Garden planning

If ever there was a year that I felt we needed a large garden, 2017 is the year. With all the political drama and wall talk, it's going to be nice to be as self reliant as possible. Many people forget the years in the past when produce was really expensive and had some limited availability. Fast food places weren't adding tomato on whatever you ordered and I do love tomatoes.

I think the price of produce is high currently, so I can see those prices doubling and tripling. Eating healthier is causing us to buy more veggies but it's winter and we don't have a greenhouse for all year growing.

A large order of heirloom seeds showed up on Friday, they will replace what I'm getting ready to start growing on the dining room table. Tomatoes, bush beans, pole beans, cucumbers, onions, zucchini, lettuce, beets, carrots and probably some more items will be on the menu for the garden this year. I'm contemplating potatoes but we don't eat many of those.

I have traditional grow lights but we've decided to swap those out for LED's this year. The initial investment is about $330 for two full spectrum 278watt 600 count LED lights. They will each cover a 4x4 section, so two of those will be great rigged above the table. I'm using narrow window-sill type trays in order to maximize the light on the seedling trays. Once the seedlings get large, I'll transplant them into large pots and those will be placed into trays. This will enable us to manage the individual plants better than having 30 seedlings competing on a tray.

Well it's a plan anyhow.

It's a really nice weekend in the mountains. Father in-law is back in the hospital but we are trying to have a normal weekend together. Friday the winds were ridiculous but by noon on Saturday they dropped off to normal levels and today, nothing. Great for running, great for melting the large snow drifts. Pancakes are almost ready and some bluegrass is playing on the radio.

Toys? Shoes? Boxes! He might be part cat.