... need to make a list ! Oooo it's just like old times:
- Buy new gardening gloves and some lovely new boots ... 'cos
I'm worth it :D (actually can't find my existing gloves and my
boots have so many holes, I'd be better off in my socks LOL)
- Take wheelbarrow back to lottie where it can be useful !
- Clear glass greenhouse
- Prune raspberries (close eyes and just chop ... must label them
this year !)
- String raspberries up whilst still small so that I still have skin
left when they start to fruit
- Dig up teasels
- Dig up baby Ox Eye Daisys
- Think about how to germinate tomatoes without an airing
cupboard ... hmm
ok---the kids got this off the web somewhere--but this is some directions toward how they made their new germination box--pretty inexpensively. It does assume that youll be germinating where you have an electricity source. and then move them to greenhouse flats after.....
ReplyDeleteunfortunately i cant cite you the correct original source, since i just have this bit of randome txt. (apologies for quoting someone elses stuff without good citation--bad form!)
But I quote from them nonetheless:
"1. Step 5
Add and spread the masons sand until it covers the entire bottom of the box to a depth of about 4".
2. Step 6
Attach strands of rope lights so they make a single continuous strand. Lay out the rope lights back and forth in the sand. I highly recommend you leave a foot or so exposed at the beginning of the strand, and 4-6" exposed at the end. Just drape them over the back edge of the box for now. The rope lights are going to want to twist and shift around, since they have been rolled up in their packaging, but a couple well placed bricks will hold them in place until you pack the sand around them. By the way, the color of the ropes is absolutely irrelevant. They are ALL white lights, with a colored plastic wrap. Buy whatever is on sale. I have some that are white, some purple, some orange, and some that started life as Christmas Candy Cane lights. They all work well.
3. Step 7
Fill the remaining 2 inches of sand into the box covering the rope lights completely again, leaving the beginning and end of the rope light exposed. The reason for leaving the beginning of the rope exposed, is so that you'll know when you have power to them and they are turned on. With it covered in sand, you won't be able to tell otherwise. The reason for leaving the end of the rope exposed is so that you'll have an indication if the lights stop working somewhere in the middle.
4. Step 8
Plug the rope light into the timer, turn it on and be patient. The rope lights put off a very small amount of heat (They also consume a very small amount of electricity!!), but the large thermal mass of the sand stores that heat very, very effectively. All of the little tiny air gaps between grains of sand insulate the lights and the more sand, the higher the insulation. It will take a number of days for the mass of the sand to get up to maximum temperature, but the positive side is that it also takes a couple days to lose that heat if the environment cools. The end result is a very stable temp for the seeds to draw warmth from as they germinate and set roots.
5. Step 9
Place your seed trays on the surface of the sand, but I really discourage you from embedding them in the sand. They trays may absorb too much heat and all your seeds will cook in the soil.
Monitor the temp with the cooking thermometer embedded an inch or so into the surface of the sand. If it starts running too high, cut the time on the timer by a few hours a day and continue to monitor.
32 feet of rope lights will heat a 7x3 foot box with 6" of sand an amazing amount above ambient temp. The area just below the surface will be in the neighborhood of 40 degrees higher, if the surrounding space is calm and no breezes are trying to cool the sand.
With that kind of temp change, a seed box in a shed will easily germinate tomato, pepper or eggplant seeds even if it's still 40 degrees outside!"
Buy potatoes
ReplyDeleteAssemble greenhouse...
Re tomatoes: windowsill with a plastic bag over the pot?