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I have several seed starter trays with the divided cells, 72 cells per tray with a water tray underneath. I don't have any clear plastic tops. I looked a couple days ago and my local nursery doesn't have this size out yet.
Last year mice ate some of my starts, so the plastic tops are an attempt to keep them from eating them, as well as keeping the moisture in.
 
Weedygarden said:
I have several seed starter trays with the divided cells, 72 cells per tray with a water tray underneath. I don't have any clear plastic tops. I looked a couple days ago and my local nursery doesn't have this size out yet.
Last year mice ate some of my starts, so the plastic tops are an attempt to keep them from eating them, as well as keeping the moisture in.
Click to expand...
Try plastic wrap will work
 
Weedygarden said:
Thank you. I will try that to start them, but I need something that allows them to grow.
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By the time they are peeking over the tray lip, use a bendable straw to make a miniature hoop house with plastic wrap.
We(Estelle and I) do a lot of simple recycling Science projects at Granny's house.
Using what ever I have on hand.
 
MoBookworm1957 said:
By the time they are peeking over the tray lip, use a bendable straw to make a miniature hoop house with plastic wrap.
We(Estelle and I) do a lot of simple recycling Science projects at Granny's house.
Using what ever I have on hand.
Click to expand...
What a great idea! Thank you. I was thinking that even using some plant labels would hold it up.
 
Spending a lot of time thinking hard and making sketches of how and where I'm going to put my greenhouse back up. Also looking at buying a second greenhouse and considering lots of fencing and raised beds. Ordered a bunch of seed catalogs but nothing has arrived yet. Did place an order for some trees, and some special tubes 70" high to protect them. I have a deer infestation and it's already clear everything will have to be protected in multiple ways if I'm going to be able to grow anything.
 
Most of my seeds were delivered today. Seed potatoes will arrive latter. I planted 72+ blackberry seeds to get them started.

Looks like I may run short of shelf space in the greenhouse. At the least I may have to ass more grow lights.

I should get organized and create a schedule to start seeds. In the past I have been willy-nilly with starting seeds.

Ben
 
Amish Heart said:
I had a schedule on my calendar last year when to do what. It helped somewhat, but then life got in the way.
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I am going to give it a try. Last year my broccoli was 18" tall at the last frost date. The Princess is asking for a lot of onions. Last year they were crowded together.

Trying to get better at it now.

Ben
 
Heartbroken said:
Spending a lot of time thinking hard and making sketches of how and where I'm going to put my greenhouse back up. Also looking at buying a second greenhouse and considering lots of fencing and raised beds. Ordered a bunch of seed catalogs but nothing has arrived yet. Did place an order for some trees, and some special tubes 70" high to protect them. I have a deer infestation and it's already clear everything will have to be protected in multiple ways if I'm going to be able to grow anything.
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Doe's are tough of fruit trees. They can be very destructive. With commercial peach trees, dad and i would attend the winter meetings with state extension people, very educational. According to them, fruit trees have nutrient the pregnant doe's search out, especially peaches. The year after dad set out 200 trees he had to get a special state permit to take 20 deer in 30days. They were horrible, dad still had to replace 10% of the orchard.

It never got that bad again but we have plenty of kin to hunt the farm every year. Is there hunting where you're at? A trick i learned with produce.... deer love peanut butter. But not the electric fence i smear it on 😁 . Hey, it works, deer just have to lick. Just takes one shock, they'll stay gone for weeks. I buy cheap, oily peanut butter. smear it on with a plastic knife. Still use it if i see a lot of deer sign in the garden, put up a temp electric fence, nothing special. My shepherds are pretty good at keeping them away though.
 
Doe's are tough of fruit trees. They can be very destructive.
== ==
At a time and place I had the same problem with moose... I planted a bunch of local wild and domestic fruit bushes and had to stake wire cages around them to keep moose from browsing them to the ground..
 
I received shipment of True Potato Seeds (TPS). Not seed potatoes mind you but seeds. They came with a nice write-up on hon to grow them. It made the point that every seed could produce a unique variety of spuds. Depending on the available garden space I may try 9 or 18 seeds. It will be interesting seeing how they develop.

I like experimenting!

Ben
 
Heartbroken said:
Spending a lot of time thinking hard and making sketches of how and where I'm going to put my greenhouse back up. Also looking at buying a second greenhouse and considering lots of fencing and raised beds. Ordered a bunch of seed catalogs but nothing has arrived yet. Did place an order for some trees, and some special tubes 70" high to protect them. I have a deer infestation and it's already clear everything will have to be protected in multiple ways if I'm going to be able to grow anything.
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Deer are my worst nemesis. I planted 3 dwarf apple trees and the deer nibbled them big time. After some years they started to produce fruit. Two are ok but number 3 produces crab apples. Took me years to figure out the deer had eaten it down to below the graft. Most dwarf apple trees are regular trees grafted on a dwarf crab apple root.

