Sawsheezle Starts Seeds part 2

So I started some seeds. Seeds need light. Lights are bright. I put my lights under a black tablecloth draped over a pvc skeleton I built.

It looks spooky.

Here's what is under those lamps. One LED grow lamp and one 5000K halogen bulb.

Here's some dwarf tomatoes! Look at those. Only 4-5 days old.

Red leaf (purple) basil. This is growing on my ziploc/coffee filter attempt. How weird are these young seedlings.

Just an article share.

http://www.wired.com/2016/03/little-3-d-printer-iss-huge-step-space-exploration/

I'm wanting to use Shapeways to source a part or several to expand and sharpen the capabilities and quality of my own printer.

Sawsheezle starts seeds

It's time to start seeds. This method is either going to work or make capital_prototype laugh out loud. I was inspired by a google search to try this method.

First acquire some resealable airtight bags and your favorite seeds.

We've got red and genovese basil here. Nice. Those are ziplocs btw. Now you need a growing platform for them (huh?). Grab a few small coffee filters.

By now you've soaked those coffee filters in water and placed those seeds around strategically.

Then you put the growing platform in the bag and gently inflate it with a straw. This creates an effective greenhouse for your seeds. They only seed water at first. Light isn't quite important just yet.

The next thing they need is warmth. Your bathroom is probably the warmest, most humid place in the house. Put them in there.

We'll be checking on them periodically over the next few days. We'll also be moving them under the lights as soon as we see some growth.

Starting Seeds

If you spend any time in the gardening community online, you'll quickly get recommended to start certain seedlings indoors so that you have plants to grow once the risk of frost has passed. You can get the job done with a window or a a couple clamp lights, but why not go all out?

To go all out, you'll want some sort of shelving. The industry standard are NSF wire racks, frequently seen and used in kitchens. You can try to find these used or on clearance, I got mine for $40 or $50 on sale at Menards.

The next step is to get some basic shop lights. These hold fluorescent lamps. I picked up two two lights that were roughly the same length as the shelving. 

These have wires that you can hang and adjust the height of as your plants grow, but you have to buy a couple S hooks separately.

You really want things as automated as possible, so grab some auto timed outlet thingees. They should be carried year round but near Xmas they have tons of them at all retail stores. You can get a cheap one like this:

It is simple to operate. Just set like it up to "set the current time" then push all the buttons down for the period of time you want the lights to be on for. This is setup to run from 6am to 8pm. You do not really want to remember to get up at six am and turn the lights on for your dumb plants, let's be honest.

If you go all this way, you might as well buy a seed warming mat. They just keep the seeds and soil a little warm to encourage your seeds to germinate. They are like $20, and since this setup is in a cold basement I'm happy I bought it.

So that's about it. Total estimated cost is something like $120, if you don't include the bulbs. As you can see there's definitely room to grow, here, if I added lighting to another shelf.

A lot of people recommend an oscillating fan to simulate wind, which should strengthen your seedlings, which I don't have.

Here are the tomatoes coming along. We have the lights about two inches or so above the top of the seedlings.

Mommy Blog Corner

Take your old broken crayons. Put them in a silicon mold. Place in the oven at 200 degrees. Stir and refill as necessary. Let them cool, and you have brand new crayons.

Broken crayons.

Final product.

Gardening Season 2016

Spring is in the air. Garlic seems to be doing its thing:

Also seems like a good time to start some seeds. After a bit of work getting a new seed starting setup in the basement, I'm mostly planning on directly sowing most of my plants this season. I will still start some tomatoes and peppers indoors though, and I'm using the same hex system as last year and felt I may as well fill it up completely. 

Pictured above:

Rows:

1. Kumato, Tomato (see previous seed saving experiment post)

2. Kumato, Tomato

3. Campari, Tomato (see previous seed saving experiment post)

4. Campari, Tomato

5. Yellow Pear, Tomato

6. Yellow Pear, Tomato

7. Trinidad Scorpion Pepper (for you crazy Pepperheads)

8. Trinidad Scorpion Pepper

9-12. Burpee Hot Pepper Blend*

*Includes Hungarian Wax, Anaheim Chili, Long Slim Red Cayenne, Ancho (Poblano) and Jalapeno M. 

Someone made an FPS movie?

Hardcore Henry...looks intriguing.

AeroGarden: Gardening with K-cups

I wanted to plant a bountiful garden last year. But due to weather and poor planning, it didn't come to fruition. Oh well. For my birthday this year, Ashleigh bought me a Miracle-Gro AeroGarden 6. Tough to fuck this one up. All you do is put these little pods into the base of the AeroGarden, fill with water, throw in some nutrients, and bam, K-cup garden. Here's some pics of what it looks like:

These are the "pods"

Closer look at the pods

Where da water goes

You just push the pods into the designated holes, putting tall plants in the back and medium to short in any of the front holes

Just throw the little plastic covers on top and take them off when they start sprouting

Set it and forget it timer for the lights, based on what you're growing

Here's the full setup

Plant food

And the grow lights

For now I'm just doing the herb kit that came with the setup but if this is successful, Ashleigh also bought a "grow your own" pod kit where it's the pod with the soil and you add whatever seeds you want into it.

Updates

Rob, how did that mustard turn out?

Great, go make some right now.