On 2/8/2015 10:08 AM, Michael Evangelista wrote:
I got a heat mat from amazon , comes with a little plastic starter dome that will probably last one or two seasons, but together less than a similar mat alone. Now comes the question of light.

My workbench has a regular shop florescent fixture about 5 feet above the work surface. It is fixed (can't lower it) but I could hang a separate light below it, or swap out the tubes for super-UV or whatever bulbs you use, if it would work from that height. It is also next to a window, which will add some ambient but not direct sunlight during the day.

I used two different tubes for my grow light set up. One was Full
Spectrum, the other was "Instant Sun," mimicked exactly the spectrum of
true sunshine. Worked well for several years and then we moved and are
now just using a screw in grow light in a clip on medium base fixture.
No longer have a 17X27 foot garden but just three raised beds, one 4X16
feet, two 4X8 feet. Had a nearly 14K lot in the old house, have a 6500
square foot property here with a 1960 square foot house, driveway,
sidewalk, etc. Downsizing of a sort I guess.

I miss the soil of the old place, spent 22 years amending that garden.
Plus we had a large fig tree, a large kumquat tree, several blueberry
plants, a Japanese persimmon, and, until the peach borer's got it, a
nice peach tree. Our best tree was huge cherrybark oak, nine feet in
diameter at three feet above the ground. Beautiful shade tree and never
dropped an acorn. Had a 400 year old white oak in front but Hurricane
Rita ate that one. Nice old neighborhood, bunch of old people like us
with a scattering of young families, close to supermarket, hospital,
church, all the fast food joints for when you didn't want to cook, and a
few very good restaurants. All in a 12K population small town in rural
Louisiana. Ran my own consulting business for seventeen of those years
right out of the spare bedroom. I miss it since I retired completely in
2007.

I guess gardening keeps you young to a certain extent. Someone will
probably find me slumped over my shovel one day with a smile on my face
and the sun shining on me.