The babies are coming...

I'm a little bummed that I'm heading on vacation at this critical time during the baby veggie's birth, especially since they're finally poking their heads up.

Between the mold and first over watering and then under watering the little buggers, I'm surprised to see so many green heads looking for the light. But here they come, despite my accidental attempts to murder them.

I hope that when we get back they'll all be waving their little shoots at me, getting ready to go into the ground in a few weeks.

Here's where we are with some of the over-achievers:

The broccoli clan is the biggest and most boisterous of the bunch.

 

The Rutger tomato is on the left and the yellow cherry is on the right. YUM.

And Sweet Basil is the first of the herbs to start coming up.

In other news, the first person I emailed with from the county that said chickens would be OK, forwarded my message to someone in Zoning and now Zoning says chickens are NOT allowed in our residential area.

After doing much research, I've drafted a letter asking for an exception and a change in the zoning laws for the county, so we will have to put the chicken adventures on hold while I fight with the county administration.

I will prevail! It will just take some time. Vote for chickens!!!!!

Moldy beginnings

It's seed-starting time! You know what that means, boys and girls? There's bound to be some sort of delightful surprise waiting to greet me.

The story begins when I decided to use 3 25-cell seed starting kits from Burpee. They are little plantable pots made from bamboo that are filled with coir (shredded coconut hulls). According to the instructions, you expand the coir with warm water, plant your seeds, cover with the "germination sheet", and the little puppies will grow into happy food for my belly.

I decided to plant five cells of each seed just in case anyone wasn't feeling like growing for me - and in an ideal situation that would give me 15 different varieties of vegetables and herbs ready for the garden in a few weeks. Broccoli, 5 types of large and small tomatoes, sweet peppers, spicy peppers, lemon balm, basil, sage, and peppermint all went in.

Every little hole I made (with a pen tip) and every little seed I tapped in place made me feel a  tingle of joy. Food! I'm growing it!!! 

They got covered in their germination sheet and placed in the spare bedroom to be kept warm and away from our freaky is-it-spring-is-it-winter weather for a few more weeks.

Germinating happily (or so I thought)

A week later, I have two things to report:

1. I have broccoli sprouting through the surface! I feel like a proud momma...little green sprouts popping up to say "hello".

2. The Burpee pots are all covered in a fine mold. Oh yes...I'm growing things alright.

Here's the broccoli:

Here's the mold:

Naturally concerned, I did some online searches and the consensus seems to be a lack of air circulation since they're locked in a room with zero air flow. 

Recommendations include:

• Allowing the pots to dry out every few days (they've remained damp from that first watering for over a week...so I can see how my little science experiment began)
• Increasing air circulation (window is open even though it's snowing and the ceiling fan is turned on high)
• Drying out the mold using a hair dryer on the coolest setting (feeling a little ridiculous, I hair dried my seed kits for about 15 minutes. Is that enough? Too much? Who knows?)
• Keep them warm from the bottom (two of the three are now sharing a heating pad while sitting in the open window)

My goal is to eliminate as much of the mold as possible while maintaining optimal growing conditions to see if I can get any of the other seeds to poke their little heads up through the dirt.

When I saw the broccoli, I felt an immense sense of pride. Now I'm worried, but still hopeful. 

I'm tempted to talk to the seeds and encourage their little journey upward. Go towards the light, Cherokee Tomato, go into the light!!!

DIY Grow Light Stand - my 1st DIY project!

Well, I've done it. I've survived my first DIY project and even though it involved a saw, I still have all of my digits. (My work pants are a little worse for wear with a small hole, but there was no blood so it's a success!)

Because I'm starting all of my edibles from seed and need to sow them indoors, I needed a growing light to encourage the little buggers skyward.

Most of the light stands I found online ran $60-$200 and the $60 stands only have one small light (which is good for growing 12 little pods, but I'll have hundreds).

A little research and I came across this guy's DIY blog: http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/10376/diy-pvc-grow-light-stand

With my shopping list in hand, I hit Lowe's and a very friendly employee walked me through the store to pick up a bunch of PVC connectors, PVC pipes, light timer, florescent grow lights, and some bolts. Getting a 10-foot long PVC pipe into my Honda hybrid meant going down the highway with about 5 feet of pipe sticking out of the back window, but nothing flew out of the window.

Here is the before:

About an hour later, I finished! 

I would not recommend sawing PVC without a clamp. I was holding it with my hand on the staircase and it wobbled all over the place. This is why my cuts look like California fault lines, but once I jammed them into the connectors, who will know?

The lights are attached with temporary ties, so I still need to get some more permanent method for hanging them, but it works!!!!

Ta da!!!!! (Cat not included)

The lights will be adjustable, so fast growing plants will go under one and slower growers get closer light for longer under the other. I just need to hook the lights into the timer and they will magically treat my soon-to-be seedlings to 12-15 hours of light without me having to remember.

Instead of paying $85ish bucks plus shipping, I whipped this sad little puppy out for:

2 grow lights = $30

PVC pipe = $6

Connectors = $7

_________________

Grand total: $43 + a wicked sense of accomplishment