2021: A New Year, and the First Plantings

 

The inexpensive Wayfair mini-greenhouse arrived, and begins the year's efforts in the garden. 

We ordered a mini-greenhouse to start the seedlings this year. Last year, we purchased a standard storage shelf, and, after placing a woefully inadequate set of LED strip-lights that were supposed to be grow lights, we planted our seedlings in five planters - one for each shelf, in front of the downstairs walk-out. 

Unfortunately, there were issues with what at first appeared to be a sound plan. The grow light strips were not very good once the plants sprouted. They became "leggy." Another issue was that we paid little attention to the seed instructions, and ended up planting things that it would have been better to "direct sow" in the planters for transplant. Another problem: we started the seedlings all together in the planters, with no separation, which made it difficult to pull them apart, and risked root damage when it was time to plant them outside. It was inefficient, because when we planted them, we needed to space them with this eventual separation in mind. Furthermore, the downstairs level of our house is directly on a concrete slab, and is cooler than the rest of the house. We didn't heat the plants.

This year we intend to do better.

The little greenhouse has a plastic (hate using plastic, but it's really the only available material for this that we know of) cover. This should serve a twofold purpose: 

1) Hold heat inside. We've placed it over a heat vent near our upstairs southwest facing walkout this year. It's naturally warmer upstairs, and it should be even warmer with the heat vent going straight into the greenhouse. 

2) Protect the plants from Zipper. 

Last year we didn't have to worry about a curious (and somewhat destructive) kitten. This year we do. 

Looks innocent, but he's destructive.

We've decided to experiment with planting some lettuce. We miss our fresh veggies. So that's on the agenda today.

For the time being, I've rigged up one of the old and woefully inadequate strip lights. But today's the day I'm going to order a better T5 fluorescent light fixture. 

Finding one has proved trickier than I would have liked. First, I had to figure out what the recommended lights are for growing plants indoors. It seems like the internet's consensus is a T5.

Then came the adventure of trying to find a 2' quality fixture and bulb. 

There are a lot of options. While many of them are cheap, last year's experience has made me leery of trusting to just any light that's advertised as a "grow light." 

The strategy to day is to pop for one of the more expensive, $40 or so, fixtures available for sale from a specific garden supply store. I'll purchase one to start, and compare the results with our lettuce against the cheap one. If it proves to be a good value, we'll purchase more. If not, we'll use the light strips from last year again.

The little greenhouse has the advantage of being deeper than the wire storage shelf we bought last year. We'll be able to fit all five of our planters in it, with room for one more.

This year, we'll be separating the seedlings by planting them in used bog-roll tubes. I checked it out today, and 39 will fit in our 2' long planters. Multiplied by five, and we'll have space for 195 seedlings to start in this greenhouse. This should be more than enough for our garden. 

More heat, better light, and more efficient spacing and planting should yield better results. 

And so 2021 begins. It has to be better than 2020, and not only for the garden.