fluorescent light arrived and new seeds ordered!

My fluorescent light arrived on Friday. There were supposed to be two 2' T5 bulbs with two fixtures, but there was only one set in the box. The packing slip seems to indicate that ACF Greenhouse thinks they put them both in the same box, but alas, there was but one. I tried calling them yesterday to discuss the situation but they aren't open on the weekends. Hopefully, I'll be able to resolve the issue tomorrow. I have, however, installed the bulb and fixture that they sent me, and am quite pleased with it thus far (I really only need one right now, anyway).
I decided to mount the fixture by attaching two chains to the metal clasps that were included with the Jump Start T5 Light Fixture and Bulb. At Lowe's today, I bought two 4' lengths of thin white chain that slipped easily into the metal clasps that attached to the back of the light fixture. I cut two holes in the top of the plastic sheet on either end of the top tier (which will serve nicely for future ventilation purposes) and fed each chain out and then zip-tied them together on the top tier. This light should be much more efficient than the two halogen grow bulbs I was using. A downside to its increased efficiency though, is that, of course, it won't be supplying supplementary heat to the greenhouse. On the up side, I think it's better lighting for the pictures...


I purchased some new seeds Saturday night from Renee's Garden. Even after the Herb Collection arrives and is planted, I was going to have an extra six slots in tray 2. B suggested trying to grow some peppers, and after some searching, I succeeded in finding a distributor for Pimientos de Padrón, the tasty sweet (when green and unripe) peppers that we ate in northern Spain this past summer. They are typically sauteed in olive oil and served as a tapa (an appetizer served at bars that only serve appetizers, "tapaterias"). They are absolutely delicious, and we´ve had much difficulty finding a close substitute in the local grocery stores here, so I´m very excited about the possibility of growing them here in the greenhouse.
The minimum order at Renee´s Garden was three packets of seeds, so I also purchased some sunflowers for the yard. Last year, in addition to giant sunflowers, we bought an assorted sunflower seed pack that produced some really beautiful multi-color sunflowers with purple and red-streaked blooms. They were like Hydra with multiple heads for each stalk. The "Bright Bandolier" sunflower seemed the most like the Hydra from last summer, and so I purchased one packet of those and one packet of the "Lemon Queen" variety. Renee´s Garden promises to donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the Lemon Queen seeds to the Great Sunflower Project, which aims to help advance the understanding of the current plight of pollinating bees by studying and recording what types of bees in which areas are frequenting the Lemon Queen sunflowers. It sounds like a neat project. One of the coolest things about our sunflower canopy in the front yard last year was how it seemed to establish its own ecosystem complete with a host of birds, bees, and weird beetles I´d never seen before. Hopefully this year´s sunflower crop will be just as bountiful and we can help out with some bee studies at the same time.