Grow racks in action
The grow racks are starting to fill up. First trays of eggplant and peppers, seeded yesterday, sit up top where it’s warmest. The lights run 14-hours a day, on a timer, with an extra hour or so of early morning … Read the rest
seedlings
Seed starting station
The seedling workstation… This high and narrow table is where I put seeds in cellpaks. The triple sink, a leftover from the dairy days when this was the sterile milk collection room, work out well for seed-starting, with all of … Read the rest
Lettuce under the lights
Checking in with the early lettuce. The seedlings are developing their first true leaves. Fluorescent lighting is inexpensive and does the trick, but it still bothers me how seedlings stretch and strain toward the available light, when what they really … Read the rest
Lettuce overnight
The first lettuce pushed up overnight! Here, lovely red Granada, an Oakleaf-type leaf lettuce that intensifies into a deep burgundy as it matures. Also in trays, Sierra, Simpson Elite, Two Stars and Red Salad Bowl. Now, how early will they … Read the rest
Rosemary revival
A little experiment in vegetative propagation—replicating rosemary from tiny, stressed cuttings. Most of the potted rosemary taken up from the herb garden last season got toasted after too many -20°C nights in the unheated greenhouse (a bit of a random … Read the rest
Seedlings
Most of the seedlings are in the greenhouse now. The next couple of nights forecast for rather unseasonable 32°F (0°C) lows means going for the emergency heating measures!… Read the rest
To the greenhouse
Tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings heading out from the Milkhouse (seedling room) to the unheated hoophouse for some real sunlight and a taste of the harsher field conditions, before transplant time in a couple of weeks. The small riding mower … Read the rest