The Mama Chicken
Attractive To Bees
I'll be taking down my grow lights this week. All of my seedlings are either in the garden or finishing hardening off outside. Everything else will be direct seeded to the garden. I am still waiting for the loveage and lemon balm seeds that Chickie'sMoma sent me to sprout but even those pots have been moved to the back porch.
Looking back on it here's what I'll do differently next year:
Start the celery in December and the cole crops in January. I'm not sure I'll get much from them before the heat really sets in here.
Get more lights. I started 600 seedlings under 3 4ft shop lights. While the light was bright enough and nothing got too leggy I spent a lot of time moving things around so nothing ended up leaning towards the lights.
Plant less seeds per pot. It killed me to pull healthy seedlings out, but my germination rates were so good that I just didn't have room for the extras.
Add a fan to keep the air moving. I didn't loose any plants to damping off but I did get some interesting red spongy fungus growing on the outsides of my newspaper pots.
If all goes according to plan we'll have the greenhouse builtso I won't have to monopolize the laundry room to start all of my seedlings.
Things I'll do the same:
Use screened compost for my medium. I had great germinatin rates and didn't have to feed the seedlings at all before I transplanted them.
Use my PotMaker to make newspaper pots. They're free (it's already paid for itself in one season), it recycles, the whole thing gets planted, and the roots have no problem getting through the newspaper.
Brood the baby chickens under my bench. Heat from the heat lamp adds some bottom heat and I could toss the chicks any thinnings and watch them play chase with them.
Looking back on it here's what I'll do differently next year:
Start the celery in December and the cole crops in January. I'm not sure I'll get much from them before the heat really sets in here.
Get more lights. I started 600 seedlings under 3 4ft shop lights. While the light was bright enough and nothing got too leggy I spent a lot of time moving things around so nothing ended up leaning towards the lights.
Plant less seeds per pot. It killed me to pull healthy seedlings out, but my germination rates were so good that I just didn't have room for the extras.
Add a fan to keep the air moving. I didn't loose any plants to damping off but I did get some interesting red spongy fungus growing on the outsides of my newspaper pots.
If all goes according to plan we'll have the greenhouse builtso I won't have to monopolize the laundry room to start all of my seedlings.
Things I'll do the same:
Use screened compost for my medium. I had great germinatin rates and didn't have to feed the seedlings at all before I transplanted them.
Use my PotMaker to make newspaper pots. They're free (it's already paid for itself in one season), it recycles, the whole thing gets planted, and the roots have no problem getting through the newspaper.
Brood the baby chickens under my bench. Heat from the heat lamp adds some bottom heat and I could toss the chicks any thinnings and watch them play chase with them.
