Making the Most of What I've Got

Two weekends ago, I sliced and diced some boards we happened to have in the garage, and hobbled together some more lighting racks.  I was left feeling very resourceful and even a little adventurous.  Historically, the only projects requiring tools that I've been willing to tackle myself were hanging picture frames with a hammer and changing out batteries with a screwdriver.  Re-purposing the kitchen island was huge for me (see DIY Conversion post).  So I surprised even myself when I marched into the garage and decided that if I could install grow lights, I could make a stable frame for more lights using some 2x4's, a jigsaw, a hammer and some nails. I didn't cut off any appendages, I only smashed my thumb twice, and I successfully added a third tier to my gardening stand.  I admit, it's not the most elegant addition to my piano room, but I'm using every square inch of out-of-the-way space that I can. (Since this picture was taken, I moved the extra florescent light sitting on top of this whole arrangement to the laundry room growing area.)  All in all, I'm extremely proud of my expanded spaces for starting seeds.

[Side Note: I understand now that power tools are called that because they make you feel POWERFUL.  After I'd sawed through a few boards (and maybe gotten a little high off of adrenaline and the smell of sawdust), I started having visions of my very own wood shop.] 

We watch our budget pretty carefully, and I've put up with enough teasing from my wonderfully supportive husband to be curious about my current gardening expenditures versus our potential reward.  In total, I've spent $121 just on lighting (6 2-ft plant grow lights and 1 additional 4-ft florescent fixture).  I saved a lot of cartons and yogurt containers, but still ended up buying peat pots and plastic seed pots for about $18.  Seed starting medium, potting soil, Garrett juice, and worm castings cost me around $50, and I spent $22 on seeds from Seed Savers Exchange.  So for a little over $200, I've grown 92 beautiful, organic seedlings!  If I bought those plants at a store for $3 a piece (which I think is a conservative estimate for organic plants), I'd spend around $270.  So there.  I'm coming out ahead so far.  Plus, I can reuse the lights and stands for years to come.  Now it just remains to be seen how many peppers and tomatoes we'll produce to offset the grocery bill.



This is my workbench / potting bench in all it's glory, tucked between the new tiller I got for Christmas and boxes we're waiting to recycle.  I actually rescued this dresser from someone's curb years ago, and my dad surprised me by re-purposing it into a play kitchen for the kids.  (He added fresh paint, the "control panel" board, washers for dials, and coffee can lids for burners - so awesome!)  Now that the kids have quit playing with it, I've claimed it as my own.







My new favorite way to grow tomatoes is in eggshells.  Pretty sure I saw this on Pinterest.  This season, I started all of my seeds in a store-bought Jiffy medium (instead of making my own mix) and added spoonfuls of worm castings.  The seeds I tucked into eggshells have grown at almost twice the rate of those in other containers.

I cleaned them out well after making breakfast and let them dry.  

After filling them with seed starting medium, I carefully drilled a hole in the bottom with a screwdriver. 

 

Planted seeds and watched them grow! (The eggshell seedlings seem to hold moisture better as well, and so needed less watering each day.)