My Lettuce seeds have sprouted
17.2 years ago indoor seed starting
My lettuce seeds sprouted faster than usual this year, I expected to have some problems since I have saved the seeds for 3 years now. I don’t have a heating pad (yeah I’m cheap) so just put them on top of the refrigerator in a makeshift greenhouse out of an old strawberry container. They would have still germinated in my mid-60 degree house, but the extra heat gained from being on top of the refrigerator will allow my cucumbers to sprout about 10 days sooner.
I will have to give coconut coir my two green thumbs up, my only complaint is that it retains water a little too well. I would recommend 1 part perlite to 2 parts coconut coir
to let the roots dry out a little more. For now I am just watering from the bottom so guess I am doing some cheap hydroponics. I have also added them to my PC case grow box.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, growbox, strawberry plants, vegetables
Strawberries in the PC grow box (UPDATE)
17.2 years ago indoor growbox
Well the strawberry plant seems to be doing great in the $20 PC grow box. Can’t wait to try it out on my recently planted seedlings.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, growbox, outdoor plants, strawberry plants, vegetables
Gardening with kids
17.2 years ago kids
The appeal of working in the garden has always been natural to my daughters. But then again what could be better than going outside playing with dirt and water. I do have a few tips I have picked up that might make it a little extra fun for the young ones:
- Let them have their own garden, not only does this give them their own space to play but also protects your own garden from their desire to keep digging. I made a little 2 foot square garden with one 8 foot length of 4X4 and a few long screws. Was the perfect size where she could reach everything from any side.
- Buy them their own gardening tools. Otherwise you might be fighting to get your claw and trowel away from them and also that little plastic watering can works great for gently watering those newly planted seedlings.
- Pick seed that work well with their little fingers. Some of my favorite seeds are peas, radishes, sunflowers, pumpkins, and cilantro.
- Start some seeds indoors. A little Dixie cup and some coconut coir works great and they can keep a close eye on it several times a day.
- Go to the nursery and buy some flowers. It is hard to be patient a $0.99 primrose can definitely hold the sprouts over while wait for their own to grow.
Not only can this be fun activity to together but also can be educational. I recall during a preschool planting activity where many parents were very impressed as my daughter teased the roots before she carefully placed her plant in her very well loosened soil.
Tags: cheap, cilantro, garden seeds, outdoor plants, vegetables
Strawberries in the PC Grow box (FINAL UPDATE)
17.2 years ago indoor growbox, strawberries
Okay, I promise this will be the last time I talk about our strawberry plant in the grow box. After a little more than a month in the grow box our plant went from a small lifeless plant to one that looks like will bear about 10 strawberries. We are planning on moving it to the garden with the rest our strawberry plants later this week to make room for the growing tomatoes.
How strawberry plant looked when we started 40 days ago.
Picture of my daughter showing off her strawberry before she ate the first one.
I sampled on the strawberries and must say I do miss “local” strawberries, looking forward to the rest of them in the next couple months.
Tags: cheap, growbox, led, outdoor plants, strawberry plants, tomato plants, vegetables
What is a lumen?
17.2 years ago indoor growbox, lumen
Lumen is a measurement of the intensity of light; one lumen is equal to the brightness of a candle at 1 foot away. Just to get an idea on a clear summer day by the time the light from the sun hits reaches us on earth it has an intensity of up to 10,000 lumens. If you wanted to simulate sunlight in your house you just need to hook up 6 (100 watt incandescent or 29 watt CFL) light bulbs and stand one foot away.
Fortunately plants only need 100 to 4000 lumens to sustain vegetative growth depending on the variety, so indoor growing can be setup fairly inexpensively. For example, with our strawberry plant in a grow box experiment we can get away with just 2 CFL bulbs and provide enough light to provide the 1500 lumen required to allow vegetation and flowering. All of this for about $1.00 a month of electrical usage, at $5.00 a pint for strawberries maybe I can make this profitable.
Tags: cheap, growbox, outdoor plants, strawberry plants, vegetables
Going on a worm hunt
We had a good rainstorm the night before and my wife was returning from a neighbors house and noticed a bunch of worms crossing the street. Since she knows me and our girls so well she grabbed a couple Ziploc bags and we proceeded to have a worm hunt. Our older daughter didn’t want to touch them that morning but I was really proud of my wife who procedded to help collect some worms. Lets just say she normally is not a worm person.
Just for some history, last fall my oldest daughter wanted to have pet worms, I opted to suggest making a worm bin instead. Since I am a cheap vegetable gardener I wasn’t about to spend $20 for a pound of red wrigglers (Eisenia fetida) we spent a few evening catching our own.
After the worm hunt ground has finally thawed so took my daughters out to help take care of some of the weeding in our front garden beds. My 3 year old even started singing a gardening song. I believe it went something like “We are gardening, we are gardening”
Tags: cheap, vegetables, worms
