Too far from the light

" She considereth a field and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Prov. 31:16

The past week has been full of rain, which is great for the plants already in our garden, but keeps us from doing any more work with the soil. There was a sunny afternoon that lasted long enough for me to plant some beets, however. They should come up some time after Palm Sunday.

Meanwhile...our basement is becoming a mini greenhouse:

Take a good look at this picture. See how much my marigolds have changed since the "Growin' Gardens" picture (above) was taken? I was a little worried about them, because they were becoming very thin and scraggly, but then I read that having seedlings too far from their light source causes them to stretch out instead of becoming nice and bushy. Three or four days ago I put them under a fluorescent light, and you can see that their stems have darkened up and become slightly thicker. I can't wait 'til they start looking like marigolds!

Here is what we rigged up, to put the seedlings close to their light source. We turn the light on when we wake in the morning, and turn it off at night to let the plants "sleep." The flat on the right is my marigolds, and the pots on the left contain tomato seedlings. ...And yes, the trays are sitting on toolboxes. Call it creativity.