-Marcelle St.Germain
Step by Step, Big Ugly

The snow covers the greenhouse and the playground at Big Ugly Community Center. There is hardly room to park a car or two without shoveling quite a bit of snow. The cold air makes for a quick entry and exit. But we dream on about the coming of spring and the planting of gardens anew.

We are slowly arising from our winter slumber and have begun preparing the greenhouse for our growing season. In addition to adding a heating lamp to the greenhouse, we have come up with an inexpensive and low tech way of keeping our tender seedlings protected. Our planting trays are rugged but are an odd shape for any kind of regular cover. So we created our own.

We put together simple 1”X4” boards creating a box around the tray. Small holes were drilled into the top of the wood and 14 gauge wire inserted creating a hoop. A series of hoops along the box will allow us to cover all the seeds with clear plastic so that we can monitor the seedlings as they emerge. The cover also helps to keep humidity high as the seeds germinate. The heating mats have a tendency to dry out the soil too much without a cover.

Additionally, we think that the cover will help protect the tender seedlings in the greenhouse even if temperatures drop on a cold night. We are hoping our new creation also helps us out maneuver the visiting chipmunk who likes to nibble on our plants when the greenhouse gets quiet.

In the coming days we will begin planting our cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, with the hopes that most, if not all, the seeds will have germinated by the time we return from the All Hands Gathering next week. Looking forward to seeing you all there.