Garden Thread 2023!

[begreen]

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.

They are covered with buds and new flowers. I've had to cut some of the taller ones off already. This may be because I added Tomato-Tone to the potting soil before transplanting. It should be releasing nutrients steadily. There are lots of side shoots with flowers too. This is almost 90 days after planting which is slower than expected, but they are in high gear now. I am surprised at how much water they go through, a quart a day per 10" pot.

 

[begreen]

Should be full in a week or two.

View attachment 308048

Cool. A friend has a system like that. It produces a lot in a very small space.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Should be full in a week or two.

View attachment 308048

What is the brand? (Sorry if you already mentioned it.)

 

[Dan Freeman]

They are covered with buds and new flowers. I've had to cut some of the taller ones off already. This may be because I added Tomato-Tone to the potting soil before transplanting. It should be releasing nutrients steadily. There are lots of side shoots with flowers too. This is almost 90 days after planting which is slower than expected, but they are in high gear now. I am surprised at how much water they go through, a quart a day per 10" pot.

Sounds like they are doing well. Congrats!!

 

[EbS-P]

What is the brand? (Sorry if you already mentioned it.)

Tower garden. It was and one old my sister had. Gifted to her. I have the lights somewhere.

Grow Your Own Fresh Food Year-Round | Tower Garden

Tower Garden is an aeroponic growing system that provides an easy way to grow fresh, healthy produce at home - indoors or out, year-round.

www.towergarden.com

 

[clancey]

Don't know if I like those tower gardens---don't think so and I think that they would be good for home decorations. Stove C. Had to look up who that person was so I thought that I would share with people. clancey

Gilbert White - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[EbS-P]

Lights and nutrients arrived today. Not much research went into choices. But I did want full spectrum lights as we will have them in our living spaces. Call it 300$ all including seeds for what should last at least the next 12 months.

Monios-L T8 LED Grow Light 4FT, 252W(6×42W) Plant Grow Light Strips with Reflectors, Full Spectrum Sunlight Replacement with High PAR for Indoor Plant, 6-Pack https://a.co/d/hWRWZkQ

 

[begreen]

Lights and nutrients arrived today. Not much research went into choices. But I did want full spectrum lights as we will have them in our living spaces. Call it 300$ all including seeds for what should last at least the next 12 months.

Monios-L T8 LED Grow Light 4FT, 252W(6×42W) Plant Grow Light Strips with Reflectors, Full Spectrum Sunlight Replacement with High PAR for Indoor Plant, 6-Pack https://a.co/d/hWRWZkQ

View attachment 308108

Are you doing two different setups, the tower, and the horizontal racks? Does this include the testers for balancing the nutrient solution?

 

[begreen]

I have been considering something like this for our patio. It is not hydroponic. Instead, it combines composting vermiculture and vertical gardening. Has anyone tried this?

Garden Tower 2™, 50-Plant Composting Vertical Garden Planter

The composting 50 plant accessible Garden Tower® 2 is the perfect vertical garden planter for organic balcony, urban, and indoor vegetable and herb gardening. Recently named the “Worlds Most Advanced Vertical Garden Planter”, it features food-grade American made non-toxic components...

www.gardentowerproject.com

 

[Dan Freeman]

I have been considering something like this for our patio. It is not hydroponic. Instead, it combines composting vermiculture and vertical gardening. Has anyone tried this?

Garden Tower 2™, 50-Plant Composting Vertical Garden Planter

The composting 50 plant accessible Garden Tower® 2 is the perfect vertical garden planter for organic balcony, urban, and indoor vegetable and herb gardening. Recently named the “Worlds Most Advanced Vertical Garden Planter”, it features food-grade American made non-toxic components...

www.gardentowerproject.com

I actually thought of getting one of these too for indoor winter growing.

 

[EbS-P]

Are you doing two different setups, the tower, and the horizontal racks? Does this include the testers for balancing the nutrient solution?

Yes two different systems. I may try to use the talker garden reservoir for both, or not. Salad greens and turnips on the tri level with some kale. Tomatoes chard and cucumbers in the tower.

I have a conductivity tester. For what it’s worth. I have not explored nutrient testing much. Dump and start fresh is an option. I can see where individual nutrient testing is a plus and that did figure into my ABC nutrient choice.

 

[begreen]

I actually thought of getting one of these too for indoor winter growing.

I would be concerned about it being a fruit fly magnet indoors. When we open the worm bin top in the summer there are swarms of fruit flies. Maybe that could be managed with traps.

 

[EbS-P]

Doing some electrical usage math. I’m looking at 20$ a month to run lights 12 hours a day. I’m considering a 400-800w off grid solar system to power them. Just solar and no batteries is a no brainer. Need to look at what the ROI of a battery would be and track actual usage.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Yesterday was a big work-outside day here. I wanted to do some top dressing and soil amending in the empty beds before it’s time to plant. Cedar pollen was also just a bit lower, though I still looked like a crazy woman in the garden with a balaclava to keep pollen out of my hair and nose and mouth and motorcycle goggles to protect my eyes (I did have to dispense with those as they started fogging up too much eventually).

