Hydro-Garden Grow's On

Sounds like a new soap opera. The stars...Plants that are finicky about what they eat, & of course no soap would be complete without the "bad guys" (bad guys being bad bacteria).

LMAO!

I have been VERY busy with all this Hydro business. I am writing a paper for my WTI group on growing veggies & herbs hydroponically all year round so in order to be thorough...I am putting together several home-made systems. I'm doing a lot like what this here blogger likes to do, experiment, but on a smaller scale. I like his attitude! LOL

So here is an photo update on what is growing in back corner of the apartment. Found some funny lookin leaves Saturday on the bean plant. So I called up the local Hydro store & we determined that I had too much nutrient in the water & that the ebb & flood system need a flushing with clean water. After flushing, that lone bean on top of the plant shot out like a "bat-outta-hell". I guess the poor thing was stressed with all the lovin I was trying to feed it. LOL

There is the bean plant (the biggest-tallest-baddest thing in the system), next to it on the bottom right are two Mini eggplants that I grew from some seeds in a recent holiday secret santa swap. It was labeled as "green & white striped eggplant". No idea what the variety name is. These will do into a simple passive system known as a wick system. No pumps, no electricity...at least to start out with. I'm not entirely clear on how a passive wick system will work once the roots of plant makes it down into the water...because the water would not be oxygenated...we shall see! I found some half-off "xmas" candy tubs over at the local Dollar Tree that I am going to put these in. Next to those eggplant seedlings is a part of a spinach bunch that I bought at the local coop. It had a but of root on it so I said, what-the-heck, try it! Look at it now! It's starting to bolt so I should get some nice seeds from it. Behind the spinach is some white sage. Even in the hydro setup it is a slow grower. There are two there, but the second one is not doing as well. Not sure why...maybe genetics. Next to the white sage on the left is some leaf lettuce that I just threw in, why not aye? Then next to that in the bar back left hand corner is that dandelion I extracted from one of my potted houseplants that had been outside all summer. Look at it now! Plenty of leafy greens for the tortoise AND the bird! Mieka really likes dandelion greens.

Speaking of Mieka, can you spot her in the jungle that lives in me living room? These plants are separate from the hydro ones. I water these with the depleted nutrient water when I change it out.

Of course the sunflowers are stickers on the patio door that acts as a privacy barrier & adds some color to the space.

Meika loves to look outside.

Let's not forget my favorite herb, the Sweet Basil. This one is about a week old, my finger is there for scale, growing in two tumblers in a simi-passive fashion in a 50/50 of perlite & vermiculite. I've got 20 more seeds planted that I plan to grow in a Deep Water Culture system, also hand-made. Commercial bought systems cost about 3 times more than putting on together in a rubber-maid container. I dunno where that cost is coming from but I will be making most of my systems because of the price-tag of commercial ones. It's not all that hard to make them anyways...a caveman could do it! LMFAO! What can I say...I'mma cheap-skate! Anything worth doing is worth doing as low-cost as possible, this is especially true now-a-days.

And last but not least are my alfalfa sprouts because there is a recall of sprouts in my area. Go fig. Food just isn't safe anymore. I found out when I ordered a sub with alfalfa sprouts. Boy was I disappointed because I LOOOOOOVE sprouts!!

Until next time...

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