Experiments, observations, and lessons learned

[Cosmo spring garden]

The only plants I have grown for tea are peppermint and chamomile. Both wonderful! I just got my seeds at a Lowes. My favorite tea, however, is fresh ginger tea! I never tried growing ginger though.

Roselle is a great one. Makes a tangy tea that you can drink hot or cold. The plans are grown as annual in my zone 7a.

 

[jbosmith]

My settings are like this - when the seedlings are tiny.
View attachment 53431
When they grow up
So the layers of my shelves have different height
View attachment 53430

When they become too big (but outside it is still cold). XD - that's why I need different heights
View attachment 53432

My lights aren't in use at the moment but I have pretty much the exact same setup! My lights are 48" Barinas that I think came as two eight-packs from Amazon, and I prop up baby starts by turning other, empty trays upside down.

 

[Dahlia]

Roselle is a great one. Makes a tangy tea that you can drink hot or cold. The plans are grown as annual in my zone 7a.

Yum! That sounds good! I wish I was in your zone this time of year!

 

[Phaedra]

View attachment 53436
My lights aren't in use at the moment but I have pretty much the exact same setup! My lights are 48" Barinas that I think came as two eight-packs from Amazon, and I prop up baby starts by turning other, empty trays upside down.

Yes, quite similar!

Mine are around 34", but they matched the size of the Amazon basic shelves I bought earlier.

I just tried the setup from this March and am satisfied with it. I have two lights for each layer of the shelves in the greenhouse and four lights for each layer of shelves in the basement (without daylight).

@baymule Bay, I used this kind of shelf and am quite happy with them. You can easily make a mobile small greenhouse for seed germination next spring. With LED lights, they can become a mobile small greenhouse - seedlings on upper layers, and the young plants on the lower ones.

As my greenhouse is a cold frame one, I can put all tiny seedlings together on one of the selves and bring them indoors easily during the coldest days. The lights can immediately work near any plug.

 

[ducks4you]

Mine is like yours, minus the wheels. My basement isn't heated, so I have heat mats.
Funny, I thought they were pricey a few years ago, so I have purchased them piecemeal.

 

[baymule]

I have a small upright greenhouse with zipper cover and the lights I put in it. It’s in a shipping container at sons house right now. Maybe once I can get unpacked and organized here, I can go get it and put it in the utility room.

 

[baymule]

 

[baymule]

I never thought of turning trays over to raise height of the seedlings! (Smacks forehead with palm of hand) DUH!!

 

[baymule]

I got my little green house at overstock.com

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[Phaedra]

Although I sowed and transplanted (late September) the second batch of broccolis too late and their growth is much slower than the first batch - I can still expect a decent harvest in another two weeks and another in maybe 4-5 weeks. This summer is so dry, and I was hesitant to grow more vegetables. Both watering and pests were concerns.

Next year, I would:
1. sow and transplant these larger brassicas in more batches, maybe every two to three weeks. Succession planting did improve the overall yield significantly, especially when I knew better about how micro-climate works in different corners.
2. use bottomless planters + nets for pest protection
3. transplant them into raised beds when most of the pests are gone

I'm also happy to find this broccoli variety that needs only 50-55 days (late spring and summer) to crop. I hope next year I can be self-sufficient in those large brassicas.