I will start with space because this is a deciding factor on the lighting issue. Let me explain my situation to you first. I live in the lower half of Canada, while not entirely without light in the winter, I know that I am not going to get enough light to my seed trays to provide them with the nourishment they need without moving my seed trays all around the house many times a day to a different window. I am instead going to keep my seedlings to be in the cellar. There are two reasons for this, one is that I know that they will not be disturbed down there, and secondly I have the room to grow them there without having to worry about, well the next part.

The next part is the lighting. In a perfect world the sun would be on 18 hours a day beaming all those beautiful rays directly at my seedlings without any shadows or having to worry about cloudy days, or having to worry about the earth constantly rotating around the sun. Instead I am going to have to rig up a lighting situation where I can have a light on for 18 hours a day and not disturb everybody in the house.

The other thing about my cellar is that it is generally heated by the heat in my house, it is a bit cooler down there, but not enough to hinder the growth of the seedlings. I will have to add a bit of warmth directly to the seedlings but this is surprisingly easy, and fairly affordable. So, the solution to the lighting, heating, space issue? My friends call it my “Grow Op”. It will cost less $30, take up less than 4 square feet of floor space and allow you to start over one hundred seedlings. Sound good? Just wait for the coming articles.

– Jay

P.S. Warn your neighbors about that light that is on in the basement before hand. I don’t think my neighbors believe me even after giving them some of the ‘crop’ from last year!!!