This winter has been long. It hasn't been cold, and only one wimpy blizzard, but after the middle of February, unending snow continues with the temperature far below average.
I don't mind winter. It gives me time to write and do other things I don't have time to do in the summer, namely, take care of a fairly large garden, a few fruit trees and bushes, and other miscellaneous details required by a homestead. This winter the rabbits got into the fenced garden and, I'm afraid, did some damage. Rabbits are like the grasshopper in Aesop's Fables: They screw around and sing and dance all summer, so, when winter arrives they are totally unprepared and tend to eat whatever they come across, including the bark and twigs of fruit trees and bushes.
How did they get in? The garden is fenced with heavy wire to repel deer and stray cattle and chicken netting to repel rabbits. Unfortunately, when I added the chicken netting I ran out of the four-foot stuff and used two-foot, which is fine in summer, but not this winter. The snow reached a depth of two-three feet everywhere, and without drifts, so the little darlings went right over the buried chicken netting and through the large gaps in the heavier wire.
Oh well....
The photo above shows where I start my bedding plants, everything from tomatoes and cabbage to annual and perennial flowers, to cucumbers and watermelons to eucalyptus and Cockscomb Celosia. It's not that hard. The basic metal tray is four and one half feet long. To keep things dry I cut sheet metal and bend the sides up one inch all around (honestly, if you decide to do this you want to keep any loose water inside the tray.) Valley tin from lumber yards comes in two-foot-wide rolls, which is a perfect size to hold one plastic flat. Mine in the picture holds two flats lengthwise and one crosswise. Depending on how many bedding plants you raise, there is room for five flats crosswise.
In the photo you can see three 15-watt bulbs which serve for a little heat, and two four-foot florescent bulbs for the grow-light. You can get fluorescent bulbs rated near the power of sunlight, but I use basic shop lights and they work fine. The distance from the metal tray to the bottom of the florescent bulbs is eight inches. That works fine for sprouting (I leave the lights on 24 hours/day.)
The photo shows one domed tray (still in sprouting mode) sitting crosswise. The few left to sprout are in the middle of the flat, otherwise there would be two domed flats only, to take full benefit from the light and heat.
As you can see there are two other flats with very tiny plants. Normally they wouldn't be in the sprouter this time of year (April 18, 2013.) Also, they are a little close to the bulbs, and the heat will tend to dry them out so must be watched. (The seeds in the sprouter won't dry out for a long time, thanks to the dome.) The reason the tiny plants are there is because it's too cold yet in the unheated greenhouse, or, as in my case, greenroom (if you look at the freebies page you can see the greenroom on the right end of my unfinished house.
The next photo shows where the plants are kept at night, and, like today in the daytime (no sun, cold south wind, and heavy snow.) The photo shows six flats; there are fourteen total, and all in this small washroom. Right beyond that green curtain is the door to the south greenroom. Close, for when I can get them out again.
This room is also where I do the transplanting. The plants you see have already been transplanted for a long time. Just yesterday I put some of the larger vines into six-inch round plastic pots, because some are blooming already. Vine plants can be hand-pollinated. Right now there are only the male blooms. Wait for the females, which will have a little growth nugget right behind the bloom, so take the male bloom and rub the female bloom (sort of like we humans do.) I haven't tried hand-pollinating yet, but I know it can be done. Also moved several larger tomato plants into four-inch square pots.
Because of the late spring, all this moving of flats has been a lot of extra work for me, and definitely was the wrong year to plant things extra early, but, I want tomatoes earlier than August, and a watermelon earlier than late September. In a normal year these plants would already be out in the south greenroom by now, 24 hours per day, and the biggest plants would already be in the outside coldframe.
Here is one more photo of the small washroom. As you can see I can't wash any dishes right now. The two flats shown have smaller plants so they get to be higher and closer to the three two-foot vertical florescent bulbs, and the two four-foot bulbs on the ceiling.
Something I didn't mention earlier (in case someone wonders) I use the smallest pots (two and one half-inch square plastic pots for the actual sprouting. You can use cut up margarine tubs for labels. Some pencils write on some plastics, probably better using markers.
Yes, I do order a few seeds every year (sometimes a lot, depending on the budget) but one can save that half a pack till next year (most seeds can store for years and still be viable; some, of course, can't) (onions, for instance, are two years, tops.) Also, one can save your own seeds. I have a book "Seed to Seed," by Suzanne Ashworth. It's not clear who published, but the Seed Savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn Road, Decorah, Iowa 52101, is mentioned.
In that book are clear instructions how to grow and save seeds of every vegetable one can imagine. (Book covers only vegetables.) For flowers and other exotics, all I can say is read the seed packet...or, look online.
One thing though: Don't try to save the seed from hybrids, as hybrids have many parents and will never grow true what you thought you planted.
Every day (if it's warm and sunny) I haul everything out to the greenroom, first to the south window, then, about 2pm I move everything over to the west windows (where they are in the photo) and then, depending on how cold, I've been hauling everything back inside about 8pm.
I do this not only for the good sunshine, but also to control the temperature. Even if it's warm in the greenroom when the sun is shining, the air is still colder. Starts out at 40 degrees, maybe gets to 60-70 degrees for awhile, then soon goes back down. But that colder temperature is what keeps the plants from reaching for the ceiling, in garden terms "stretching." Believe me, you have to keep your plants short and stocky, especially during a year like I'm experiencing right now.
The three important things to worry about. Temperature, light, watering. Balance those three entities and you will have success.
If you have a question, go ahead and ask, and please use the contact page. But no guarantees.
Thanks for reading
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