May Gardening Update


By early May we can have warm sunny days, but nights are still too cold and I am not going to to move any plants outside yet. Our average last frost date here is May 20th and my property is usually colder than locations just a few miles away. I will need to add my electric space heater in my greenhouse before moving any plants out there.

 

My home weather station is still showing some overnight low temperatures below freezing. My indoor seedling racks are just about bursting at the seams, so moving out to the greenhouse will need to happen pretty soon.

 

I believe the Number 1 cause for spindly weak seedlings is not enough light. I was using 4 florescent - T8 or T5 bulbs in shop fixtures over each shelf and have now switched to all LED Grow Lights to save on power and they are on for 16 hours each day. I hang my grow lights on chains so I can keep the fixtures very low and raise them as my plants grow. Follow along to monitor my growing season, here in Wasilla, Alaska.