Let There be Light

After my (excessively) long and (overly) impassioned post extolling the virtues of fluorescent lights for seed starting, I only had one thing left to do: assemble my new lighting system.

Fortunately, this was not a difficult task. Though my failure at a simple mechanical assembly would have made for an interesting blog post, the truth is, it was easy enough for a five-year-old to do.

Right Ben?

Ben?

 

Okay, two five-year-olds, then:

Show us your work, boys! 

(And yes, I know Ben has serious bedhead, but we’re keeping it real...)

After the legs were done-- which only required one screw and two washers each-- attaching the top bar was a simple matter of lowering the square shaped compartments in the top bar down onto the square shaped legs. Voila!

Now, notice the silver rings hanging down from the bar, because they’re going to come into play in a minute. But first I had to snap two metal clips onto the back of the fluorescent bar between the painted arrows like this:

Then I slipped those silver rings hanging from the top bar onto the metal-clip hooks like this:

And I was in business!

The light definitely came out a little cattywampus, but it was easy to straighten by fiddling with the middle lanyard and toggle at the top.

This feature is really the key to the whole contraption, since moving that toggle up and down the central cord is what lets you raise and lower the light. That's how I'll get the flourescent right down on top of my little seedlings once they poke through the soil, and then I can move it up as they grow.

Now, of course, I still needed to turn it on. All I had to do was insert this plug….

…into the socket on one end of the fluorescent rod:

AND.......

(You could start humming the tune of “This Little Light of Mine” for full effect)

TA DA!!!!



There you have it, folks!  Is that exciting or what?!  I mean, who needs cable, right?

Now, although lighting up my carpet was pretty exciting, I had to immediately grab my seed tray so I could really start fantasizing…

YES! 

Come on, now, your heart’s racing a little, right? 

No?

Well wait till you see when I put the top on the right way:

AWESOME! 

Right?

Not doing it for you, huh?

Okay, well, my kids loved it.  But mainly because of that fun switch you can see on the cord in the picture. And also because the boxes that came with the kit made a GREAT HotWheels tunnel.

See, isn’t gardening fun?

Next post: “Seeds, meet my good friend Soil.”