Promise Made, Promise Kept

       I can't remember which book this post title is from, but I distinctly remember this phrase appearing several times whenever a promise was fulfilled.  One chilling scene was when one character finally got his vengeance and said it while running his enemy through with a sword.

       There's a long history of broken promises in my life, so I'm very careful not to make one unless I can keep it.  Christians always like the story of God putting a rainbow in the sky as a promise to Noah, but my favorite of God's promises are the ones that pop up in the spring.  Namely, seeds and bulbs.

     Every year, like so many gardeners with the winter blues, I start poring over seed catalogs with starry eyes and dreaming up ideas for spring.  Since my greenhouse is still too cold to keep seedlings in, that usually means crowding a sunny window with seed trays.  Some of those babies make it, but mostly they grow long stems and shrivel mysteriously.  I recently discovered that this is caused by seeds being too far from the light source, and growing "leggy" to reach it.

Big, fat DUH moment.

So I needed a cheap solution.  Something that would allow me to get a light source close to the seed trays.  Some gardeners have grow closets with racks and shelves rigged with lighting, but Mama doesn't have that kind of time or money.  So I found an alternative, one that has worked beautifully and didn't break my wallet.

I found a tutorial on YouTube from another blogger on how to make a grow box with a plastic storage tote, aluminum foil, and a clamp light. (Full list of supplies are below with instructions.)  And oh, baby, was it easy!

It's been about ten days since I planted the seed tray, and within three or four days I saw sprouts.  In
fact, as of this post, most of them are ready to be transplanted.  For that, I bought a bigger tote to hold a bigger pot tray so the babies could still have their light.  Y'all, I'm pumped.  Even more so than usual this time of year, because now it looks like I might actually have a good shot of success at growing things like lettuce and cabbage and cauliflower before the summer heat fries them.

If you've got a few bucks to spare and a half hour to put this thing together, it's highly worth it.  I'd like to give a big thank-you to Gary Pilarchik at The Rusted Garden for posting the how-to and making it idiot-proof for people like me. He's got a very informative, active

 blog worth checking out

And with that, here's the materials list and directions:

Materials
 1 18-20 gallon plastic tote
 duct tape
 aluminum foil  
 1 light bulb, 100 watt CFL (1600 lumens, 5000 kelvin)
1 8.5" clamp light
1 12' household extension cord, if needed

Directions
1) Tear off vertical panels of aluminum foil deep enough to cover the insides of the tote.  Tape them in place with the reflective side facing toward the middle.

2) Cut a square hole in the middle of the lid big enough to fit the cord and top of the clamp light through.  Then, cut a line to the side as long as the clamp itself, and a smaller line perpendicular to that. (The following video demonstrates it in better detail)

 3) Carefully screw in the bulb, plug the light into the extension cord, and turn it on to make sure it's working.  Then turn it off, and insert the clamp light underneath the lid, fitting the clamp onto the small line cut.  

Thanks, Gary!

UPDATE: Since I started this draft, not only have my little seedlings flourished, but I've made a bigger version of this box to fit a flat of 4" pots with transplants in them.  Here's how they turned out!