I still have a couple tomato seedlings in the tray that just weren't quite ready for transplant, and a couple that are far behind the rest (including all three Kosovo tomatoes that finally popped up). Most of the seedlings are under the grow light, but a few are in the south-facing window. That seemed to be a good option for the cucumbers, so I figured we'd try with the tomatoes too. I'm down to the last six containers with cucumber plants. One is looking sickly, as it was in the north window. I'm hoping it will catch up to the beautiful growth I see from the five that have been in the south-facing window. They're starting to grow tendrils now, so I'm considering giving them something to climb - but that would make transplanting them outside next to impossible. I will consult with my son (#2) as these are in his room. I went ahead and bought a seed starting tray for #2 to plant his herb garden in. He has ten varieties, and planted five of each. Off the top of my head, I know he has Basil, Tarragon, Thyme, Cumin, and Dill. I can't remember the rest. I'm hoping they come up well. He will have so much fun finding new recipes so he can use his own fresh herbs! Today I made the day trip to St. Cloud to visit Petsmart and Petco. I had intended to get some Chinese algae eaters for the freshwater tank, and some snails and emerald crabs for the saltwater tank, but of the things on my list, between both stores, I was only able to find two Chinese algae eaters. The trip wasn't a complete loss though. I found an aquaponic fish tank system! It's small, but it's actually made to be an aquaponic plant growing fish tank, so I went ahead and spent more than I had intended to get it. It came with a coupon for a 99-cent betta, so I picked out a yellow one and named him Kernel Mustard. Yes, I know it should be spelled Colonel, but in the spirit of yellow - he's named after corn instead. The tank will be set up in #2's bedroom as he has been asking for a fish tank for a few years now, and does well keeping his room picked up. It also helps that he wants to grow garden herbs, and I think this smaller system will work well for that. A big welcome to Kernel Mustard as the newest member of the family, and part of our ongoing gardening experiment.
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Sorry it's been a few days since my last post. I try to make it a point to blog every day, but it's been a little hectic around here. Tuesday we had dinner with my parents, and by the time I got home I was so exhausted, I went straight to bed. I did manage to put up fencing around the plant shelves to prevent the cats from getting into them any more. I used my nose to find all of the plants that had been peed in. The cats claimed four pepper plants and a container with pea plants, and additionally ate at least two cucumber plants and another pea plant (the one in the fish tank that was doing so well). I'm very displeased with their behavior, but I understand that it's natural for them to want to use dirt as a toilet, and to eat tasty vegetation. I just wish they'd be happy with their own food and toys and litter box. When I have spare money, I plan to buy the Litter Kwitter. If anyone is feeling generous, I'd be happy to receive it as a gift - I'll even blog about it! In similar news - if anyone has catnip seeds they would like to donate, I would love to plant some here. Wednesday I looked up a recipe, bought ingredients, made dinner (well, more helped my husband make dinner), and had my parents over. We had Eggplant Parmesan and it was delicious! I had never tried eggplant before, so it was all new to me, but totally worth it. We made two pans as the recipe said it serves 4-6 people, but one pan fed all eight people with some to spare. The recipe I used is here, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a fantastic dish that takes some prep time and counter space. The last couple of days I've been unbelievably tired. I've been assuming it's because my bed is uncomfortable, and that I have a baby who doesn't sleep through the night, but today I could barely get out of bed I was so tired (I'm sure the migraine didn't help either). Fortunately, my husband played super-dad and took care of the baby and #3 - who was home sick after throwing up shortly after our eggplant dinner. I woke up long enough to eat breakfast, then back to bed until lunch, then back to bed until dinner, which I didn't even finish before going back to bed. I woke up again between nine and ten in the evening, and decided to get to blogging! Poor #3 got sick again as I was trying to blog, so she's now showered and asleep on the couch. She's upset she'll miss "pajama day" at school tomorrow. I told her she could wear her pajamas all day tomorrow at home instead. If she were home schooled, or online schooled, she could have pajama day any day, and she wouldn't have to miss out on lessons if she felt well enough to do them, even if she was sick. But she will remain in Montessori school for at least next year, and probably the next three school years. I'm not confident enough at this point to school her myself since she needs a speech pathologist. Besides, she loves going to school. How many people have an 8-year old who's upset to miss school, even after spending two days throwing up? And for my last blurb - On Monday, my husband cut up some green onions for an egg bake, and I took the rooted bottom portion he'd cut off. I planted them in a fast-food drink cup and set them in the kitchen window. Within 24 hours there was visible growth, and every day since it's been growing more! I didn't expect it to regrow so quickly. I'm impressed! I now have three growing green onion plants! I bought some butter lettuce to test out another online claim that you can re-grow lettuce from the cut off base too - we shall see.
