It's Greenhouse time...

So the greenhouse is great, but it needed potting benches. So March 18th and 19th I made 2 benches.
Nothing super fancy; there are made with 2x4s and 2x3s ;pretty basic. 
However I topped the benches with hardware cloth(basically thicker chicken wire)
Here are a few Picts

It really seems, the more plantings I do, the more I want to do....at least I really enjoy it.  The wife says I'm outta control.  She's right, I go from being a lazy bum all winter to going buck nutty in the spring. Probably a good thing, keeps me out of trouble and hanging out with bad eggs like Jeff. 

Ok, so lighting is good, environment is great...now we wait....

So now we are March 16th,  nothing to exciting.
Planted
1 Flat Gardenias
2 Flats Zinnias
And I made 1 more light, but it is a 4 footer. Same build, just bigger.

March 17th
Well I am realizing if I am going to do this, might as well go for it so I placed an order for some pots and seeds.

I found 'Wave' petunias at "Harris Seeds' so I placed a order.
75 Blue Waves
150 Whites
75 Purple.
The reason I got 'Waves' is they are great plants and they have name recognition.  They are pretty expensive so I hope I can make nice planters/hanging baskets.

I also placed an order for pots. I found a site"Novosel" that has all sorts of pots/baskets/seeds etc. I Placed an order.
20 flats
50 10" hanging baskets.
Pretty decent prices and good selection.....so I seem to be on a roll and its warming up outside, so I think I'll concentrate on the greenhouse for a few days.....

Ok, so now for lighting....

So, these seedlings are a' popping but they need extra light to grow big and strong. I tried feeding them milk, but that didn't seem to help.

So, I had bought a wire rack/shelf from target to place all the flats so I decided to use that and attach the lights to the  shelves.  I went to home depot, and bought 3' T5 floresent lights. I used 2 fixtures per shelf.  I also found a prefinished 3' shelf to mount the lights to.  Next I got a replacement cord used for power tools, and wired the  2 lights together and mounted the lights to. Finally I attached thin rope to the 4 corners, and tied them to the shelfs.  Kinda tough to explain, I'll throw up a photo, hopefully that helps.  If anyone actually reads this and wants more info throw up a comment and I'll try to answer.....these are kick ass lights though

So there it is, I made 3 lights and mounted those bad boys. Plugged them into a powerstrip, and then into a timer.  The are running from 7am-8pm ish, and the seedlings seem to love it.

Ok, I'll try to catch up....

It looks like I am doing more planting and projects than I can write up, so I'll do a quick update.
Here is a list of plants I seeded on March 14th....
1 Flat Red Sunflowers
1 Flat Alaska Daisys
1 Flat Purple Coneflower
1 Flat Black Eyed Susan

Now I have gone through bags and bags on Scotts Seedling soil.  They are great for small amounts of seedlings but not bulk that I am trying to do.  So I made my own seedling soil.  It was pretty easy actually.
I made a few different batches, but here is the best one so far.

4 Parts Sphagnam Moss   (I get large Scott brand bags from Home Depot or Lowes,found in the outdoor section)
2 Parts Perlite
1 Part Vermiculite

Vermiculite isn't a necessity, so if you can't find it no big deal.

This mix is great for the small seedling flats. If I do anything bigger, like 4" pots, I mix 50/50 percent of regular potting soil.  So far so good.....Now Zinnias are starting to pop,I need some good lighting for the small seedlings.....this thing never ends....

No the seeds are not in the greenhouse, don't be so pushy....

So I was thinking of the best way to get these seeds to sprout. Greenhouse was an option, but the tempature is an issue.  Seeds need warm temps and high humidity to grow well. Unfortunately I would have to run that heater all the time, so I came up with a better idea.

I have a small entry way in my house that gets good light. It has 1 door to the outside, and 1 door into the house.  I decided to put the heater and humidifier in,closed the door to the house and stored them in there.  So now we have the temp and humidity aroun 70-75 and these seeds are loving it.  Me too, it is real nice to come in from the cold and hang  out there.

Well, this seems to be a fun adventure, but it seems to have a life of its own.  I am coming up with ideas and plans.  I guesss its spring fever.

So we are planting all this stuff, but what will we do with it.

 The wife and I decided to host a garden sale.  It will be like a garage sale, but with all sorta of plants. Annuals, Perennials,House plants and veggies.  We will advertise and make signs to put up in the town.  What do we have to loose, should be fun.  We are thinking about hosting it in May, but we'll have to see how these plants and seedlings do......

So now we're March 10th and I planted....
2 Flats pinwheel Zinnias
1 Flat purple Prince Zinnias
1 Flat "Incredible" sunflower
1 Flat red sunflower
1 Flat Coleus
1 Flat Achillea
1 Flat "envy" Zinnia (green)

So surely I would put them in the greenhouse, no, and don't call me Shirley

Well here we go....

So now we are into early March. March 9th to be specific.  Now with all these seeds, we need something to plant them in.  I went into my shed and found all the empty flats and pots I bought in the past.  Unfortunately they needed to be cleaned and disinfected. So, scrubed them and soaked them in a bleach solution are we are ready to roll.  So late into the night I started to plant these bad boys using scotts seed starting mix.
 I planted...
1 Flat of Echinacia
1 Flat Shasta Daisy
1 Flat Rudebekia
1 Flat Butterfly weed
and I made 1 flat of Peperomia; a house plant I found at the local Home Depot.

I made these cuttings, dipped them in rooting hormones, and placed them in a flat filled w/perlite. They seem to be doing well....