fixes

The coldframe house gets too hot when temperatures rise in the middle of the day. Nice and steamy, but threatening to wilt some plants. I lost my first tomato seedling because I forgot to open the door soon enough one day. Brought that particular tray back inside to germinate the rest of them (now have five more tomato seedlings- a late start again, I know). I had been propping the door open with a large pot, but it would bang around in the wind and a hole got punched in the plastic (easy fix with tape).

I folded a paper clip to make a hook and eye, that holds the door open just a gap. So far it's working great.

Finally found a better way to get vermicompost out of the worm bin. Without waiting weeks for the worms to migrate (that takes a long time no matter how encouraged they are by food sources) or spending long, tedious hours handpicking worms from piles. I made a sieve. Cut the bottom out of a deep plastic plant tray, punched holes in it and reattached with duct tape. Wanted to test it the idea before I go out and buy a sieve of the right size. Trial and error to figure out what size holes would let enough compost through but keep out all the unprocessed bedding and most of the worms.

I was able to sift through the entire bin in just a few hours, and got almost half a five-gallon bucket of very nice, fine compost. Didn't have to prep an entire new bin, either, as the worms went into it with a lot of bedding still intact. It probably does stress the worms being shaken around in the sieve, but they're the variety that can withstand a bit of disturbance, and this is only going to occur once every few months...

On my fish tank, I finally made the wooden block "feet" for the light strip secure with screws.

And colored them black. I thought I would have to attach a strip of something to hug the lip of the tank on the outside edge and hold it in place, but it's not really necessary. If I shift the light forward a bit, the blocks wedge on either side of the lid hinge and make it secure enough there's no shift side-to-side.