Garden Thread 2023!

[Dan Freeman]

I can see an issue with try to continuously start new plant in this setup as far as nutrient levels go. I’m hoping I can make a starting tub with 1/2 strength and keep them there long enough. My tower garden has a 25 gallon reservoir so I’m hoping I can set that up and use one reservoir for all the plants. Will keep you posted.

I had a 17-gallon reservoir for about 18 plants from seedlings to the pick-of-the-week. Once they start to grow, they use up a lot of water. I also learned not to start all the seeds at once. I did that the first time without thinking, and I was inundated with lettuce. After that, I would start 3-4 seeds per week and harvest 3-4 full heads per week. It was 6 weeks from planting to harvesting. I would move the pots along the rails as they grew since I spaced out the holes from closer together to further apart to accommodate different size plants.



I never could get spinach to grow worth a darn. I have read it is hard to grow spinach hydroponically. The plant likes the water, but the seed doesn't. If I remember correctly, folks who had success with spinach started them in wet paper towel and transplanted them. Don't hold me to that, but I know they were hard to start from seed directly.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@EbS-P , good luck with your indoor greens starting. It’s fun to have stuff growing this time of year.

@Dan Freeman, you indoor lettuce from past years looks excellent. I like your staggered system.

Lettuce is one of the only food crops that survived my sudden hard freezes before Christmas (under frost cloth). I had to water it today (after ignoring it for a time this week). I was pleased with how it was looking. I do have a few leeks that survived as well.


The only other green left in my garden is Austrian Winter Peas and Crimson Clover as cover crops. They got hit a bit by the cold, and they were looking extra scraggly today, I thought, but they’re still alive and growing.

The jury is still out on the citrus. It was protected with frost cloth but didn’t have a heat source, and it looks pretty bad. It’s possible that just the leaves died and the branches remain alive, though, so I’m just leaving it and watching and waiting. The first picture is a Meyer Lemon. The second is our somewhat cold-burned but living bay tree, the dead lemongrass, and a view of the ginger that’s alive inside through the the window.

 

[Dan Freeman]

@EbS-P , good luck with your indoor greens starting. It’s fun to have stuff growing this time of year.

@Dan Freeman, you indoor lettuce from past years looks excellent. I like your staggered system.

Lettuce is one of the only food crops that survived my sudden hard freezes before Christmas (under frost cloth). I had to water it today (after ignoring it for a time this week). I was pleased with how it was looking. I do have a few leeks that survived as well.
View attachment 307731View attachment 307732

The only other green left in my garden is Austrian Winter Peas and Crimson Clover as cover crops. They got hit a bit by the cold, and they were looking extra scraggly today, I thought, but they’re still alive and growing. View attachment 307730

The jury is still out on the citrus. It was protected with frost cloth but didn’t have a heat source, and it looks pretty bad. It’s possible that just the leaves died and the branches remain alive, though, so I’m just leaving it and watching and waiting. The first picture is a Meyer Lemon. The second is our somewhat cold-burned but living bay tree, the dead lemongrass, and a view of the ginger that’s alive inside through the the window.

View attachment 307733View attachment 307734

Sorry you took such a hit, DG. The annuals are easily replanted, but the citrus takes much longer if you have to replant. I hope it makes it. Please keep us informed.

 

[RomanW]

What is that area, about 40 x 40? That's a decent size.

Yeah about that I think. Maybe 50x50?

Have you picked a greenhouse, yet? Are you looking to use it 3 seasons or 4 seasons? I'm guessing you are growing zone 4a? A 4-season greenhouse is going to be very expensive, and if you try to grow 4 seasons in a 3-season greenhouse, you'll spend an arm and a leg on insulation and heat. Be careful buying a greenhouse. Many advertise as 4 seasons when they are only 3 seasons once you get into colder zones. I learned that the hard way with my greenhouse.

Not yet, but it will probably be a 3 season. I'm hoping to grow enough in the monoculture plot to freeze for the winter, and use the green house to extend the season on the plants that need the time. We have a fairly short growing season here, and last year my corn and squash had a rough start. Basically all my fruit had a rough start, and just as they were getting going the deer ate all the branches and shoots off LOL.

It got pretty dry here last summer and hot, so I'm hoping that pond can be a water source for a lot of the plants,try and keep the ground moist. Just need to strategically plant trees around it to shade it so it doesn't evaporate so fast... The being said, do I want to line it? Or just let'er fill and soak into the ground as needed?

