Revising the Long Beds (Day 3) and Misc. Sunday Work

Bleary weather returned today, blech.  But we started off our Sunday the best way we know how... by going to an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast!  Our local (just down the road on the way into town) Fire Department was having one as a fundraiser, with the pancakes made by Chris Cakes (he throws them to/at you).  Also ran into our ex-next door neighbors.  He's a volunteer firefighter there and they're awesome folks.

While we ate, we game-planned an idea Leah had come up with regarding a potential alteration to the long bed plan... namely that of opening an aisle down the middle of the rows, in effect making 8 rows instead of 4.  We discussed the addition of some sort of arched trellis or pergola over the gap between rows to create a nice focus for the garden area and better access to the beds.  We agreed that this was a good idea.

Wanting to keep on-schedule with our garden this year (which might actually be possible without the greenhouse construction hanging over our heads), we also started our first seeds indoors today.

We seeded cabbage, collards and leeks, and set them up under some grow lights in the garage where temperatures will hopefully be in the correct range for them to germinate.

I went out and made quick work of making our aisle down the middle of our long beds.

Also did some more weather sealing in the greenhouse... filling more gaps with Great Stuff and sealing the areas where the polycarbonate panels meet our windowsills with silicone caulk.  Due to the extreme angle produced by the sill and panel, I had to modify each caulk tube by taping a piece of tubing to extend the nozzle.  This worked like a charm to get the caulk where it needed to go, but unfortunately it meant I couldn't use my Ryobi 18v Power Caulker (one of the best tools ever... I'll do a post one day on how awesome it is) and now my wrists are busted.  But my greenhouse is more airtight than it used to be!

Leah and I also discussed adding a visual feature in the raised bed along the greenhouse where our new aisle ends.  We both think this could be really awesome.  I've done a little photoshopping below to illustrate a few examples of how awesome this could be, exactly.  My favorite is the last one, for obvious reasons.