I top dressed our asparagus bed with cottonseed meal in between the patches of cover-crop clover and covered that over with shredded leaves since I didn’t want to scratch it in. I did the same with the pot of leeks. I watered it all after taking the pictures. I was surprised to find one spear of asparagus popping up already.



I put cottonseed meal in all of my other empty beds and raked that in. My husband also helped me do a coarse screening of compost from one tumbler (combined from both our tumblers somewhat recently). We put the screened compost in the beds where I have plans to plant the soonest. The pictures are before we had put in the last loads of compost in the big bed and before I watered it all in.



I also found some bare space in my lettuce bed to plant some dill, parsley, and cilantro. Those can take a long time to germinate, and we’re supposed to have cooler weather this week, so it may be a while before I know if any comes up. I just wanted to put it where I know I’ll be watering anyway, and they can make a nice addition to our salads. We’ve continued to enjoy harvesting baby lettuce for lunchtime salads. The last picture shows a closeup of where I harvested a big batch yesterday. Other low spots are from earlier in the week, but they’re growing back nicely.



After I finished all the soil amending and watering, my husband and I made sure that both composters were filled to the brim with shredded leaves (my husband worked like a yeoman last Saturday and Monday to clean parts of our backyard—the leaves get to stay where they land everywhere else on the property but not on the river rock that previous owners used in the back). He mulched many of them outside the yard, so just a tiny portion went into the compost. We mixed in alfalfa pellets and moistened everything. We’ll probably have to add more water, but we hope to have some hot compost in both tumblers soon.

It was a long day and we were exhausted when we finished at dusk (my husband also did branch and shrub trimming along our driveway while I watered), but it was productive. Now we’re praying that we actually get some rain to do a better watering than I can do with my hose. We’re supposed to have a shot on Tuesday.

My next gardening task is to start some seeds for Sugar Snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and beets. The plan is for me to start them inside but move them to the composted beds in February.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Wow! Big day!

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yes! I got tired just reading everything you accomplished.

 

[begreen]

Yesterday was a big work-outside day here. I wanted to do some top dressing and soil amending in the empty beds before it’s time to plant. Cedar pollen was also just a bit lower, though I still looked like a crazy woman in the garden with a balaclava to keep pollen out of my hair and nose and mouth and motorcycle goggles to protect my eyes (I did have to dispense with those as they started fogging up too much eventually).

I top dressed our asparagus bed with cottonseed meal in between the patches of cover-crop clover and covered that over with shredded leaves since I didn’t want to scratch it in. I did the same with the pot of leeks. I watered it all after taking the pictures. I was surprised to find one spear of asparagus popping up already.

I put cottonseed meal in all of my other empty beds and raked that in. My husband also helped me do a coarse screening of compost from one tumbler (combined from both our tumblers somewhat recently). We put the screened compost in the beds where I have plans to plant the soonest. The pictures are before we had put in the last loads of compost in the big bed and before I watered it all in.

I also found some bare space in my lettuce bed to plant some dill, parsley, and cilantro. Those can take a long time to germinate, and we’re supposed to have cooler weather this week, so it may be a while before I know if any comes up. I just wanted to put it where I know I’ll be watering anyway, and they can make a nice addition to our salads. We’ve continued to enjoy harvesting baby lettuce for lunchtime salads. The last picture shows a closeup of where I harvested a big batch yesterday. Other low spots are from earlier in the week, but they’re growing back nicely.

After I finished all the soil amending and watering, my husband and I made sure that both composters were filled to the brim with shredded leaves (my husband worked like a yeoman last Saturday and Monday to clean parts of our backyard—the leaves get to stay where they land everywhere else on the property but not on the river rock that previous owners used in the back). He mulched many of them outside the yard, so just a tiny portion went into the compost. We mixed in alfalfa pellets and moistened everything. We’ll probably have to add more water, but we hope to have some hot compost in both tumblers soon.

It was a long day and we were exhausted when we finished at dusk (my husband also did branch and shrub trimming along our driveway while I watered), but it was productive. Now we’re praying that we actually get some rain to do a better watering than I can do with my hose. We’re supposed to have a shot on Tuesday.

My next gardening task is to start some seeds for Sugar Snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and beets. The plan is for me to start them inside but move them to the composted beds in February.

Great teamwork DG. Your Texas early start gives us all inspiration. I remember those days when I used to have that kind of energy. Now I take things in chunks spread out over time. But every day is a weekend, so that's easier.

