're doing something now. Somehow, I thought they'd look different. Oh well, just watch and see.

Zinnias, some orange, some pink. These were super quick to germinate; I blinked and then hello!!!

DH, wondered if I was growing blades of grass, lol. Nope, just Blue Fescue.

This is Silene armeria aka None-So-Pretty. I don't know if I like this plant too much. I've started calling it None-So-Sloppy because it seems to like flopping around. Does anyone else have experience with this plant? Anyway, I've got way too many of these....go figure.

edited for spelling

This message was edited Apr 10, 2006 8:34 AM

Ok, last one for now, because I'm tuckered out and I'm certain I've just put a few people to sleep, lol. Cleome Cherry Queen.

Night All,

Erynne

I like your grow-op there Erynne, I used to grow seeds in side but mine never looked way that good. They were always thin and lanky. I've since just been starting seeds in my cold frame.

Steve

Another one who knows what they are doing! Looking good!
:) Donna

Erynne,

Very nice plants and they all look super healthy.

I don't know if you've tried this or not for plants that want to fall over or flop around, but I found that if you use a fan that blows back and forth over the plants, it tuffens up their stems so they are more sturdy and hold themselves up better.

I start doing that when the plants are about an inch tall. None of my plants tip from side to side now. They've got really strong stems that hold the plant up. I use it on vegetable plants as well as flowers.

I talk to them too when I turn on their overhead lights. "Good morning" and I make sure I smile when I say it. :)

Thanks all :o)
Donna, if it looks like I know what I'm doing, then that's all I can hope for, lol. Somedays, I'm just fretting! Really!
Darrell, that's a good idea with the fan because it makes sense that when they're outside, they'd have to deal with wind anyway. I will try that for those plants but so far the rest of my seedlings are standing nicely.
I've been bottom-watering everything, you know so those roots can drink deeply and misting here & there on top. I started out with a 1/4 strength fert and now I'm using 1/2 strength, this has been going on once a week. Am I doing this right? Hope so ;)

Erynne