Starting the garden

It's amazing that it took a full week of putting "Start seedlings" on my to-do list to finally get around to it. We had a tough week after some scary news from the pediatrician, but I also went real-estate hunting, put in a bid on an investment property (didn't get it) and I'm tying up some loose legal ends with our current rental houses as well. So poor seedlings didn't get started until about a week after I wanted them to but I think we'll be okay.

I bought two of these APS seed-starting systems to provide the seedlings with a constant water supply from below. I used the 40-block one for plants that will need to be transplanted at least once before putting in the ground (regular tomatoes, grape tomatoes, hot peppers, bell peppers, and eggplant) and used the 24-block one for the herbs and broccoli that will stay there until being put outside.





I went to Home Depot to spend my free $500 gift card on supplies and planned on buying a small shelving unit to put my seedlings and grow lights on. But as I was picking out the one that cost $104, I realized that I've sold off a lot of my eBay inventory and haven't filled it back in yet, and that I have plenty of space on the shelving in our bedroom (yes, shelving in the bedroom. Romantic, yes?)

So, I consolidated my inventory and cleared off two shelves. I put down a cheap shower curtain liner and positioned it to wrap up and over the seedling shelf. I'm not supplying any heat to the seedlings so I hope wrapping it in the liner will help keep some moisture and warmth in there. I put down a towel to catch drips and then lined the whole thing in free aluminum foil to reflect as much light as possible back onto the bottoms and sides of the seedlings. Voila!







Now let's just hope it works!