Ever since acquiring a new stackable washer/dryer combo for the basement — a wondrously space- and energy-saving addition to our house, the washer must use about 1/4 the water of the old top-loader — we’ve been hard at work reclaiming more space for us to use down there.  The first addition: Jojo’s workshop — a place where bookbinding, sewing, and all sorts of random arty projects are brought to fruition at the 611.

We’ve also started the spring seedlings — with new equipment this year. First, a legitimate grow light from E. B. Fluorescent lights. Second, one of those seedling warmers — a flat rubber heating pad that sits under the seedlings and keeps them warm all day long (bought from the Organic Growers Supply branch of Fedco Seeds). We also are finally putting to use an outlet timer that we got at christmas a few years back. So the grow light automatically flicks on around 6 a.m. and stays on until about 9 p.m. The heating pad stays warm all day long. I think the pad uses about 60 watts and the lights are each about 30 watts. So far the results seem good. Lots of fast germination, more sturdy growth early on than we’ve had in past years. We’re also watering the established seedlings with a diluted worm juice. Last year Celia conducted a carefully controlled experiment in her greenhouse and found that seedlings watered with worm juice did noticeably better than those given just water, so we’re following the hard-earned scientific evidence on that front.

Here is an early picture of the set up, back when we were trying to give just the sprouted seeds light. We’ve since taken to covering unsprouted seeds with tin foil — that works better than the cloth method.

This one was taken a week ago — we’re constantly repositioning the light…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 12:22 pm and is filed under gardening, home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.