Seeking illumination
Mar. 16th, 2005 20:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillIt looks like I'm going to have to buy a 3' double-flourescent fixture. Sigh. The ballasts I bought to construct my own have always been cranky, and this year one of them has decided not to work no matter how much I coax it. New bulbs, but all I get is half-light, even after stroking, tapping, and jiggling them. It worked last year...
I think Home Despot carries 3' doubles, but they're pretty rare. Time to go hunting. I have all the trays crowded on the one shelf for now, but I don't have room to plant more without that second light. Maybe if I get one, though, I'll have one I can put on the timer, since it presumably won't need a tap to wake it up fully. Wonder how much it would cost to get two... hmm...
Tip: Never buy cheap fluorescent ballasts. They really aren't the bargain you're looking for. Move along.
On the bright side (heh).... I have many little two-leaved 'mater heads poking up from the 1" cells, and a few loops from the allium trays. It's a little late for the onions, but I'll plant them anyway, they'll just be smaller. The tomatoes are only a couple of weeks late, though, especially if I plant them young. Peppers have yet to show, so their 9-cell insert is up on top of the working ballast for bottom heat (the advantage to not using one big insert in the tray this year). I'm still waiting on a seed shipment from Sand Hill (come on, Glenn) so I have another wave to plant still, of some other peppers, two more normal tomato varieties, and a couple more tomato vars where I have few enough seed that I wanted to make sure the rack was pretty safe and sterile before I planted any. (I only have 6 seed of Dr Carolyn Pink, for example, and I'm one of three people in the world with any seed for yellow Wisconsin 55.)
The garden plot is, at least, looking better...![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emmett_the_sane carved a pretty large swath with me, so if I can get another person or two in here who can clear like that, it should be done in just a couple of hours. I'm starting to think that I might be able to get the nematodes in the ground and start planting by early April, which would be ideal.
By the way -- when I say weeding, I'm not talking about a little old lady kneeling by the flowerbed. Just so you know.emmett_the_sane expressed a little dismay when he discovered the state of the backyard... All I have to say is, there is a reason why I have seriously considered buying a scythe. :)
So that's the local green-thumb news. I have extra Sungold cherry tomato plants, as usual -- anyone want one in a few weeks?
I think Home Despot carries 3' doubles, but they're pretty rare. Time to go hunting. I have all the trays crowded on the one shelf for now, but I don't have room to plant more without that second light. Maybe if I get one, though, I'll have one I can put on the timer, since it presumably won't need a tap to wake it up fully. Wonder how much it would cost to get two... hmm...
Tip: Never buy cheap fluorescent ballasts. They really aren't the bargain you're looking for. Move along.
On the bright side (heh).... I have many little two-leaved 'mater heads poking up from the 1" cells, and a few loops from the allium trays. It's a little late for the onions, but I'll plant them anyway, they'll just be smaller. The tomatoes are only a couple of weeks late, though, especially if I plant them young. Peppers have yet to show, so their 9-cell insert is up on top of the working ballast for bottom heat (the advantage to not using one big insert in the tray this year). I'm still waiting on a seed shipment from Sand Hill (come on, Glenn) so I have another wave to plant still, of some other peppers, two more normal tomato varieties, and a couple more tomato vars where I have few enough seed that I wanted to make sure the rack was pretty safe and sterile before I planted any. (I only have 6 seed of Dr Carolyn Pink, for example, and I'm one of three people in the world with any seed for yellow Wisconsin 55.)
The garden plot is, at least, looking better...
emmett_the_sane carved a pretty large swath with me, so if I can get another person or two in here who can clear like that, it should be done in just a couple of hours. I'm starting to think that I might be able to get the nematodes in the ground and start planting by early April, which would be ideal.By the way -- when I say weeding, I'm not talking about a little old lady kneeling by the flowerbed. Just so you know.
emmett_the_sane expressed a little dismay when he discovered the state of the backyard... All I have to say is, there is a reason why I have seriously considered buying a scythe. :)So that's the local green-thumb news. I have extra Sungold cherry tomato plants, as usual -- anyone want one in a few weeks?
