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Weekend plans as we make tracks in January


petitepedal

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I'm going to start planning my 2023 veggie garden.  Except for my tomato plants, my seedlings didn't get enough sun and heat on my 64F enclosed back porch and the tomato plants were a little stringy and took a while to get going in the garden.  Some seeds that often require 80+F germination temps weren't getting enough sunlight through the single window to heat the soil to germinate and only some germinated.

So I'm checking out grow lights and heat mats with thermostats while watching football this weekend.  I'll probably also get a stand to hold the trays of seedlings instead of the two extra-large tray tables I used last year. The mats are all waterproof and safe, but after my house fire in 2020, I'm going to put a very loud smoke detector above them.  They will be on the back porch and located about 8 feet away from the the main house wall.

Last year I had three 20" x 10" no-hole plastic trays, each filled or partly filled with six 6-cell 7" x 5" plastic planters.  That made up to 36 plants/tray.  I may set up 4 this year - some friends/relatives asked me to grow some of the great tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, Brandywine Pink, Sun Gold Cherry) for them.

I'm still checking grow lights, but I'm probably going to do two of these heat mats where a single controller controls two mats with temperature sensors set into the seedling dirt in each tray, each tray's temperature individually controlled.  That will give me four controlled mats where I can run the temp a little higher for peppers, brussel sprouts, and any other 80+F preferred temps.

image.thumb.png.ca883e7904b9fbcae6dd316df05c78e7.png

 

So I'm going to get grow lights and heat mats with thermostat.

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Laundry and coffee in the morning. Do some cardboard box exploring and reduce the number of boxes in the garage. Watch some football and prepare the filling for Sunday’s steamed dumplings. I’m making pork and shrimp with bok choy and water chestnuts. Chicken with carrot and water chestnuts. Make the dumplings on Sunday and store them in the fridge until I’m ready to steam them for dinner. 

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Today am working from home.  I have a few tasks to accomplish but nothing big.  Hopefully I can go down and get mah new taars on the pickup.

Tomorrow is Griffin's last swim meet.  Senior day. 

Sunday is a pitching camp at University of Indianapolis.  

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9 hours ago, MickinMD said:

I'm going to start planning my 2023 veggie garden.  Except for my tomato plants, my seedlings didn't get enough sun and heat on my 64F enclosed back porch and the tomato plants were a little stringy and took a while to get going in the garden.  Some seeds that often require 80+F germination temps weren't getting enough sunlight through the single window to heat the soil to germinate and only some germinated.

So I'm checking out grow lights and heat mats with thermostats while watching football this weekend.  I'll probably also get a stand to hold the trays of seedlings instead of the two extra-large tray tables I used last year. The mats are all waterproof and safe, but after my house fire in 2020, I'm going to put a very loud smoke detector above them.  They will be on the back porch and located about 8 feet away from the the main house wall.

Last year I had three 20" x 10" no-hole plastic trays, each filled or partly filled with six 6-cell 7" x 5" plastic planters.  That made up to 36 plants/tray.  I may set up 4 this year - some friends/relatives asked me to grow some of the great tomatoes (Cherokee Purple, Brandywine Pink, Sun Gold Cherry) for them.

I'm still checking grow lights, but I'm probably going to do two of these heat mats where a single controller controls two mats with temperature sensors set into the seedling dirt in each tray, each tray's temperature individually controlled.  That will give me four controlled mats where I can run the temp a little higher for peppers, brussel sprouts, and any other 80+F preferred temps.

image.thumb.png.ca883e7904b9fbcae6dd316df05c78e7.png

So I'm going to get grow lights and heat mats with thermostat.

Please forgive me for butting in, but you probably never realized you could track your gardening efforts on an Excel Spreadsheet, to optimize results. 

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44 minutes ago, jsharr said:

Work out tonight
Go visit mom tomorrow AM
Eagle Scout Court of Honor Rehearsal Sat PM
Eagle Scout Court of Honor Sunday
Watch footballing Sunday.

How is your mom coping?  Yesterday was 2nd anniversary of my Dad’s passing. My mom is very happy in assisted living. She thinks about my Dad a lot, but seems to be over the grief. 

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I feel like I’m fighting off a chest infection. So all plans subject to cancellation. After work, going to happy hour in the city with BuffCarla’s Department. For a city that has lost half its population to urban flight, it still is difficult to find a parking spot. This place is on Elmwood Ave, down the road from the pizza shop @Kirby found the blizzard cam. 
 

Tomorrow Men’s breakfast at church. 
 

Sunday watching the Bills playoff game. 

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3 minutes ago, BuffJim said:

How is your mom coping?  Yesterday was 2nd anniversary of my Dad’s passing. My mom is very happy in assisted living. She thinks about my Dad a lot, but seems to be over the grief. 

She is doing well.   She had years to grieve in private as Dad slowly declined.   She is turning into PetitePedal.  Took her vacuum cleaner in to be repaired and had a few hours to kill and ended up with a new Toyota RAV 4 apparently.  We had been talking about getting her a new car and so she stopped by the dealer and they gave her $23k for her old RAV4 and got her a new one with all the features she wanted that were not on the old one!  

Have not seen her since Christmas, so wanted to go spend some time with her.

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10 minutes ago, BuffJim said:

I feel like I’m fighting off a chest infection. So all plans subject to cancellation. After work, going to happy hour in the city with BuffCarla’s Department. For a city that has lost half its population to urban flight, it still is difficult to find a parking spot. This place is on Elmwood Ave, down the road from the pizza shop @Kirby found the blizzard cam.

 

You should go by the pizza place and wave to us (but let us know in advance when you'll be there!).

 

We are finally celebrating Christmas with family! Covid and travel delayed our planned get together.  Going to my sister's tomorrow, but since they just got back from a trip, dinner will be take out Italian which is more than fine with me!

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