In article ,
"brooklyn1" wrote:

"BuckK" wrote in message
...
Greetings,
I started a small vegatable garden two years ago. I had been buying
plants that someone else had started and are ready to be transplanted,
but it's pretty expensive. This year I'd like to start my plants from
seeds. The temperature here in the northeast is still below freezing
at night. The only space I have avaiable is my basement. Is there
any good online info about lighting?
Basically, you need grow lights, a hot pad, potting soil, a plastic
germination tray, with its' six-pack inserts (I use the 72 plant
inserts, 6 X 12), and the transparent top. Tray inserts and top will
come to about $10.


If you have basement windows (most do) set up a shelf at each. Then add
flourescent grow light lamps (there are various brands). Most basements are
warm enough at the upper reaches where the windows are typically located...
some people use some small incandescent bulbs for extra warmth if needed.

But why bother... wait until the outdoor temperatures are more hospitable
(after the danger of frost has passed) and sow seeds directly in the
ground... transplanting small seedlings often sends them into shock and
they'll probably never fully recover, substantially reducing crops produced
if any.
Can you give a cite for this, or is it just your anecdotal opinion?

I live in the north east, I've tried every early sowing method there is,
ultimately none other than professional greenhouses is more beneficial than
direct sowing in the ground. For the number of plants I want in my home
garden I buy as many of the mature nursery plants as I can, costs less than
buying packets of seed I'll never use up and all the potting stuff, and of
course time and labor.

Because of the cost and inconvenience, I'm surprised that brooklyn1
doesn't have it delivered, and have a gardener stick it in a hole, so
that she can admire it from her study. That is to say, there is more to
gardening than just a decorative effect. But I'll leave the explanation
of that to someone more facile with words than myself.

What wondrous life in this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons, as I pass,
Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

Meanwhile the mind from pleasure less
Withdraws into its happiness;
The mind, that ocean where each kind
Does straight its own resemblance find;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other worlds, and other seas;
Annihilating all that 's made
To a green thought in a green shade.

Here at the fountain's sliding foot,
Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,
Casting the body's vest aside,
My soul into the boughs doth glide;
There, like a bird, it sits and sings,
Then whets and preens its silver wings,
And, till prepared for longer flight,
Waves in its plumes the varied light.

- Andrew Marvell (1621 -1678)

Where I live, I can get a pack of seeds for the same price as one plant.
If you are only going to have one plant, seeds don't make much sense,
unless it is a plant that local nurseries don't stock.

After all we are talking vegetables here. Something to delight the
senses.
--

- Billy
"For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is
now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of
conception until death." - Rachel Carson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI29wVQN8Go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvCCc4g9wM8&NR=1