Posted by maco on 2015-03-02 02:54:13 UTC and edited at 2015-03-02 02:56:04 UTC

Today I went down to my local garden center, having measured the little closet that houses my sump pump, to get seed-starting supplies. I got two "Jump Start" T5 lighting rigs. I also picked up a Jump Start heat mat for seedlings to add to the one I already had. Add some trays and one new plastic dome and one older one, and all I've got left to do is wait for the coir seed starter to arrive.

Why coir seed starter? Peat isn't sustainable in the volumes it's used. It's basically a fossil fuel. Peat bogs grow at a rate of ~1mm/yr, and gardeners use a LOT more than that. Wetland habitat destruction! So I'm avoiding purchasing any peat going forward, though I do have some peat-based seed starting medium from before I learned how bad it was environmentally.