"JB" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:15:13 -0400, "Harold Walker"
wrote:

Do you grow in a greenhouse?....might sound like a stupid question but
when
I had a greenhouse five years ago I used to sow my seeds in the
October/November time frame so that I could be picking around
Feb./March.....because the daylight hours were limited to nine hours per
day in mid winter used a growlight prior to dawn and after dusk to
'lenghten
the day'......have just sown some seeds for a late crop to start picking
around October and into the winter months.....will be grown outdoors in
pots
and then into the cellar in September under lights.....H

Did you find that cost effective? I tried growing under artificial
lights but decided that the cost of the kit an electricity didn't
justify the extra early and late crops

JB
The bottom line is that....cost effective absolutely not....gardening is my
main retirement hobby so I do not look at the cost...once the lights are
isntalled tho the cost is relatively small...(a 125 watt set up costs
around 70 pounds)....I use a 125 watt compact fluerescent grow light and
keep it on about 16 hours per day.....it works out at about five pounds per
month....for me that is an inexpensive expense for the pleasure I get from
growing them....incidentally I do not eat tomatoes and wifey eats perhaps a
couple or so per week....some years ago when dad visited me over
here.(USA.) I grew some toms. just as a show thing to "impress" dad....had
them growing over the garage roof and was giving toms away daily....for
those toms I built a 14 feet long box about 14 inches high and the same
width and filled it with real good growing stuff.....a huge crop with a
ladder required to pick the toms off the roof...for the fun of it
calculated the cost of the tomatoes....at that time I figured each tomato
cost about 60p each and that was some 30 years ago so at todays prices
would be at least 1pound fifty each....was it worth it....you can bet your
sweet 'whatever' on that ...certainly was from the pleasure....I wonder how
many grow things that are not cost effective...perhaps a better one is....I
wonder how many grow things that ARE cost effective.......H