Winter Planning - Where to Start Seedlings

I really hadn't thought about the fact that I would need a good place to start seedlings indoors. Then Sheldon died. Sheldon was my daughter's land turtle, and he left behind a huge critter cage. The tank already has under tank heaters, which will help as the seeds germinate.

You can see the two black rectangles affixed to the bottom of the tank...those are the heaters.

I've also got a few light fixtures that will need new fluorescent bulbs, and a way to suspend them 3" from the seedlings. I considered laying the lights on top of the screen, as you see in the photos below, and then building some kind of platform to raise the seedlings closer to the light source, but the screen, surprisingly filters out quite a bit of light. Seedlings need a lot of light, so I'll need to figure out a light stand or suspension bracket or something.

I've also got this little digital thermometer gadget, which might come in handy!

So, it seems I might have a pretty good place to start my seedlings after all! I'll obviously be spending some time this winter trying to figure out all of the modifications to the tank, but I've got lots of good stuff to start with! 

Preparing the Land - Mid-September

"Preparing the Land" sounds so funny when we are talking about a 10' by 11' patch of land. Our garden will be in our backyard. It will be on the east side of the house, which is not ideal, but it's all we've got. The front of the house is too shady. The north side is a driveway, and the south side has no room. So east it is. It gets enough sun, though we will have to trim some tree branches. Here it is plotted out.

Right around the corner, where the red shovel is, is where the compost and mini-shed is located. So, that's convenient!

We used my dad's tiller to turn over the grass.

It was hard work even with the tiller! The earth was so rocky! STS did the tilling while I pulled the rocks.

I filled two 5 gallon buckets with rocks! I saved them and am keeping them over by the compost. I'm not sure what I might need them for, but I figured I'd better hang on to them...they might come in handy.

Once the sod was turned and the rocks were removed, my dad showed me how to take a soil sample. He used a power drill with a wide-flat attachment to turn twelve holes scattered throughout the plot. I took a scoop of dirt from each hole and put them into a bucket. I mixed them all together, and sifted out the pebbles using a fine screen. After that, I spread about 2-3 cups full of the dirt onto newspaper to dry out. In a few days, the soil was dry and I put it into a sandwich bag and sent it to UMass Amherst for soil testing. They sent the results via email in about 2 weeks. I have NO idea what any of it means, but luckily, my dad will help me out with that too!

My dad has been a huge help with all of this. I am trying to do most of it on my own, but it's nice to have an experienced gardener to bounce things off of and for advice. Dad's also given me some ideas for new tools. The stuff I currently have is inadequate, to say the least!

New toys are always exciting! And of course, I'll need some new gardening fashion, like shoes, a hat, and an apron. :)

Here's where we are now. This is the plot all ready for spring. Before we can plant, we'll have to add whatever is needed based on the soil test.

Getting Things Ready - September 2013

The rest of the fall was spent getting things ready for a garden. We cleaned out an old mini-shed we used to use to house our trash cans. The two old empty cans that were inside had a couple of small holes at the bottom, but we cleaned those out too...storage for fall leaves which we'll layer into our compost starting in the spring.

Because we didn't have fall leaves saved for composting this year, we made do with shredded paper, torn newspaper, and unused paper pet bedding for our "brown layers". You can see the bits of shredded paper in the compost.

Composting is strangely fulfilling. It's gross because it's dirt and decomposing plant matter...and sometimes there are flies. But it's cool too. There's something satisfying about using stuff you'd normally throw away to make something new. Every week, when I'd turn the compost with a pitchfork, I could see the kitchen scraps and pruned branches and leaves and grass clippings and shredded paper...stuff I'd put into yard waste bags, or out for recycling, or into the garbage disposal...become nutritious soil for our garden. It feels good to help the environment a bit, while creating something so useful.

Garden Prep - May 2013 - Composting

Composting seemed like a good place to start, so I looked up a bunch of information online to get started. Turns out, composting is not all that difficult to do! First I needed a place to put my compost. There are so many ways to do it, but with my limited space, a container compost made the most sense. So, using the instructions on A Full Measure of Happiness, I took an old trash barrel, cleaned it out, and had STS (husband) drill a bunch of holes in it. It took no time to do. I was composting within 20 minutes! This is a good guide for what to put in your compost. 

Here's a photo of the finished product: