Mid winter update
Lots of things have been going on here in preparation for spring!
Seeds
After months of planning, I finally have all my seeds in order for the garden! I'm growing a lot this year. Since it's my first year gardening in the pacific northwest, I'm throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. I have 85 different seed types I'm planing. About 2/3 are new this year and the other 1/3 are saved from years before. Some of them are really old, so I'm not counting on them producing any viable plants.
Grow light
In preparation for seed starting, I got a new grow light for the greenhouse. I'm trialing it and might get more if it works out. I spent a lot of time looking into this. I knew I wanted to go with LED for efficient electricity usage, but finding information on what to look for is difficult. I saw a lot of sources talk about wattage (which doesn't apply across different types of lights) and I saw a lot of general comparisons (e.g. florescent runs hotter then leds and consumes more energy), but nothing that really spelled out in lumens and color temperature what was needed. Luckily, after quite a bit of searching, I found this YouTube video by the Gary Pilarchik. He specifies that you need 5000 - 6500 Kelvin (color of light) and 2000 - 3000 Lumens (intensity). The light I wound up buying is 4000 Lumens and 5000K. It's right on target! It's a 4' light for $22.70 that's rated for 50,000 hours. I'm happy with what I got at that price point! The only downside is that you cannot replace the bulbs. With such a long lifetime though, I'm expecting there to be better options by the next time I'm in the market for some grow lights.
Gary also specifies that his intensity and color recommendations are good enough to get the seed started, but maybe not good enough to fully grow plants. I'm only planning on starting seeds with them and even less concerned about this because I'll be starting my seeds in a greenhouse. The reason I'm even using a grow light for seed starts is because the greenhouse is heavily shaded and it's also quite cloudy this time of year. I'm hoping between the light and the greenhouse I'll be able to give the seeds a better start than I have in the past.
Greenhouse
I went through and tidied up the greenhouse a bit, and while doing so, realized I have quite the aphid problem on a few plants. I moved all the ones I care less about outside. I spent quite a bit of time using scotch tape to pull them off of my lemon plant and then inspected all my other plants for aphids. I'll have to be extra diligent in the next few weeks about pulling them off.
New House Plants
Flower World is having a 40% off indoor plant sale through mid February so I took the opportunity to buy a few more.
I picked up all of those for $12.10! I like to get the little ones, so I don't feel like I'm wasting money if I kill them. The last one I picked up was a swiss cheese plant, and I just repotted him! When I pulled him out of his pot, he fell into two pieces, so I took the opportunity to put him in two separate pots!
I'm keeping one half in the greenhouse and one half in by a window in the house.
Seeds
After months of planning, I finally have all my seeds in order for the garden! I'm growing a lot this year. Since it's my first year gardening in the pacific northwest, I'm throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. I have 85 different seed types I'm planing. About 2/3 are new this year and the other 1/3 are saved from years before. Some of them are really old, so I'm not counting on them producing any viable plants.
Grow light
In preparation for seed starting, I got a new grow light for the greenhouse. I'm trialing it and might get more if it works out. I spent a lot of time looking into this. I knew I wanted to go with LED for efficient electricity usage, but finding information on what to look for is difficult. I saw a lot of sources talk about wattage (which doesn't apply across different types of lights) and I saw a lot of general comparisons (e.g. florescent runs hotter then leds and consumes more energy), but nothing that really spelled out in lumens and color temperature what was needed. Luckily, after quite a bit of searching, I found this YouTube video by the Gary Pilarchik. He specifies that you need 5000 - 6500 Kelvin (color of light) and 2000 - 3000 Lumens (intensity). The light I wound up buying is 4000 Lumens and 5000K. It's right on target! It's a 4' light for $22.70 that's rated for 50,000 hours. I'm happy with what I got at that price point! The only downside is that you cannot replace the bulbs. With such a long lifetime though, I'm expecting there to be better options by the next time I'm in the market for some grow lights.
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| New grow light |
Gary also specifies that his intensity and color recommendations are good enough to get the seed started, but maybe not good enough to fully grow plants. I'm only planning on starting seeds with them and even less concerned about this because I'll be starting my seeds in a greenhouse. The reason I'm even using a grow light for seed starts is because the greenhouse is heavily shaded and it's also quite cloudy this time of year. I'm hoping between the light and the greenhouse I'll be able to give the seeds a better start than I have in the past.
Greenhouse
I went through and tidied up the greenhouse a bit, and while doing so, realized I have quite the aphid problem on a few plants. I moved all the ones I care less about outside. I spent quite a bit of time using scotch tape to pull them off of my lemon plant and then inspected all my other plants for aphids. I'll have to be extra diligent in the next few weeks about pulling them off.
New House Plants
Flower World is having a 40% off indoor plant sale through mid February so I took the opportunity to buy a few more.
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| Gynura aurantiaca - Purple Passion |
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| Pilea Spruceana - Friendship Plant |
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| Neanthe Bella Dwarf Palm - Chamaedorea Elegans |
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| Calathea makoyana - Peacock Calathea |
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| Ficus Lyrata - Fiddleleaf Fig |
I picked up all of those for $12.10! I like to get the little ones, so I don't feel like I'm wasting money if I kill them. The last one I picked up was a swiss cheese plant, and I just repotted him! When I pulled him out of his pot, he fell into two pieces, so I took the opportunity to put him in two separate pots!
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| Swiss Cheese Plant October 2017 |
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| Part 1 of Swiss Cheese Plant |
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| Part 2 of Swiss Cheese Plant |
I'm keeping one half in the greenhouse and one half in by a window in the house.
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