The avocado looks like it may be making progress, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. The bottom has a lump, perhaps roots forming? The top is peeling and showing a soft underneath part. Part of the cut has odd crystals forming on one side. I know it's a bad photo, but if you look carefully, this is the stem of one of the apple tree branches in the vase of water. There are little roots forming! I haven't updated about the floating garden lately - just three peas and three peppers right now. Not truly an aquaponics system right now as the plants are in a container floating, not absorbing nutrients directly from the tank. I really need to figure out how to correct it so that the plants can be grown the way I want them (aquaponically). And in the most frustrating new discovery - I've found out that my plants are not just being chewed and trampled by my cats - they have been peeing in them as well! I caught Henry peeing in my bell peppers tonight - right in front of me! Needless to say, tomorrow I will be putting up fencing around the plant shelves to prevent the cats from getting in there any more. I'm going to have to dump the peed in pepper plant. Incredibly frustrating! Grrrr!!!!!
This morning we sprang ahead and lost an hour, but the weather made up for it. We reached 45 degrees and the snow finally started to melt. The plants are doing well, but I'm impatiently waiting for new seeds to come up. So far no progress with tomatoes. I've planted green zebra, roma, and today I planted two Black Krim seeds. The lentils did not sprout yet. Perhaps they're too old. I'll give them another day or two to see what happens before I throw them out. I've filled enough containers that I'm nearly done with my fourth 40-pound bag of potting soil (not including the two original bags from Landsburg that are in the indoor garden tank). I'll have to pick up more soon if I want to continue planting new seeds. Today I decided to re-do the aquaponics system. I took the styrofoam egg carton and cut the top off. I poked holes in some of the cups, and floated it in the aquarium. I pushed it down in the water until water started to fill the open-bottom cups, and then let go. The container floated to the top and the water drained out again. Neat! So I went ahead and added the four peas and two peppers to the container. The weight of the plants in their soil pellets sunk the egg raft enough that the cups willed with water, soaking the plants, but not sinking below the water level. I decided to put the top (that I had cut off) underneath the egg carton to keep it up. Yes, this makes it so the plants are not actually growing aquaponically at this point, but hopefully it will give the plants a chance to spread roots out through the bottom so I can eventually remove the top (which is now the bottom) and let them float freely again. I also moved the bit of metal wire from another pea container to the aquaponic set up because the peas were starting to tip over and fall into the water. This gives them something to hold on to as they climb toward the window. The mail today brought me a new project. I got the Black Krim tomato seeds I ordered from eBay, as well as a surprise envelope with Green Zebra and Red Cherry tomato seeds. I'm not sure who sent them to me. I don't recall ordering them and there was no note with them. Confusing, but hey, what an excellent opportunity to plant something new... So I did.
