Thursday, February 26, 2009

Seed starting




This is what I planted yesterday.
  1. Black Cherry tomatoes x 3
  2. Roma tomatoes x 9
  3. Genovese Basil x 6
  4. Poblano peppers x 6
  5. Luffa gourd x 6
  6. Honey Rock Cantaloupe x 6
  7. Purple bell peppers x 6
  8. Pickling cukes (saved seed 2008) x 6
  9. Bloomsdale Longstanding spinach (leftover 2008) x 6
  10. American Flag Leeks (leftovers) x 6
  11. Green Goliath broccoli x 6
  12. Mammoth Dill x 6
  13. Lavender x 6
  14. Oregano x 6
  15. Summer Savory x 6
  16. Sweet Marjoram x 6
  17. Pepperoncini x 2
  18. Cauliflower x 4
  19. Jalepenos x 6
  20. Calendula x 3

There are some other in the grow box right now but I dont remember off hand what they are. I have more peppers and tomatoes to plant and then other things that I just cant start early..like corn. But I will keep up on things and report back.

Grow box, take 2

When I came home from work Bill was already at it again making another, smaller grow box. Here's the pics.



Updates on multiple things.

Sometimes I forget to take "before pictures". Like of Raven's room.. before we cleaned out 4 full trashbags of CRAP. All the clothes were washed except for what was hanging up because we couldn't be sure of what was clean. You could only see patches of the floor. Her father had a really hard time but he is doing ok. You wouldn't recognize the room now :) Anything that is hers is put up and away in the closet. Including the bedset that I bought for her. I put a new set on. That way she can't complain about other people using her stuff. She is keeping her stuff here until she either moves back in or til June. After that she needs to come get it before we get rid of it. The room will be used for visitors and for when we have her half brothers every other weekend. They now have a clean room to stay in. She came by today to get some cds and didn't stay 10 minutes. She didn't say anything about the room.

On a more pleasant front. Bill finished my grow box..its a huge monstrosity. He wanted to let you know that only the foil was purchased for this project, all the rest of the stuff we had. The cardboard is a "bionic cardboard" that is 1/2" thick and had to be cut with and jig and band saw. The light fixtures he had from a tool box he picked up at an auction and the wood is pallet wood. These are the pics of it. He is already making a smaller one for a friend of ours.This is the base its an extra bookcase laid on its back.

Bill trying to make sure it fits up right..it does for the most part There is some sliding around I can do for air and we are discussing vent holes.

The outside wiring and the handlebar

Did I mention the that this thing is huge?!

The inside..yes that is 5 light receptacles...I blame Bill I did not specify how many to use.

I did get to do some work on it. Heavy duty aluminum foil...the only thing I had to buy....$2 dollars for 2 rolls and I have lots left over for the kitchen/grill.

We didn't foil around the light receptacles we worried it would fall. It has 1 incandescent and the rest are CFLs of varying wattage.

This is it all set to go. I do have some seedlings in there I may have to boost them up closer to the light but it's definitely 80 times better than what they were getting in my kitchen. We put in a thermometer and while it was high 40s/low 50s F in the garage it stayed about 75 F and this afternoon the highest it got was 80 F. We plan to run it about 13-16 hrs a day with us unplugging it before bed and me plugging it in before I leave for work. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Bill is making me a grow box for my plants. I will get pictures of it when he is done. He is really mad at me at the moment we got into an argument about using the pallet wood instead of going and buying stuff from Lowes. I offered to help take the pallets apart but he stormed off. I didn't want him to start on it tonight but he did. I need to just start trying to make stuff myself so he doesnt have to. That way he doesn't have to deal with the frustration of dealing with me when I want things to be the way that I think they should be. (Regardless of whether it should be done or can be) or when Im trying to be "helpful" . I just didn't want to spend the money on new timber. So now I feel supremely horrid.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Well, I know I haven't been on for a while but things are a bit crazy here. We had to update the computer, the motherboard and processer had gotten a little fried. But we are up and running again. I have spring planting fever :( But it dropped back down to 18 the other day. I am waiting on my tax money to pay off bills and then I will tackle some other fun things.

Raven decided to move out Wednesday after her father laid down some rules. She basically wants to walk all over people but she wants them to take care of her hand and foot. Thats not gonna happen here. While I am worried for her (going to school, gettting to work etc.) I also feel a relief, I think I am horrible for it at times and then I read back over journal entries and blog entries and I stop feeling guilty.

I am not online very much just sporadically. Bill is playing a lot of World of Warcraft. I am very much up for snail mail correspondence though if you are interested then send me an email...there should be a link on the profile and I will get back with ya.