"Case O' Beer Seed Tray" Update!

Tah Da!! Look what I did??? Not bad for a novice eh?

It's been exactly 7 days since I started my beer box seeds tray. For the first few days absolutely nothing happened. I couldn't understand what was going wrong. Then I read a website about starting seedlings and the penny finally dropped. It has to be warmer inside the house than outside for the seedlings to think its spring. Duh! To save money we've been keeping the heat just above cryogenic and well, my little seeds just weren't having it. So how did I get around this little dilemma? Warmed those babies up they way I was warming myself. A hot water bottle.

I must have refilled it 5 times a day for 4 days and placed it under the box. I noticed the broccoli and beets popped up to about an inch over night and nothing was happening with the beans and corn. So I moved the bottle over and kept the plastic wrap over those to keep the moisture and heat in. Worked a charm. Am I clever or what?

You're supposed to use a "warming pad" under them but I just can't swing the cost right now so I improvised. The pro of using a water bottle is the cost, the con is always having to refill it. I left it alone at night and the seedlings didn't seem to mind. They need to get used to cold nights anyway. Now that they're all up I've removed the heat to see how they do. If they stay stagnant for too long I'll put the heat back.

Here are some close ups of their progress.



Gorgeous borlotto beans...



...see the corn and beets too?



Isn't broccoli pretty?



It's still too soon for the box to be that impressive so I'll wait a little while longer (just before repotting) and take a pic again.