Here's what I want

Tick tick tick. That's the sound of the growing season slipping away from me while I look around for the right light fixture to make my seed starting set up with. OK, things aren't quite that dramatic yet.

When I attending the very informative workshop on seed starting last month, the instructor had an example of a home made stand that held a 24" fluorescent light fixture. He was very casual in stating that the fixtures could be had easily and for not much money. It has been difficult to find the right fixture. For example, I got a 24" fixture from Home Depot. When I opened the box yesterday, I realized it's the kind of fixture you install in a ceiling, so it's got no plug. D'oh!

Back to the drawing board. I've looked around, and there is a surprising lack of options for what I want. Sure you can buy a grow stand from a seed company, but as far as I can tell, they've got one bulb (which isn't good enough for a tray of seedlings) and they cost $70-100! A four foot fixture is bigger than I have room for, so two feet it's got to be. I guess I'll order from the place I found the picture from. I'm a little wary of ordering from a place that I've never heard of, but I'm getting to the point where I need to start the seeds soon.

We have thawed here in Northern Colorado, and except for a stubborn patch of ice on the northwest side of the house, the snow is gone. It all looks like someone should come through with a hose and wash all the dirt and grime away.

I bought a second composter the other day, and turned my pile. There has been a distinct lack of decomposition (i.e. I still had green grass clumps from last summer), and the ornamental grass I put in there I don't think will ever decompose (it's almost like bamboo in consistency). This makes me think that maybe I'll want to invest in one of the expensive composters, I don't know. I was hoping to have my own compost ready to use this year, but that might not happen. I did, however, get rid of 6-7 bags of leaves from last fall that had been in my garage, so that's good.

image