thank you Terry...

Hi, my name is Terry and I'm a plantaholic. It has only been 3 days since I stopped at Lowe's, Home Depot and Collier's Nursery, all before I got home from work. I called a friend and he told me to go home and not to give in to my addictive urges. I did go home but I hid the truth from him. I had already made plans to go to the Turkey Creek Landfill plant dig tomorrow. And now my addiction is affecting my family. My daughter is going to the plant dig with me. Do you think there is any hope for us?

I got a steel shelf system thats 7 foot tall and measures 2x4 feet per shelf. The shelves have metal sides as supports and wood chipboard shelves. I drilled two 1/2 inch holes at the metal ends of each shelf support to put short lengths of chain through. I used the common shop lights, but do prefer warm white, or grow lights, which are quite cheap at Home Depot, compared to some fancy pet shop that sells them for about $25 each. Each shelf gets two of the 2 light fixtures and being suspended on the chains, I can lower and raise them easily by pulling up and down in the chains and using a small piece of stiff wire shoved into a link so the chain cant pass through the drilled hole. I also have heat mats under the 11x20 inch trays. The heat mats are shut off once the plants are touching the clear plastic domes I place over each tray. I grow petunias, impatiens, portulaca, some herbs, tomatoes, seedless watermelons, peppers, and even broccoli and brussels sprouts as seedlings. These are all started aout the end of April, but also depend on what grwing length of time they need to mature. Some things that don't work as seedlings to be transplanted are corn, beans, and some herbs like dill, cilantro and a few others. My shelf system is against a wall, and I used aluminum foil on the walls to reflect light back to the plants. Usually, impatiens and petunias are in bloom once they get moved outside to the greenhouse the last week of May. My plant lights are on a timer and are on from 6am to about 10PM every day. They do very well and I have never had any problems with germination, or growth. I even started some asparagus from collected seeds, and they took a month to send up a very tiny thin spear. That summer, they get planted in my 'gus patch in an open area.

Hazel, how exciting to hear about your plants! It's a fun and rewarding time of year, isn't it? I have decided not to worry so much about doing every little thing just so, Dawn is right, plants know what to do. SO. . . when did you plant your beans? You planted them from seed? What kind of beans did you plant? I have not planted mine yet but I'm thinking I need to get on the ball and do it. My habit has been to plant later rather than earlier and I think this year I want to go ahead and get my seeds in the ground. It's been a warm and extremely dry season so far. I'm sure the colder temps are behind us. I just want RAIN!! My carrots and beets are still very small but at least they have a start. Everything I started indoors, under the grow light I made, I have been very disappointed with. (I'll do my homework for next year) I started my squash and cukes too early and I'm just going to plant seeds next week. My tomatoes are just pitiful. I think I'll keep trying and transplant next month and have a back up plan with plants from a nursery. Here in Enid, my selection is a joke, BUT actually last year I bought a cherry tomato plant, variety unknown, that just did marvelous and produced till the frost did it's number on it. My peas that I planted from seeds look great, about 3" tall now. Oh how I hope I get a good crop, I do love my peas! My asparagus is doing superb, almost all of the 18 or so plants have sprouted and are now covered with soil and hay. Dawn, you have so much experience and give great advice, so here is a question for you. What kind of Espoma do you use? I had no idea there were so many to choose from! I also have been adding organic material to my soil for the past couple of years and it's looking good, I would like to simplify things and get a basic fertilizer, if that is what can be done. I have had the OSU extension center do soil sample tests on different parts of my garden for a couple of years and my pH is good, just needs a bit of potassium and phosphorus, which I have added. Thanks all!