 

[Dan Freeman]

3 seasons. Good. You won't have to remortgage your house to buy it.

On the pond, depends on what you want it to do. I guess you could not line it and just let the water soak into the ground, but do you have any idea how fast the water will soak into the ground, and will it soak into the ground evenly or find a path of least resistance and tunnel off in one direction?

How will you fill it? If you get enough rain to fill it, it would seem to me you don't need to have it to moisten the ground.

If you want it as a garden feature for water plants and wildlife, it would be best to line it unless the ground is solid clay and can hold water.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Out of curiosity, if you built the pond for wildlife, why would you put it in a good forest that you fenced off? It seems like you’re drawing wildlife to an area you want to keep them out of.

 

[Dan Freeman]

OOPS! Good point. I didn't mean to confuse...

I should have specified. The pond is to attract things like:
dragonflies, ground beetles, snakes, frogs, turtles, birds, etc. While they can and will eat some beneficial visitors, they will eliminate more of the nuisance visitors like mosquitos, biting flies, slugs, cutworms, caterpillars, etc.

I also want to grow edible plants in the pond, and I also wanted it as a tranquil area in the food forest.

I would love to have other 4-legged animals visiting the pond like the bears, deer, raccoons, fox, etc., but they have to be kept out to protect the fruit and vegetables. Thats what the physical and electric fences are for.

 

[begreen]

Dan, I like your approach to indoor plantings. It is the same that I use for outdoor greens planting. I usually plant lettuce in batches at about 1 month intervals. This provides us with a continual supply of salad greens. Is your hydroponic trough homemade? I like the idea of different spacings. The equally spaced hole on an aerogarden or on our iDoo are not that practical unless growing mini-greens.

DG, sorry about the citrus hit. I hope you get some recovery. We just picked out first Bearss Lime. It was excellent. I am so happy to have them added to our citrus crop. They are staying in the greenhouse for now although the last week was warm. Colder weather is coming this week. Our lettuce outdoors is waking up. It survived the spell in the 20s. Our indoor lettuce is due for another big harvest on Monday.

 

[clancey]

Found this very simple one on the net... and actually enjoyed reading about other ways of doing this water garden for your plants..So I thought I would would share for maybe "beginners" or something. clancey

How to Build a Hydroponic Garden (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Hydroponics is a gardening system where you grow plants in a soilless solution, usually water. A hydroponic garden has a 30-50 percent faster growth rate and a larger yield than a soil garden. Hydroponic gardens also have fewer issues with...

www.wikihow.com

 

[Dan Freeman]

Dan, I like your approach to indoor plantings. It is the same that I use for outdoor greens planting. I usually plant lettuce in batches at about 1 month intervals. This provides us with a continual supply of salad greens. Is your hydroponic trough homemade? I like the idea of different spacings. The equally spaced hole on an aerogarden or on our iDoo are not that practical unless growing mini-greens.

DG, sorry about the citrus hit. I hope you get some recovery. We just picked out first Bearss Lime. It was excellent. I am so happy to have them added to our citrus crop. They are staying in the greenhouse for now although the last week was warm. Colder weather is coming this week. Our lettuce outdoors is waking up. It survived the spell in the 20s. Our indoor lettuce is due for another big harvest on Monday.

I built my 2-rail system based on the instructions on this wesite: https://simplegreenshydroponics.com/posts/rail-system/overview

Here's a video on his system. He is making a 4 rail unit here:

 

[Dan Freeman]

Found this very simple one on the net... and actually enjoyed reading about other ways of doing this water garden for your plants..So I thought I would would share for maybe "beginners" or something. clancey

How to Build a Hydroponic Garden (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Hydroponics is a gardening system where you grow plants in a soilless solution, usually water. A hydroponic garden has a 30-50 percent faster growth rate and a larger yield than a soil garden. Hydroponic gardens also have fewer issues with...

www.wikihow.com

Nice simply set up for a beginner, clancey. Thanks.