I used the plastic container from the kiwi we bought from Costco, and toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes (cut in thirds). I stuffed crumpled up newspaper into the bottom of each cardboard roll to use as a plug for the soil. Each tube was filled with soil, and then I planted two Green Zebra seeds in each tube. I soaked them down with warm water, enough to moisten the tubes as well as the dirt, and then closed the container and put it on the shelf in front of the grow light. I think the last broccoli plant is officially dead now. I'll start fresh outdoors when the weather warms up. Same with the cucumbers. I've lost over half of them, so we'll be planting more outside than originally planned to make up the difference. The aquaponics system still needs some tweaking. Right now it's just a floating garden on top of the water. I still need to water the plants as their roots do not currently extend down into the water. I noticed that the egg carton in the fridge is made of styrofoam (which floats)... so as soon as we finish the eggs, I'm going to poke holes in the bottom and see if it makes a better aquaponics plant holder than the current system. Today I planted garlic. I have several more to plant, but I'm running out of containers again (and space to put them all). I had thought about planting garlic, but put it to the back of my mind in favor of tomatoes and other vegetables. Yesterday my mom was going to throw out two bunches of garlic because they'd started to sprout, and I took the opportunity to "rescue" them. The other sprouting bits are in a box waiting for their turn to be planted in soil. I may put one in the indoor garden since most of the cucumbers died. The mango is still sprouting. It's very slow progress, but it's definitely growing! I assume that it's much slower to grow because it's a tree rather than an annual plant (it has a lot longer to grow than a pepper or a cucumber). I've moved it to the grow light area, so maybe it will grow faster. Yesterday I trudged through thigh-deep snow in the dark to try to get some apple tree cuttings from one of my parents' trees (with permission of course). It was dark, so I couldn't see what I was doing, but I tried to pick good branches. I think two that I selected are probably too old and won't work, but I'm hopeful anyway. The third branch looks viable, but frost-bitten (if a tree can be frost-bitten). Anyway, I dipped each branch in rooting hormone (something new to me) and put two in water and one in the dirt in the indoor garden. We'll see if anything happens. It would be pretty neat to start our own orchard using nothing but cuttings from other trees! In the photo below you can see our garden gnome. I haven't come up with a name for him yet, but for now he's going to tend the apple branch. As for the rest of the container gardening, the bell peppers under the grow light look fantastic (photo below). The peas seem to do great no matter where they are (in the south window, the north window, or the aquaponics system). The cucumbers have proven difficult. The ones in #2's bedroom (south window) seem to be thriving. The cucumbers in the indoor garden have mostly died out (there are 3 left alive and they are flopped over). Only one cucumber remains in the aquaponic set up and it's alone in it's own container. All but one have died under the grow light.
Today I set up and planted all five of the seed varieties that I got from the USDA/GRIN on Saturday. I planted five seeds of each lettuce variety, and two seeds each of the bean and pea varieties. I'm hopeful that they'll have good enough germination rates that they'll sprout. I didn't want to plant too many and have to thin them out. That seems like a waste of rare seeds.
In the garden, the bell peppers seem to be doing great for the most part. The ones under the grow light are growing quickly and their leaves are larger than those of the plants not under the light. One of the three peppers in the aquaponics system is dying, but the other two look alright. My cucumbers are dying in both the aquaponics system and under the light. They're looking wilty, but otherwise alright in the south window. Today Tony stopped by Ace Hardware and picked up five new packets of seeds. He got Garden Beans (tendergreen improved), Chives, Dill (Long Island Mammoth), Sweet Basil, and Cilantro - all are American Seed brand. They were only 79-cents per packet. All of the cloth diapers are washed and air drying. I wonder why we didn't try cloth diapers sooner. It's not really as hard as people were telling me it would be, and #5 seems to enjoy wearing them more. No sign of diaper rash since we have been using cloth diapers, and while we have to wash them every day, that's not such a big deal. With seven people, we have a lot of laundry anyway. So far I've done the basic documentation on two of the three varieties of lettuce, and the peas. I plan to finish investigating the beans and the last variety of lettuce tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see if any of the peas or beans come up considering the age of the seeds. I have a sneaking suspicion that they just sent me old seeds they were going to throw out because they're likely beyond any good germination rate. We will see when we plant them. No date in mind just yet though. I think I'd like to try the lettuce varieties in the aquaponics system once they're sprouted (again, just planning now - not planting yet).
