Egglings

Starting using eggshell planters just for fun and discovered what a great way to raise seedlings. Apparently the shell is loaded with calcium and makes for a stronger healthier seedling. These are my little people:

Terrariums

Some experimenting with terrariums:

And Whish, Now it is Full!

My New "GROW" Room

I had so many plants I wanted to keep this year we decided to take the old room of one of my grown kids and use it for a "grow" room. It has a southern window and I used it last winter to start my plants.

We cleaned it all out and painted it with a 98% reflectivity white roofing paint which I had read on a "Cannabas" blog was a good paint for a growing room for marijuana, so figured it would work for any plants.

We used metal shelving that I had from last year and put up some white wall shelves.

We put in a small ceiling fan for good circulation and used a three bulb fixture with high wattage fluorescent bulbs. We used 23 watt which is equivelant to 100 watt regular bulbs, so it looks like 300 watts. It is now a very bright room.

This is what it looks like empty:

I Can't Believe Winter is Almost Here

Yesterday we had the first freeze warning of the season, it came in the early afternoon. They had orignally said scattered frost and I was going to leave my green tomatoes on the vine. After hearing the warning, we went ahead and picked all the green ones we could find. We wrapped each one individually and placed on shelves in the basement. Hopefully they will ripen slowly and we will have around for the next month or so.

We bagged up all the container and pepper plants except a few small peppers that were still blooming and were still producing fruit. It was a little sad especially since I had raised them from seed. Watching them come up at the time I would have never dreamed something so small and fragile could go on to be so big and study and produce so much.

After eating and cooking and giving away bunches, I ended up with 60 lbs of tomaoes and 23 lbs of peppers that are frozen and ready to use this winter for cooking. The really big bells and bananas I froze whole to use for stuffed peppers. The small ones are chopped up and in gallon freezer bags to use as pizza topping and flaving for lots of dishes I will make this winter.

I can't believe I got as much as I did since I have no yard whatsoever. My garden consisted of mostly containers and use of the land outside my fence which really belongs to the city but no one ever says anything about using it. It is about a foot wide by 40 foot long. There I had some tomato and pepper plants, along with some lettuce and vines and flowers.

We had enough lettuce for many salads this summer and all the tomatoes and peppers. It is almost unbelievable how much you can grow in such a little space.

Now I can't wait until next year and am already searching through the seed stores for different things I want to try.