Animals
Every year, by the end of winter, you will hear me say how I long to get my fingers back into the soil again. We have a 6 month gardening season here in PA....definitely not long enough to suit me. But this is the trade off when you live in an area with dramatic season changes. And I love the changing seasons...so PA is where I will stay.
I bought a few heat mats....to speed up germination.
Then I filled a few open flats (with drainage holes) with organic potting soil and set each inside of a flat with no drainage holes. These flats were seeded with a variety of lettuces and spinach.
A few clay pots were seeded with herbs.
Everything was placed on heating mats and set beneath a grow light.
Each container is labelled...
Now I will mist each container with a generous amount of water daily (maybe twice daily)...and wait. I will post pictures when the begin to germinate.
- Very Pinteresting....dreaming Of Spring
Just a week of harsh cold and I am already dreaming of this.... and this... and this... Oh, how I miss my garden!And oh, how many ideas I have for this coming Spring.If I accomplish everything I have planned,I will have to work from sun up to sun down....
- Autumn Harvest
Sadly, the summer gardening season is coming to a close...quickly!We are having nights in the 40's now.Frost is just around the corner. Our hay is cut and drying. If only the weather would cooperate.(It is to rain for the next few days.)Hopefully...
- Wrapping Up And Looking Ahead
Autumn has arrived...and with it the eventual end to this year's vegetable garden.I am always saddened when the garden is finished for the year,but welcome the extra time that it's end affords me. Last week's rain was a real boost to the remaining...
- Garden Party
The really warm weather that we had last week may be gone for now, but signs of Spring still remain. This past weekend Hubbs and I finished moving oak bark mulch into the vegetable garden. (A big thanks to our adopted "son" Tim for moving...
- Minerva, Master-weeder
Amazingly, since Minerva has taken up residence in the garden, it is virtually weed free (we won't mention that I spent the entire past week on my hands and knees). Regardless, the garden is the best it has ever looked at this point of the season....
Animals
Winter Gardening
Every year, by the end of winter, you will hear me say how I long to get my fingers back into the soil again. We have a 6 month gardening season here in PA....definitely not long enough to suit me. But this is the trade off when you live in an area with dramatic season changes. And I love the changing seasons...so PA is where I will stay.
All summer long we enjoy the fruits of our labor with large quantities of home grown fruits and vegetables. What we don't grow, we buy from local farmers. But in the winter, well, that is a different story. Nothing is grown locally in the winter, so we are left with buying what is offered in the supermarket and eating what we have "put up" over the summer. Usually I have lots of frozen carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower.
The problem is: Hubbs and I are big salad eaters. In the summer we grow our own lettuce and spinach. In the winter we have nothing available but those big plastic vats of organic baby lettuces. They are shipped in from California and southern states....which means a big carbon expense to the environment....not to mention un-recyclable plastic containers.
This winter I have decided to try my hand at indoor gardening.
Hubbs set up old storage shelves equipped with grow lights in our basement. Here is where I will attempt to grow our fresh leafy greens for the coming winter.
I sorted through my seed packs and pulled out those that I thought would be good for indoor gardening.
I bought a few heat mats....to speed up germination.Then I filled a few open flats (with drainage holes) with organic potting soil and set each inside of a flat with no drainage holes. These flats were seeded with a variety of lettuces and spinach.A few clay pots were seeded with herbs.Everything was placed on heating mats and set beneath a grow light.Each container is labelled...Now I will mist each container with a generous amount of water daily (maybe twice daily)...and wait. I will post pictures when the begin to germinate.This was such a satisfying project for a cold, rainy, day!
In case you are interested in starting your own indoor garden. Here are a few tips:
You can purchase "Grow Lights" that are sold for that purpose, but they are a bit pricey. Or....you can just purchase 48 inch shop lights that plug in. You will want to make sure that they take the same gauge fluorescent tube as your fluorescent grow bulbs. These are all readily found at your local hardware or lighting store.
You will need to water more often than you do for outside gardening....as the dry winter heat of your house will dry out your containers quite quickly. Draping clear plastic sheeting over your shelving will help to keep the humidity in...much like a greenhouse.
Use potting soil, not soil from outside.
Provide warmth to encourage germination....especially if you are doing this project in your basement or other cooler area of the house.
You can plant seeds that have shallow root systems such as lettuces, spinach, herbs and such. I am also trying a few clay pots with cucumbers. If your pots are deep enough you can grow peppers and small tomato plants. I plan to experiment throughout the coming months.
- Very Pinteresting....dreaming Of Spring
Just a week of harsh cold and I am already dreaming of this.... and this... and this... Oh, how I miss my garden!And oh, how many ideas I have for this coming Spring.If I accomplish everything I have planned,I will have to work from sun up to sun down....
- Autumn Harvest
Sadly, the summer gardening season is coming to a close...quickly!We are having nights in the 40's now.Frost is just around the corner. Our hay is cut and drying. If only the weather would cooperate.(It is to rain for the next few days.)Hopefully...
- Wrapping Up And Looking Ahead
Autumn has arrived...and with it the eventual end to this year's vegetable garden.I am always saddened when the garden is finished for the year,but welcome the extra time that it's end affords me. Last week's rain was a real boost to the remaining...
- Garden Party
The really warm weather that we had last week may be gone for now, but signs of Spring still remain. This past weekend Hubbs and I finished moving oak bark mulch into the vegetable garden. (A big thanks to our adopted "son" Tim for moving...
- Minerva, Master-weeder
Amazingly, since Minerva has taken up residence in the garden, it is virtually weed free (we won't mention that I spent the entire past week on my hands and knees). Regardless, the garden is the best it has ever looked at this point of the season....