What To Do When Your Indoor Seeds Are Growing Much Faster Than Advertised?

This is my first year of growing seeds indoors, and I must admit I covered every angle of this process to perfection. I bought the right seeds, grow lights, heating mat etc... and have religiously followed many expert bloggers advice. In fact I did too good of a job -- my seedlings are growing way too fast! After 10 days, they are where I thought they would be after one month. Growth has been phenomenal and has exceeded my expectations. My seedlings began emerging: Cauliflower-2 days Broccoli- 3 days Tomato- 3 days Lettuce- 3 days Pepper- 4 days After about 2 months, I was told I would need to transplant into bigger (3 X 3", or 4 X 4") pots, at which point I would be ready to place them outside in my greenhouse. According to plan, this would have occurred in late March. However, it's looking like many of my seedlings will be ready for this process before the end of February. Closer view of a variety of peppers and tomatoes. A Chilling Thought The thought of putting these plants outside in a greenhouse in late February is a little troublesome for me. In Virginia the average temperature still dips below freezing on most nights. Even in a greenhouse, this might put too much stress on the little fellas. My Cauliflower's were the first to emerge, after just two days! They are already several inches high. Thinking Ahead For several weeks, my new plants will need a "half-way" house -- between the time they graduate from the seed tray to when they get a new temporary home in the greenhouse. So I am already starting to plan in advance. Despite living in a small, crowded house with very little extra room, I have identified 6 spaces next to windows where I can place trays. Each tray fits 18 3X3" pots, which will cover 108 plants. 72 plants can go back under my grow lights. This still leaves several dozen plants unaccounted for. Oh well, I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there. Next year I will start my indoor seeds one month later ... you live and you learn.

Vivid Garden Sunset After Tumultuous Weather Day & Week

What a week ... Tuesday was the earthquake and this afternoon we had the worst thunderstorm of the year. Close encounter Being 35 miles from the epicenter of Tuesday's 5.8 magnitude Mineral, Virginia earthquake - we were shook up real good here in Fredericksburg. It was quite the experience. It started rather slowly - feeling like the ground next to a passing train. Then it got really violent for about 10-20 seconds before quickly subsiding. I was working in my backyard-facing garage at the time and after realizing that we were having an earthquake, I quickly walked into the safety of my back yard. My biggest memories are me thinking "I can't believe this is really happening - what if this is the BIG one?" I also remember looking at my 16 foot diameter pool and seeing ocean-like waves and the water splashing over the edges. It was an awesome sight! No major damage to the house but the siding all around is now slightly warped like an old phonograph record. Storm of the year This afternoon we were pounded with a nasty thunderstorm, knocking out power for about 2 hours. 7 of my 11 tomato plants were tilted to the side or completely knocked over (see image, above right). Fortunately damage was minor with several branches snapped. I added more support and the plants are as good as new this evening. My pears, unfortunately, suffered worse. Normally we get pears every other year (biennial) but this year I was surprised to see about 100 or so growing. The wind from today's storm dropped several dozen of my pears to the ground (see image, above left), about one month before being perfectly ripe. All is not lost with these pears though -- I will make juice from them in my juicer. The coast is not yet clear Next up is Hurricane Irene, scheduled to side-swipe our area Saturday night. If anything, this week is a real eye-opener and perhaps a blessing-in-disguise to get me prepared for possible power outages and whatever else the Hurricane may bring. Finally, before I leave you, another picture of this evening's fine sunset... NEW  LushGreenVA's aStore - powered by Amazon Clutter-free shopping for vegetable gardeners. Every product hand-picked and smartly categorized by me, H. Mikael - many are similar to one's I use myself, including: Composters, Raised beds, Greenhouses/Cold Frames, Rain Barrels, Rear-tine Tillers and Cultivators