Not to totally lose 7-8 years I am using it to learn how to graft. A "Franken Tree" like Skillcult has would be nice. Just to learn something new.

Ben
 
Neb said:
Deer are my worst nemesis. I planted 3 dwarf apple trees ......Most dwarf apple trees are regular trees grafted on a dwarf crab apple root.

Not to totally lose 7-8 years I am using it to learn how to graft. A "Franken Tree" like Skillcult has would be nice. Just to learn something new.

Ben
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Peach trees for commercial orchards are grafted too, fairly common here. Same principles, a sturdy disease resistant root stock with the peach of your choice grafted to it. Or apples or...

I think it was 2016 when we had our peach trees pushed down. A cousin came with a skid steer and did the work. About 30 roots survived which was a problem. Before we grew peaches on the terraces in the field. In between the rows we grew hay. Trees rob nutrients from the hay and they take up a lot of space.

The root stock trees that sprouted were taking up space with no return$$ to the farm. Still, I let a few grow out of curiosity, a couple had good fruit but not a lot of it. A commercial peach produces 60 to 90 lbs of fruit each season. The root stock trees produced about 7/8 lbs. They didn’t grow that long, got battered by hay equipment. I finally took the front end loader and did away with them. I do miss good peaches but they are a lot of work to produce!

For good fruit the key is pruning trees correctly. People have been moving out here to the country for years. They always set out some fruit trees but don’t prune. The fruit is soon out of reach and birds get most of it. Even worse, there’s always a blight/fungus of some sort ruining the fruit, or nasty bug. Pruned correctly blights and insects can be addressed. Otherwise, more fruit loss.

First pic… marked some of the root stock trees that came up… bottom pic, how the commercial trees were set out.

00000 High 01 (15)a.jpg
Farm Peaches 005a.jpg
 
Well I have been slow in posting this year mostly because I just didn't have everything working yet. Over the holiday I got the irrigation system for the greenhouse racks completed and now I am getting some plants growing in there. The indoor growing station has been doing well and I even have a few tomatoes producing again. I currently have cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, onions, some broccoli, and Brussels sprouts growing. The Brussels sprouts are outside and are more of an accident than a plan, they grew all summer and now they have decided to put on fruit... The outdoor covered raised beds have been producing fairly consistently but our temperatures have been all over the map, today we saw 50F for a high, which really has my onion and garlic sets confused... This weekend we are expecting to see the temperatures swing south, closer to freezing for highs, so I guess I don't know if I should complain about the heat or the cold...

The greenhouse has been holding about 20F above the outside overnight temperatures, but if the indoor temperature drops below 45F I reserve the right to apply active thermal management.
 
Tonight I checked the indoor growing station, I was so excited to find that the seeds from 2 store-bought greenhouse tomatoes I stole from my wife's salad have sprouted! It does not take much to amuse me...

I also sub-divided some lettuce and spinach that had been started in the indoor growing station tonight, I moved the new containers into the greenhouse so I now have lots of little things growing out there.

PS: I read the fine print of the tomato container that I stole from and discovered that they are certified organic, USDA certified, product of Canada? Well if they can grow them up there I should be able to grow them in the lower 48!
 
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Heartbroken said:
My seed order from MIGardener came in, and so far one seed catalog. Looking at lots of those premade metal raised beds online, but boy do they want a lot of money for them! Thinking about finding some old barn tin and making my own.
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I've made 10 of these. Used some 2x4 material and some new metal roofing. Not sure of the gauge metal, but it'll last much longer than I will.
 
Heartbroken said:
My seed order from MIGardener came in, and so far one seed catalog. Looking at lots of those premade metal raised beds online, but boy do they want a lot of money for them! Thinking about finding some old barn tin and making my own.
Click to expand...
In my case I am replacing one or two 4x8x2 of my old boxes each year.

Land Guard 8×4×2 ft Galvanized Raised Garden Bed Kit for vegetables, Planter Boxes Outdoor, Large Metal https://a.co/d/9pN0t14

I watch for them to go on sale for about $100 each. I have one new in the box for install this year.

Ben
 
Sitting on the recliner dreaming of warmer days when I can do something outside without loosing digits. I do have a few things blooming inside to tide me over until it’s time to start seeds. Still a few weeks before I can start anything.
IMG_3022.jpeg
 
Neb said:
In my case I am replacing one or two 4x8x2 of my old boxes each year.

Land Guard 8×4×2 ft Galvanized Raised Garden Bed Kit for vegetables, Planter Boxes Outdoor, Large Metal https://a.co/d/9pN0t14

I watch for them to go on sale for about $100 each. I have one new in the box for install this year.

Ben
Click to expand...

Those are $299 Can. on Amazon. I can barely afford look at the picture.
 
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