I am taking a gardening class taught by Gordon Wells. On Friday he told us he would be starting the seeds for his spring garden this past weekend. I have never planted a spring garden, so I was excited to learn it is already time to get started.
Saturday I bought the Jiffy 72-pack of peat pellets at Wal-Mart for $6, as well as some seeds of cold-weather plants. Today I mapped out on paper two 4'x8' garden boxes that will grow several types of lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, Brussels sprouts, peas, carrots and beets. These crops should do fine if they meet a freeze, and they are most tasty when grown in cool weather. I selected varieties with shorter maturing times so they will be ready to harvest by early June.
Two of my children helped me expand the pellets--they thought it was magical--and then we planted seeds. The peas I will plant directly into the soil, but the other plants are better to start indoors so the seeds don't rot in the cool, wet soil of spring. When my seedlings are ready in three weeks, I'll harden them off and plant them outdoors.
Brother Wells advised starting seeds indoors so they can be transplanted in mid-March. He said to put the seed-start box in a place where it will get plenty of sunlight so the seedlings don't get "leggy" and topple themselves over when the leaves grow. 
I wanted a place where small children would leave the box alone, but it would still get light all day. I thought about every window in my house and finally arrived at the perfect place: my skylights! The playroom has an angled ceiling with three south-facing skylights. The tray for the pellets was exactly long enough to set it in the skylight box easily and in a position where it holds its own weight. I jammed two wooden dowels in the frame of the skylight to catch the box just in case it falls. When I checked this afternoon to make sure the plastic lid was still in place, the temperature in the skylight was noticeably warmer on my skin than the playroom. I am so happy to find these three miniature "greenhouses" that are out of reach for my kids but at arm's length for me.
I know not many of you could copy my solution, but I suggest thinking about all your options, not just your obvious ones, if you want to get light to start your garden early.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Spring is in the...Skylight
Posted by Mary at 9:58 PM
Labels: Vegetables
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3 comments:
A miniature greenhouse? That surely is a good way to grow plants! And whoever said you cannot use your skylight to grow plants? The space looks ideal for the box, but be sure to check the skylight after. The weight of the box might cause some cracks on the glass.
The thing you did for that box was very innovative! I was wondering how big that playroom is. How's it now? And did the skylight foundation managed to support that box for long run? Please keep me informed because I'm planning to build my kids a playroom too– with a skylight. :- )
Hi Mariam,
I'm glad you found this blog. I need to post to it more often. Last year I was so busy working in the garden that I never sat down to write about it!
The skylight did work fine for my seed-starting tray. I didn't let the plants get very big before transferring them outside. Plus, it was an old-school skylight. The tray actually sat on wooden dowels up in the hole of the skylight and underneath the glass.
The playroom was 14 ft. by 8 ft. with an open end that was a loft to the front room below. The playroom was accessible from a staircase on the other end of the house. I say was because we turned it into a bedroom last fall. We took out the wall with the shelf, shown in the photo, and made a large dormer window. It's large enough to fit a queen-size bed and two bookcases.
The skylights were nice to have, but we needed an escape window when we remodeled the room for a bedroom. One of my favorite things about the skylights was that the playroom was plenty bright enough during the days when kids used it. It was fun to watch snow fall from above. It's hard to see, but I had painted the playroom a light blue with sponged-in clouds and a rainbow arching over the loft end. We stuck tiny glow-in-the dark stars all over the ceiling so that when kids had sleepovers in there, they would have a starry sky over them at night. It was magical. Sadly, my children have grown, and we needed more space for our up-and-coming teenagers.
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