Ok, so my last post was a big plug for Jung's greenhouse. Today is a big plug for Menards.
I haven't been in Menards (like a huge hardware store) in at least a year and never really for gardening stuff. This store has the best prices, hands down. I checked everywhere, and they are somewhat local. So, even though all the crap is made in China, at least it's a semi-local store…and I really don't know where I could find food-safe buckets made in the US, do you?
So, I bought about 25 white food safe buckets. It's good to have white so they don't attract the sun as much. Soil heating is one of the biggest problems faced by container gardeners apparently. That and having to water every day. I also bought 10 stainless steel buckets. They are very pretty and I was going to paint with chalkboard paint on them. I decided to take them back as they were double the price of the white plastic buckets and half the size. I don't like involving plastics in growing food, but until I find a better way (maybe make my own clay seed trays) I don't know what else to do. Whenever I peek in my greenhouses, the smell of plastic off-casting is really overwhelming. This has to have an affect on the carbon dioxide the plants are taking in.
I also bought 3 30" long planters for the deck to grow herbs, spinach and lettuce. These were a great deal at $14 each for a sturdy steel frame and cocobed liners.
I planted a more tomatoes, marigolds, parsley, bak choi, more spinach, and a new set of seeds for the perrenial spinach. I also put in some red cabbage seeds where the first tray looks like the seedlings died. We had a cold snap last week and a lot of seedlings in the outdoor greenhouse didn't make it. Live and learn; don't plant too many seeds at a time. You never know when the ideal time to start them will be. Make up your soil blocks and do maybe 5 seeds (one row) a day for a week to experiment with when the best time to plant for that year may be.
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