The purple basil is sprouting! It's been germinating exactly a week now and there are already little purple sprouts poking up. There is sprouting in almost all 18 of the purple basil compartments.

The sweet basil seems to be lagging a bit behind. Most of the seeds still look like wet little eggs.

Here's a picture of the greenhouse in its almost finished form. It currently consists of a 4-tier plastic storage unit that measures 56" x 34" x 14", wrapped in 4 mil plastic sheet with a vertical slit down the front for access to the shelves. My short term solution for the opening was velcro and packing tape, but I've since installed a 3' zipper.

There's currently one tray that's half-filled with my germinating basil. I'm planning on using at least two of the shelves, possibly three if I can figure out a nighttime heating strategy that doesn't take up a whole shelf.

The grow lamp is attached to the underside of the top tier (on the right). I bought a timer switch for it, and so it's programmed to be on from 7 am - 10 pm. Ultimately, this will be replaced with a T5 fluorescent bulb, which I'm planning on hanging from on the underside of each tier. I bought a cheapo thermometer and hygrometer at PetCo (they're supposed to be used for iguana tanks), and stuck them to the top tier. I'm currently heating the greenhouse at night with just a programmable space heater. It's set to maintain 75 F by pulsing on for a few seconds every couple of minutes. The whole structure is on a second floor unheated sun porch in front of south-facing windows. If I find I'm having problems with insulation, I'm planning on replacing the 4 mil plastic sheet with some actual plastic, but that'll be more expensive.

velcro is better, but not best

So I failed in my attempt today to purchase a 5' zipper. Apparently not all craft stores sell fabrics and at Michael's I could only find replacement zippers for pants. I got some velcro stick pads instead, which, while an improvement to cheapo packing tape, is definitely less than ideal as there isn't really enough extra plastic sheet to make a tight seal from top to bottom. Tomorrow I'll head to a fabric store and hopefully be able to track down ridiculously long zippers and put the finishing touches on the greenhouse structure itself.

I still need to research the T5 lights a little more. I'm hoping to put in an order for those tomorrow as well. Meanwhile, my grow bulb is baking my basil seeds. I'm worried that they may be getting too dried out even though I've been misting them several times a day. My greenhouse's first official residents are: Ferry-Morse Dark Opal Purple Basil and Sweet Basil. The package says that they germinate in 5-10 days, and I think I planted them about a week ago. I'd imagine I should probably start to see something happening over this next week if the grow bulb hasn't destroyed them.

I received confirmation of my order today from Seeds of Change. Arriving in 4-10 days will be:

1 PACK, CILANTRO, SLOW BOLT (SANTO CILANTRO)
1 PACK, TARRAGON, MEXICAN (SWEET MACE)
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, CHADWICK
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, FOX
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, MAGLIA ROSA
1 PACK, TOMATO, CRIMSON SPRINTER
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, OREGON SPRING BUSH
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, RED HOUSE FREE STANDING
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, SANTIAM
1 PACK, HERBES DE PROVENCE WITH A TWIST SEED COLLECT
1 PACK, BASIL, FINO VERDE

The Herbes de Provence collection contains some old favorites with some new herbs that I've never cooked with before (or even tasted, I think). It includes one pack each of Brussels Winter Chervil, Mubstead English Lavender, Loveage, Greek Oregano, Rosemary Garden Sage, Summer Savory, English Thyme, and Sweet Marjoram. I'm really excited to see how they turn out and even find some new recipes to put them in.

greenhouse begun

So I've begun my indoor greenhouse project and have already run into a few problems. The structure itself has come together quite nicely, but the lighting options have tripped me up. I was originally planning on two fluorescent lights positioned vertically on opposite sides and ends of the storage shelf structure, but then there were so many choices and limitations (the simultaneity of which was the real problem). There are lots of different types of fluorescent bulbs of different sizes, shapes, and efficiencies, and so the task was to find two efficient (T5 or T8) grow bulbs (plant or aquarium) around 2' or so in length hopefully with matching fixtures in an adjacent aisle. It proved difficult to satisfy these constraints at Lowe's, Home Depot, and PetCo. Although I think I had the option of buying expensive (>$100) versions in one or more of these locations.

My initial purchase was two 4' T12 bulbs + fixtures at Lowe's, but it wasn't until I got them home and started assembly that I realized that they were lacking power cables. Researching on the interweb about the power needs of the T12 bulbs got me thinking that I might want to switch instead to the T8's. When I returned to Lowe's to investigate my powering options, I was really disappointed at the mix and match availability of bulbs and fixtures (and they have moved all their gardening seeds to an undisclosed location until spring.....). Making the short drive to Home Despot yielded only slightly better results. They too have retired their seeds, but they were sporting the sexy T5 bulbs that I didn't even know existed. Thinner and more efficient than even the T8's, the T5 seems like the way to go for my indoor greenhouse, but they also didn't have the sizes and coatings that I needed.

I still don't really understand what the difference is between the plant/aquarium bulbs vs the "cool white", etc bulbs. What I've read so far suggests that plants really need visible light and that they respond differently to visible light that is narrowband and centered around different wavelengths, but I still don't have a good handle on what type of light my greenhouse will really need. Right now, I just have an incandescent grow lamp (that I purchased last year when our sunflower seedlings were suffering) pointed at my tray of germinating basil seeds. I think it's probably contributing mostly heat at this point, which according to what I've read about germination is the second most important thing after water.

I've been looking into the T5 bulbs more online and it looks like I can buy two 2' bulbs with metal reflector fixtures for $45 a piece. I don't want to buy from the first site I find, but still, it's encouraging. Probably going to place an order for something along those lines in the next few days. It's not really essential until the basil's sprouted.

So, tomorrow I return the unnecessary purchased items from Lowe's (two 4' aquarium bulbs + fixtures and a bulb starter kit) and go buy a zipper for the door. I tried today to get a heater pad for the seeds from PetCo, but all they had was one for a 50 gallon terrarium and I think that that would've roasted them for sure.

I've ordered some seeds (since they are apparently out of season locally...): two types of cherry tomato, one roma, four different "slicing tomato" types, and some herbs, all from Seeds of Change. If I end up planting even half the stuff I want to, I'm going to need to double the size of my greenhouse (fine by me).