Well, now I’m annoyed. I was happy, I was jovial, but Photoshop Elements 9.0 is different than 6.0, though only in annoying ways. It took me 10 minutes to resize a picture. Whatever, here it is:
These are some of the early results of the hydroponics lab in the basement, planted 2/14. Everything is growing. In this particular picture, the nine cell square (3 per side) in the top left has a few Vinca, grown from seeds that I collected from the deck last year. Bottom left is Sempervivum, aka, hen and chicks. They are plentiful, maybe too plentiful, but very small, having come from little tiny seeds.
The big ones on the bottom are dahlia. They’re growing their second set of leaves already – I’ve had to prune away the extras from each tray. It was sad. I’m still annoyed about image resizing, so this is going to be brief. A screwdriver and speed skating right when I finish too. Behind the dahlia are the black eyed-susan vine seedlings, which are going to have a prominent roll in the garden. I’m pleased with them.
Next to them, foxglove (look it up), in front of the foxglove, Rudbeckia. Next to that (not in the picture), a plant that’s supposed to be difficult to grow – primula gold laced – they’ve just recently sprouted – I hope those guys work.
Jen’s screwdriver…strong. We mix some strong drinks here in the Furst household.
Lastly, there’s the..uhhh…Ganzania. They are growing well too. The whole operation has been a resounding success so far.
Next weekend, I make the next tray. Not sure how I’m going to arrange things yet, or how I’m going to juggle all these plants outgrowing their pellets, but shoot, spring’s got to come eventually. When it does, I’ll have flower. Lots of them.
Words 
Were you really drinking screwdrivers at, like, noon? When did you post this?
Do your parents have power, btw? Basically all of NYS is without it, minus a tiny little pocket in Ulster County. My brother said it’s like a “war zone” up there.
Nah, this was about 9 last night.
Parents do have power, though they got 2+ feet. Different between NY and MD? My mother left the house trying to do errands the day after it ended and was annoyed that the post office was closed. In MD they terminated existence for a week.
so what did you plant them in?…I can’t tell. I’m impressed I want more black eyed susan’s I have a few..Are they easy to grow from seed? From the looks of it I need to start now huh..in my house..that’s ambitious. You will have to invite me over to admire your garden sometime.
I’d like to request Dahlia and Black Eyed Susans for the Fry Family Flower bed.
These are black eyed susan vines, not black eyed susans.
Dahlia I can probably swing, but I only had 12 seeds for the vine, 8 of them are growing (actually 11 grew, but I had to clip them because two can’t grow in the same pellet), and I have two prominent locations for them. They might not be up for grabs. For you guys, maybe I can spare one – but it’s a vine, it’ll creep 8′ high or something.
Dahlia, sure thing, I’ll plant some more later and give you a whole set. You want some of the other ones too, trust me, you just don’t know it yet. This is my first set of 8 seeds. I have a second set of 8 which I’m going to be planting next weekend, for a little later start. You do need to come over to see this setup soon…
Meanwhile, these are grown in one of these:
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1276454&CAWELAID=164113684
only 72 cells. I have three T5 bulbs screwed into the bottom of a shelving unit that came with the house in the laundry room. The shelf is about 6 inches above the shelf below it to keep the light close to the seedlings. The light is currently on for something like 12 and a half hours a day, on a timer. Start up cost was something like $150 if you include the seeds, so it’s not inexpensive…and I had the shelving unit just sitting around.
They’ve been pretty easy. You make sure they have enough light (not sure what will happen when they’re a little bigger) and keep them moist. I’ve watered them twice a week so far. I dunno, so far, so good.
I think I started a little early. I’ll want to put the Dahlia outside right after I return from WA, but it might still be too cold. The vines may be ready by then too. Not sure exactly what I’ll do, but it might involve buying a sodium lamp and mounting it with an adjustable height.