One of my chief joys is introducing people to growing new vegetables they may not have tried or new varieties of old faves. So, every year, beginning in February and March the hunt for interesting seeds and replenishment of heirloom varieties begins and the packages start to arrive in the mail. Then in the first couple weeks of April seed planting starts.
I am luck to have a tiled basement family room with large sliding glass doors that let in light. My husband gives in to my eccentricities by enabling them-he gave me 2 four shelf light stands with shop lights over each level so that I can fit 2 flats or several smaller containers on each. He also gave me hanging LED lights so that I can put some things on the floor.
I use flats and all kinds of re-purposed containers that let in light. This year I made much use of the clear plastic boxes that salad greens come in. For the May swap, I start repotting warm weather veggies into a richer mix that we make from other components like peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, leafgro and compost/manure put in party cups to gorw on until transplant. This is when I begin putting plants out on my shaded patio to get hardened off. Later, they make the trek up to my porch where I have three sections-one is open to the sun, the second is 40% shade cloth and the 3rd is 60%. This way, I move my flats of plants along until they can handle full sun.
This year we have had colder spring weather and many cloudy rainy days which are definitely not the favorite for getting good growth on tomatoes, peppers or eggplants. So, despite all efforts, they have lagged in height and leaf output. I only planted my tomatoes this week in PA, when they generally go out in mid-May and our weather up there locally is often colder and breezier than in Westminster. We never know how the season will turn out!
Here is half of my patio (the shadier side) showing one of the light stands through the window. The main issue I have to contend with yearly is that it can be a pain to keep replacing burned out light tubes or problems within the light electricals.
This the porch above showing my shade clothed areas.
And because it was a rare nice sunny day, here’s the view from the open section. This porch faces East.
Here is a picture of my set up at this year’s Mid Atlantic Swap toward the end when much of my stock was gone. Our hostess Henrietta is in the white hat.