Did you know there are 6 types of hydroponics? Each method below are links to

6 Types of Hydroponic Systems Explained​

6 Types of Hydroponic Systems Explained - Sensorex

Hydroponics is an increasingly popular method of growing plants that uses a nutrient-rich solution with a water base, which means that soil isn't used at

sensorex.com

1. Wick System
2. Water Culture
3. Ebb and Flow
4. Drip
5. N.F.T. (Nutrient Film Technology)
6. Aeroponic systems

I find all of them fascinating for growing as I was born when you only planted in the ground. You also spaded up the soil every Spring and buried leaves every Fall. You didn't use fertilizers or "nutrients". That's what the leaves were for. The most you might do is throw a few handfuls of lime on the garden in the Spring to bring the pH down a bit. My, has the "science" of gardening changed both in and outdoors, both in soil and water. It's mind boggling. However, all the science means nothing if you are not a student of the "art" of gardening, too.

 

[begreen]

Today was indoor lettuce harvest day. It sure is nice to do this in January. The lettuce is beautiful.
We are seeing some fungus gnats, but so far they have not gotten out of control. Keeping an eye on them.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today was indoor lettuce harvest day. It sure is nice to do this in January. The lettuce is beautiful.
We are seeing some fungus gnats, but so far they have not gotten out of control. Keeping an eye on them.
View attachment 307897

Nice harvest!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@begreen, you’re making me want a salad. All those different varieties look great!

Were these grown in your hydroponic system, in soil under lights, or both?

 

[begreen]

@begreen, you’re making me want a salad. All those different varieties look great!

Were these grown in your hydroponic system, in soil under lights, or both?

The majority was grown in potting soil under the lights. Maybe 1/6th came from the iDoo.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I tore out half of my green onions this evening and planted cilantro and parsley.

The tomatoes aren’t as big of a hit as I thought they’d be. They’re growing and producing, it’s just they aren’t being eaten/cooked. If I grow them next year, I’ll decrease the number of them.

It’s interesting adapting to the aerogardens. I made lots of assumptions, and they aren’t standing up. The aerogardens are doing fine, it’s our useage that I didn’t expect!

 

[begreen]

It’s interesting adapting to the aerogardens. I made lots of assumptions, and they aren’t standing up. The aerogardens are doing fine, it’s our useage that I didn’t expect!

Agreed. My first planting was really overcrowded. The number of holes is less important than the spacing between them. Another factor is that one can not stake a drooping plant. This led to some odd lettuce hanging off the side for me.
The second planting has gone better. The next planting will probably be a bunch of starts for outdoor planting.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The starts was what I started the aerogarden with and I like it the best. It can really pump out plantlets quickly.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I agree that what I love the most about my Aerogardens is the ability to get good germination and a strong start on plants I plan to transplant. Right now they’re not being used that way, but it won’t be long since it’s getting to be the season for starting indoors down here.

For the past couple of days we’ve been able to enjoy the fresh lettuce from my garden. It’s still all baby leaves right now, but I just go out and cut a bunch with scissors. My patch is so large that it’s hard to tell I’ve even cut any, which is nice.

I’ve been able to add pea shoots, some onion tops from a couple of volunteer onions in the lettuce bed, and I still have cherry tomatoes in the pantry, so it has been nice to have a good salad from homegrown produce in January.

It hasn’t felt like January very much, though. We’ve had such warm temperatures that I noticed the other day that my peach tree is starting to leaf out and bloom. I wish it weren’t happening so early.

 

[Stove Cricket]

Totally random interjection, another very interesting thread on this forum.

…Moon Shadow conjures a memory from the forgotten book of Gilbert White’s letters of natural history- he wrote a snipit about a shadow from the light of Jupiter on a moonless night (…1815 or so, no electric lights). But Jupiter Shadow just doesn’t sound as good as Moon Shadow, lol.

 

[EbS-P]

We germinated way too many seeds in paper towels. The paper was a mistake. Timing had to be perfect and for all the different plants we timed the spinach well but the turnips were 2-3” long. And tomatoes not even a root bud. So lesson is just seed into mineral wool. I have spinach kale chard lettuce turnips and tomatoes. I think.

 

[begreen]

I always germinate individually, never mixed. As noted, different seeds have different sprouting times.

 

[begreen]

Winter tomatoes, finally! Good timing. We have only about 8 early girls left.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Winter tomatoes, finally! Good timing. We have only about 8 early girls left.

View attachment 308039

If you haven't done so, and you can, give them a good dose of fertilizer so they can start growing and setting their next round of buds.

I just picked a few from ours today. They never make it to a meal. I like to eat them as I pass the little bowl in the kitchen during the day!

 

[EbS-P]

Should be full in a week or two.