Let There Be Light!

I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to start my seedlings indoors with a grow light and she happened to have an extra setup that she's lending me (Thanks Jennifer!). This was pretty easy to set up, and I put it quite high on the wall so that the kids wouldn't be able to easily destroy my baby plants.


I got self-watering seedling starter trays from Lee Valley -- they came well recommended and they mean a lot less watering and a lot less risk that the seedlings will get too wet or too dry. I also picked up a nifty package of 4 spray tops that you put on top of a reused pop bottle so that you can use it to gently water your seedlings -- extremely affordable compared to expensive seedling sprayers.

I also created my first 2 self-watering planters from a reused 2L pop bottle and a reused apple juice bottle. It was super simple, I just needed scissors and masking tape. They seem to be working really well. I planted mesclun mix and heirloom leaf lettuce mix in them and the seeds have just started to sprout (after a couple of days). Here's the planter I made out of the apple juice container:


New Materials Purchased:

• 2 Brackets, 3' of chain, small package of "S" hooks to hang the flourescent lights
• 3 self-watering seedling trays
• 4 lids to turn pop bottle into watering can
• 1 bag of soil-less seedling starter
• Seeds
  

Reused Materials:

• Flourescent Lighting setup including bulbs
• 2L pop bottles, apple juice bottle