Focusing on gardening and some other fun indoor projects

It's late summer time, and that means that it's time to start thinking about planting your seeds for your cooler (I say cooler because we don't have a true cool season here in zone 9a) weather veggies, herbs and flowers if you're starting them indoor like I am.
I'm starting mine indoor for a few different reasons:

• It's much too hot outside right now, but I'd like to have as long as possible to harvest my cool season veggies and herbs. Starting them inside gives them 4-8 weeks of root and vegetative growth without exposure to the heat. As soon as it cools off outside they can be transplanted outdoors.
• They're much easier to keep an eye on inside of my apartment; near either a window or strong artificial light of course. I usually plant two trays of starts and place one near a window with a lot of sun. The other I usually place underneath of my 30 gallon fish tank's storage area; where I have two large, bright CF-L sockets rigged to the underside of the tank stand frame.
• This method takes up less room; which is critical in my living space. I live in an upstairs apartment, so my garden space consists of a 10x4 space on my back patio, and the left side of my front steps; of which there are 17.

So this year I'm going to attempt to grow the following from seed:

• Heirlooms: cabbage, European Mesclun Salad mix, Extra Dwarf Pak Choy and Romanesco Broccoli
• Pitcher plants, Marigolds, Winter Squash, Stevia, Dwarf Sweet Peas, Spicy Globe Basil (to add to my existing basil collection), Nicotiana Rustica (a native tobacco), India Mustard, Beets, Carrots, and four types of tree; a Sweet Gum, a Silk Tree, an ornamental Plum and a Golden Rain. My one little oak tree is lonely.

This time of the year is also the hottest here in Redding Ca; which means that it's the right time to dig into some of my more indoor friendly hobbies like micro macrame and aquascaping. While I've been moving/playing with my outdoor container garden; my Cichlids have been playing with all of their plants as well. My mated Jack Dempsey pair have been busy excavating plants, sand and gravel so that they can place their rock slab just-so for another round of breeding. The plants of course are now all crammed into the corner with the stone, in order to "hide" it from me. Silly fish. Very shy fish actually. Beautiful though. My Tiger Oscar Cichlid lost his mate early in 2013 to an infection she got from him splitting her fins during their mating ritual; but he seems to be recovering from it well. He still builds an epic nest with his plants once every few months in hopes that a female will eventually come.
The guppies that I'm breeding are a little better behaved; but probably only because they're too tiny to move their decor. Still, I'm bored with the decorations that are in their tank now. The more time that I spend inside, the more I change their plants and other decor; I can't stand looking at the same setup for more than a few months; there's always something new I'm dying to try.
As for macrame and scrap-booking...I still have to dig out all of my jewelry making and scrapping supplies and see what I'm working with. I'm probably going to have to hit my local craft store to pick up more findings before I can really get started on anything; I'm pretty sure I used most of them during my last micro-macrame binge :) I'm also low on paper stock and in need of some new stencils and stamps. I believe for my first indoor project I'll make a simple bracelet or two to get my muscle memory for knot-tying back.
As I start each project, I'll be sure to post photos!
Thanks for reading, and welcome to my blog!