Seedlings getting in shape

I was, to be honest, a little hesitant that starting seeds indoors would work out for me at all. I was kind of convinced the cats would eat them, or I would under- or over-water them, or that they would somehow fail to sprout at all. But right now, many of them are starting to look like the grown-up plants they will become, and I'm very proud. The most startlingly delightful surprise was checking in this morning and seeing that the one of the parsley seedlings had developed a leaf that's actually, well, parsley-shaped. It kind of looked like it might've been thinking about becoming parsley-shaped yesterday, but overnight it just magically transformed itself into something recognizable.



The other plants I started back at the tail end of February are looking good, too. The basil has developed its second set of leaves, and they're like little tiny pesto components already. The metamorphosis wasn't nearly as dramatic, but it's there. I transplanted one of the seedlings into a larger pot, the one it will hopefully stay in; it's under the lights, still, but as the days get longer and warmer I plan to transfer it to the kitchen windowsill. The peppermint seedlings are so tiny they're barely visible (in fact, I can't really see them in the photo below) but they're there, with their cotyledon leaves and a pair of real leaves. The onion stalks are growing thicker, to the point where I start to worry they may be too crowded until I can get them outdoors, but then I remember they don't put energy into building their bulbs until light and temperature tell them to do so.



You can see there, too, a recycled mushroom box; I punched some holes in the bottom with a chopstick (egads, what an awful sound that made) and filled it with seed starting mix, then planted jalapenos on one side and sweet red peppers on the other. Unfortunately I forgot to label which side is which, but as long as I get one plant from each side into the garden I know I'll have both. They were just started on the 13th of March, and I hear pepper seeds can be a long time in germinating.

There's also a Ziploc bag, which I do not find at all aesthetically pleasing, but I wanted to grow some lettuce indoors and it seems this is a good method. Essentially, I filled the bag 4" deep with potting soil, cut the corners off at the bottom, then watered the bejeebus out of the soil. I let it drain so it wasn't just straight mud, then tossed in three lettuce seeds and sealed the bag except for 1" along the zipper. The seeds sprouted within 2 days, but I saw signs of mold at the base so I opened the bag up. They seem to be doing quite well and with luck we should be eating some lettuce within three weeks. One of the little guys seems to have established himself sideways in the bag, and I doubt he'll make it, but I haven't plucked him out yet. I figured I'd see what happens.



Audrey, the cat pictured basking in the fluorescent lighting, seems to have developed some kind of affection for the plants. Whenever I water them or otherwise tend to them or just sit and look at them, she has to join me, and often meows at me (she's a talker for sure). She has also taken to curling up under the seed trays; really, who needs a heating mat when you've got a heating cat?

I also read on a forum that blowing on and brushing (i.e. petting) your seedlings is a good idea to help make them strong. So I've set up a small desk fan about three feet away from them, and I turn it on low every couple of hours for about 20 minutes to simulate a breeze. Audrey does a good job of sniffing at and "petting" them, but I touch them sometimes too, not least because it's just fun. I don't know why I never read about or thought of this before, but it certainly seems like it will help the plants to prepare for the Big Move Outdoors later in the season.

Fluorescent Lights and Your Cat

So. I took the advice of a few gardening books and websites and just used one cool and one warm fluorescent tube in each of two light fixtures as "grow lights" for my seedlings. Even though they all assured me that this was Fine and A Good Approximation of Sunlight, I have to admit I wasn't entirely convinced. That is, until one of my cats discovered the lights.



She now spends a majority of her day basking in the glow of the fluorescent lights, even rolling around just like she does in the sunlight. I guess if it's good enough for a cat, it's good enough for the plants, hm?

Building with PVC pipe

So in a rare display of initiative, we went to Lowe's tonight and bought the PVC pipe and fittings for the seed starting stand - I had Zack cut the pipes to length and I put it together in about half an hour. I only made it one shelf high, rather than three, for economy of both space and money.

