building success
At the end of Saturday spending was a little over $160 with handles and a thermometer left to buy. The prospects of a profit this year are a bit bleak however the result is fantastic. I am very happy with the box. I hope to post pictures soon.

I am still concerned about the amount of light I am going to be able to get into the box. My plan is to do the first run of tomatoes in the current state of the box and then in 5 weeks at the usual start of the tomatoe seeding seaon I will replace the boards on the front with some more plexiglass.

First Cash
Well the first money for this project has left. One trip to Home Depot and $106.00 later I have found myself at home and of course have forgotten a couple of things. There are real advantages to living one mile from Home Depot. I plan to closely track money on this project but not time. That way it will be easier to declare success if we do wind up selling some plants. I meant to say when. In Korean they actually use the same word for if and when. It was a little unnerving the first time I was in church and heard a bishop refer to something we would do "if" the meeting ended.

I am excited about my design for the cold box. It turns out this is a great time of year to get space heaters. A 1500 watt ceramic heater was on sale for $10. I bought 4 just in case my cold frame design is successful.

The fundemental concept of my idea is that I will stack two boxes of 1x12"'s The top box will have a wire rack to hold the plants and the bottom box will have a heater in it to warm the plants from below. Oh yeah those $10 heaters have thermostat control. I am going to buy a wireless thermometer to determine how good the regulation on them is. I expect it to be fine for what I need.

I am going to use acrilic roofing for the lid it seems to offer the best strength for the money. I can get enough plastic for the lid for $10 this way. The flat stuff 1/4 inch for the same ammount would cost $33.

I am counting on the plant's growth corresponding to a decreased need of heat such that once the plants are over a foot tall I will remove the heater and put them in a 2 foot cold frame.

I am concerned about light in the 2 ft. cold frame design. If it turns out to be a problem I'll cut some holes in the side and put some acrylic on it.

I was inspired by Cliff Warrens pumpkin blog I have decided to start one with the tomatoe project. The origins of the project are rather simple and reflective of the state of my mind as of late.

I have been very interested in aquiring farm land and was looking for information regarding the business side of farming. I ran into a sponsored link about how to make money with a back yard nusery. Being short farm land this sounded very intriquing http://www.freeplants.com. It turns out the system they sell costs between $200 and $450 depending on how much of it you buy however I read enough to get the idea that starts do indeed sell for more than seeds.

Even last year I was thinking that tomatoe starts might be a way for the boys to earn some spending money as they grew up. Reading the freeplants web page and hearing Lexie talk about a bike for Ty I decided this was the year to try. Ty was quick to agree that he needed a bike and even sounds intersted in the project.

Dallin was an enthusiastic gardener and I expect great things from his participation in the project.

The target income for the project is $100. Somehow I have come to the number of 500 plants in route to that number. It is probably to many however I am stuck with the number and feel like going forward with it.

I started with the idea of doing all early girl tomatoes however I am conceding to the idea that a variety might better serve my goals.

Tommorow is a Thesis day meaning I need to actually start my thesis however I do plan to get a start into the project.

I have space in the red shed in the back yard I am planning to convert into a green house. I am planning to line the shelves all around with plastic and possibly add some insulation. I will then add lights and a thermostatically controled heat source.

I have heard larger plants do not do well with artificial light so I am a little concerned about the viability of the plan and it may change soon.

An alternate plan would be small cold frame type structures which would be very good for light however I am concerned about heat. I would like to have very large healthy plants by the start of the conventional growing season which is the end of May first of June here.