 

[clancey]

GB Your plants look just beautiful and your doing a whole bunch of work in growing them..But this is a life activity for you so I understand all the preparation that you have to do in your area of dryness. But I get tired too reading all your loving work. Enjoy...lol.. Now good people I have a question for I am thinking of growing just one tomato and one or two hot peppers on my porch in the springtime and will I get "bugs" or "flies" too---?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

It was a lot of work on Saturday, but it needed to get done, and sooner was better than later in terms of getting soil ready. In particular I wanted to get all the cottonseed meal and compost down before the storms that were forecast for today.

We did actually get some really heavy downpours today. Our rain tanks were all overflowing well before they ended. I had to drive into town toward the end of the rain, and I took my youngest with me in the car so that he could give me reports on the water. We drove over a couple of creeks that had been dry, and they were flowing. There was water rushing through the ditches and the culverts, and we loved seeing puddles, especially when they were located near trees, and we could just imagine the roots drinking up the liquid.

When I got out to my garden later in the afternoon, I measured 1.75 inches of rain. I’d have to check my records for last year, but I’m not sure that we ever had a single rain event in the entire year that was more than an inch. This was a great start to 2023 in comparison.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Looks like you are off to a good start with the rain this year, DG. I certainly hope this season is kinder to all you folks down in the south and southwest.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I took a picture today of my Aerogardens. I’ve been wanting to remove the lettuce from the pepper container. This was something of a backup in case my outdoor lettuce didn’t grow, but outside is doing so well, I decided just to remove (and eat) this bunch and a similar one that is hidden behind the pepper in the picture. The pepper is putting on plenty of fruit and has lots of blossoms. At this point I’m just keeping top growth pruned as I don’t need the plant to get larger. I just want it to concentrate on the fruit and blossoms it already has. The picture was meant to show the three nice peppers behind the lettuce, but I didn’t focus on them quite as much as I had intended. You can see them if you hunt.

Yesterday I used up the last of the tomatoes that I had brought in from the garden and ripened in the pantry. I have a few red ones ripening in the second Aerogarden, and there are yellow ones set. They won’t make a large harvest, and I may well remove the plants in a couple of weeks if I decide to start tomatoes in the Aerogarden (I haven’t quite decided on my plan yet). In the meantime, I’ll get to enjoy a few fresh tomatoes here and there.

 

[Dan Freeman]

What kind of peppers are you growing in your Aerogarden? I have been very disappointed in my tomato harvest this year. I am getting some good, sweet tomatoes, but the numbers are way down this year compared to last year. I'll be happy if I get 200-300 from the 8 plants I have. Last year I harvested 900+ from the 8 plants.

Today, I pulled out my seed box. I am planning to start my seeds in the house this year as we have decided to take the old greenhouse down ASAP once the weather gets better and get the new greenhouse up (by the end of May ???). That will really cut down on how many seeds I start because of lack of space. I usually start over 200 - 4" pots with seeds in the greenhouse each March. The only things I need to pick up are my seed potatoes (if I don't have enough in the cellar) and onion sets.

Here's a list of what I am considering for this year. Most can be direct sown which is good, but in years past I did start many of them in the greenhouse to give them a jump on the season.

Tomatoes
-San Marzano
-Supersweet 100
-Mountain Magic
-Tiny Tim’s
-Rapunzel

Peppers
-Shishito
-California Wonder Bells

Carrots
-Tendersweet
-Danvers

Cucumbers
-Marketmore
-Spacemaster

Peas
-Wando
-Lincoln
-Super Snappy

Squash
-Black Beaty Zucchini
-Table Queen Acorn
-Butternut

Cantaloupe
-Sierra Gold

Cabbage
-All Season
-Copenhagen

Beets
-Early Wonder
-Detroit Dark Red

Rutabaga
-American Purple Top

Rhubarb
-Victoria

Swiss Chard
-Rainbow

Kale
-Premier
-Blue Curled Scotch

Celery
-Utah

Potatoes
-Yuko Gold
-Russet

Onions
-Yellow
-Sweet
-Scallions

Spinach
-Bloomsdale
-Noble Giant

Lettuce
-Monte Carlo Romaine
-Buttercrunch
-Butterhead

Beans
-Blue Lake
-Contender

Herbs

-Genovese Basil
-Monmouth Dill
-Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
-Chives

Flowers
-Marigold - Sparky
-Marigold – French Double Dwarf
-Nasturtium – Glorious Gleam
-Yarrow – Yellow
-Black Eyed Susan
-Shasta Daisies

 

[EbS-P]

Time leak check. Plants coming soon. I have lights for two per level easy enough to add later.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Time leak check. Plants coming soon. I have lights for two per level easy enough to add later.

View attachment 308723

Looking forward to seeing it filled with plants.

 

[EbS-P]

Looking forward to seeing it filled with plants.

I started way too many! Kids would love to get som cucumbers in the tower. I’d love some of the small round eggplants (not sure what they are called). Next round!