The pipe and fittings together cost less than $20; if I wanted to add another shelf it would be only about $5. The lighting will be a little more expensive. Each fixture was $9 and the bulbs are $7 for a pack of two, so I'm looking at another $32 for that. But this is something I can use every year, so the expense is sort of amortized, if that's how you use that word.

Here are all the bits:


And assembled:


Unfortunately my usual failure to properly estimate size has come into play - this thing is too big to fit into the closet, I think. So I need to figure out another location for it where the cats won't get to it. I'm thinking of just keeping it in the office and closing that door when we aren't in the room. This will probably result in much feline frustration and meowing at the door, but Audrey does that to the closets as it is; what's one more door?

Even with the size issue, I'm pretty happy with this. It was fun and really easy to put together, and cheap. It's given me all sorts of ideas for other PVC furniture, too. Normally I'd rather avoid plastics when possible, but I've got so many other, more major changes to make that a few PVC pipes here and there aren't my biggest contribution to the decline of the environment, really.

Now I just need to research which type of fluorescent bulb to buy, and even more anxiously await the arrival of my seeds from Baker Creek!

Seed starting setup

Now that I've ordered all my seeds and am actually awaiting their arrival, I've started to get a little nervous about my plan to start them on top of the refrigerator. I think a slightly better setup might be in order, since I'm starting darn near everything indoors, and I'd hate to waste that much time. I was reading the MDC gardening forum today and someone posted a link to their seed starting setup. It's really simple and built from PVC to accommodate fluorescent shop fixtures. I priced most of the parts online at Lowe's and it looks like building something similar would be affordable. I'm only planning to build one shelf this year, because I'm not starting that many plants. If it's a success and I start more seeds next year, it can always be expanded because of the way it's constructed.

I think Zack and I may take a trip to Lowe's tonight. Unfortunately they don't have any of the lighting fixtures listed online, but they should be in the neighborhood of $10 each; if they are, I think we can afford to build this. At the very least I'd like to get the pipes and have them cut, so I can assemble the majority of it and buy the lights when the seeds actually get here.

I'm worried about the cats attacking the seedlings, and since the fluorescent fixtures will provide all the light that's needed, I'm thinking about putting this in the closet in the office. I'm really pleased to have run across this today, because I think this will work really well and is within the budget. I think, too, that I may use it to try to start some herb plants to grow indoors on the kitchen windowsill so I can get an early start on having fresh herbs in the kitchen again.

Houseplants

I'm finalizing my seed order for the vegetables and herbs today, but until I actually click the order button, I'm not going to record my choices for posterity. It's been really hard narrowing down the tomato varieties. I want to order at least 20 kinds, but of course that would be a very, very bad idea.

Until I get the seeds all sorted, I'm thinking about my houseplants. I never had any luck with houseplants - they'd usually die within a week or two. But last year I bought a pothos, which we named Montgomery (for some reason), and it's done so well I've branched out into other indoor plants.



I do have to be careful, because we have two cats; they've never shown any interest in eating the plants, but better safe than sorry. I got a clearance plant arrangement at Lowe's the other week, and someone pointed out that one of the plants, a dieffenbachia, was toxic to cats - so up on a high shelf it went. Fortunately, neither one of them climbs shelves. Yet? I think the other plant in the dish is one we saw growing in large form in Hawaii, but I can't find a name for it.



I really enjoy having plants in the house, particularly in the winter. They really make a difference in how the room feels, and I can see how easy it would be to start collecting them. If I manage to keep all these guys alive long enough, I might do just that. I'd really love to have a large tree or palm of some sort in the corner of a room, but I think that might be too tempting for the cats. Might be best to just stick to hanging baskets for a little while.



One of the fun things about houseplants is how many of them we actually saw in their larger forms growing rampant on Maui. Like this bromeliad, which presently occupies the back of the toilet, and which looks quite similar to a lobster claw plant we saw all over the place at about fifteen times this size:



And here's what I think is the same unidentified plant from the Lowe's clearance section, only... big. Very, very big.



I think my next houseplant acquisition will be a succulent of some sort; hopefully something small and nontoxic that can occupy a space on my already too-small desk, so I can look at it and think about being outside even when it's cold and snowy.