Taking advantage of a really rare 70 degree sunny day with a baby step in veg garden prep -- putting sand in a bed where carrots and beets will be planted and having Bent rototill.  Virginia Co-operative Extension claims I can plant beets and carrots at this time of year, but still a bit hesitant.  May wait one more week.

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looking good!  I'm several weeks behind getting anything done in the garden.  Pictures to come, but it might be a while. 

Really lovely day and the weather has turned mild and is supposed to stay that way from here on out with no freezes or frosts predicted.  So we decided to plant more of the veg garden a bit earlier than I had planned.  Planted marigold beds several days ago and then a half row of beets and half of carrots about 4 days ago.  Got a bit more productive today -- basil, one tomato, 6 bell peppers, 6 jalapeno peppers. 2 Anaheim peppers, one poblano pepper and one sweet mild pepper.  Bent then decided to take my seedlings -- tomatoes and peppers -- and just plant and see how they do.  They are tiny, but don't seem to be flourishing indoors so we are giving it a go. More to plant tomorrow!

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The first 2 of the year.  Kristin is always worried that I have destroyed the Asparagus each year.  She is certain it is to late and these will be the only 2 of the season.

Not suppose to be a freeze tonight, but is to dip to 39 with wind-chill even lower and it would not take much to go a few degrees below predicted.  So decided to give my high tech young veg plant freeze protection system a tryout.  Introducing my 1 gallon milk container cloches!!!  I knew it would eventually pay off liking milk!

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Brilliant!!!

I learned that trick through the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program.

Not much to show in the garden yet, but the sun hit our potting shed nicely on Sunday.
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This was my first year doing indoor seed starts.  Plants at store were getting smaller and smaller but the price kept getting higher and higher.  I planted 36 2inch cells with tomatoes on 2/11/2021.  My temporary grow area is in the corner of our family room.  After three weeks I replanted into 5 inch grow pots.

I picked up grow lights from Amazon that apparently are commonly used for growing a substance that is legal in some states.  There was a learning curve with the lights.  Most tutorials I have seen tell you to keep the light close to the plants.  I almost fried my seedlings.  Many of the leaves were turning purple.  I raised the lights and replanted.  The new growth was just fine.  It was then I hit my next problem.  The plants got too big.  Hardening them off was a real hassle.  My seedlings were strong 18 inch plants.  At seven weeks I finally put them into the garden. 
 

Here are some photos of my plants in the garden.  The harsh lights made some of my plants grow side ways so it took a little careful planting.  I replaced my old department store grow cages with one made from remesh.  These cages with six inch squares are so much easier to work with.  I was really surprised to see the plants fruiting this past week.  This usually happens a month from now with store bought plants.
 

If you are happy with the grow lights, can you please post make and model.  And give an idea on height.  We only learned about 2 weeks ago why our seedling were "leggy".  This year is gone, but hope to have a much better 2022!

If you are happy with the grow lights, can you please post make and model.  And give an idea on height.  We only learned about 2 weeks ago why our seedling were "leggy".  This year is gone, but hope to have a much better 2022!

The lights are MARS HYDRO TS 1000W.  They are not cheap but nice and compact to store away.  Those PVC pipes in the photograph are 5 feet tall.  I started out with 3 ft sections with the lights hung right above the plants.  Many of my first true leaves turned purple on the undersides.  Some say it is due to phosphorus deficiency.  That may be partially true but the lights were hung far too low and may have contributed to the problem.  The manufacturer recommends hanging them far higher.  I found these recommendations on the web for hanging height.

Recommended Hanging Distance Above Plants:

    Seeding: 24″ Germination: 24″-30″
    Veg: 18″-24″ Bloom: 12″-18″ 

I spent a lot of time researching products for growing seedlings last fall.  The two products that I really like are:

Growese seed starter kit from Gardeners Supply
These covered trays are made in England and are quite durable.  The kit has a clear plastic cover for the trays and has capillary watering using a mat.

1020 Extra Strength Grow trays from the Bootstrap Farmer
Most 1020 trays sold on Amazon are pretty thin.  These are much heavier.  I actually found these mentioned in an Amazon review.

I spent some time earlier this year trying to find methods for improving tomato yields and found stories about Charles Wilber.  He had plants that produced hundreds of pounds of tomatoes.  His secrets were composting and pruning methods.  He made compost from green steer manure, green waste and straw. 

I was thinking of creating a compost pile using Charles' method and ran into this article on tainted manure:
https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/manure-garden/

The fellow in the article bought manure from a farmer whose animal ate hay from a field treated with herbicide.