More of the cucumbers are wilting. I watered the seedlings that hadn't had water since they were transplanted and will see if they perk up tomorrow. The bell pepper plants are loving the new grow light! They're growing much faster than the ones in the aquaponics system and the one in the indoor garden. The peas continue a steady growth. I can hardly wait for spring! Today I mailed off a couple requests to other gardeners for tomato seeds. One lady offered to let me pick some seeds from her collection for five stamps. Another was a website (Wintersown.org) that offers six free tomato seed varieties for a self addressed stamped envelope with two stamps, so I put in my request there too. I also mailed off the seeds I am trading with someone to get some zinnia seeds. I hope to have some new tomato plants in the soil by mid- or late-March! The cucumbers that were moved into #2's room are doing fantastic. The ones I kept in the living room are all dead. So I consulted my gardening friend on Facebook and felt really dumb when I found out that seedlings only need water once a week... not every 2-3 days. Oops. My son didn't water any of the plants in his room, so of course they're looking wonderful. Glad I have more cucumber seeds! I'll just plant fresh ones in the outside garden. All of the cucumbers on the floating aquaponics raft have died.. The one in the gallon top that isn't actually touching the water appears to be in good health. I still need to get an individual set up for a pepper plant to complete the aquaponics set up.
My wonderful husband figured out a way to rig a seeding tray on top of empty water bottles to make it float over the fish tank. I've moved a few peas, peppers and cucumbers onto it, but in the process the whole "raft" sank at one point. I guess it was enough to stress the cucumbers into shriveling up and dying within 24 hours. Now I'm fairly certain it's due to my over-watering. I'll stop watering them now... Most of the seedlings in containers are doing well. I did have one issue with the blue bowl as the cats have claimed this bowl as their personal throne to sit in the sunny window - creating crop circles with my peas (which remarkably survived the experience). The aquaponics experiment is almost set up. On the left is the floating seedling tray (from the original kit) that is buoyed up by empty water bottles. The white piece (right center) is the top half of a milk carton holding a cucumber seedling. On the right front corner is the top part of a 2-liter bottle holding a pea plant. I just need to make one more floating container to hold a single pepper plant and the aquaponics experiment will be a go!
The sunflowers do not appear to be too much bigger than they were last time I checked on them. This surprises me, but he doesn't have them in full sunlight either, so that may be part of it. I'm hoping it warms up soon enough that I don't have a 4-foot tall flower in the house by the time we can move it outside! The mango seed looks like it is beginning to sprout! There's a little nub inside the crack that is getting bigger and closer to poking out every day! No sign of roots yet though, so we'll see how it goes. I've been working on setting up a new page for this site, called the Seed Bank. I've run in to a few websites with seed banks where people can buy or trade seeds, and it seems like fun. I admit I'm in awe when I see some of the lists contain many hundreds of seed varieties. It's more than a little disheartening to email asking to trade my few meager seeds and getting rejected several times. As a beginner, that is really discouraging. So I figured I'd make my own seed bank and put a twist on it. It seems to me like most seed banks contain extra seeds that are there for no other purpose than to buy, sell, and trade. But wouldn't it be smarter to plant a few of them each year to harvest even more seeds? I mean, if I start out with 25 rare tomato seeds, and I plant 10 of them, I'd have far more seeds by the end of the summer than I had to start with, and that means I could share more. Perhaps the rare varieties would become a little easier to get a hold of, and more people could enjoy both the growing and the eating experiences that seem to be only for the elite gardener right now.
So - if you are reading this right now and would like to help not only our family, but others as well (we like to pay it forward), please consider donating your extra seeds! I feel like a bad blogger... another post without photos! Sorry! I'll try to work on that for tomorrow.
The mango is starting to sprout (cool!). The sunflowers are growing quickly (which was anticipated). I pulled up all of the long skinny broccoli shoots. The only broccoli left is the single plant that got moved to the indoor garden and doesn't seem to have grown at all. Many of the cucumber plants are suddenly falling over. Some are wilting, and some have creases in the stems. I suspect my cats may have something to do with this... or perhaps I'm just over watering them. I'm going to cut back water and see if their condition improves. I was able to track down and borrow a grow light. I haven't plugged it in or set it up yet, but it's there for when I have time for another project. Most of the cucumbers and peas have now been transplanted into containers. The ones still in soil pellets are supposed to be for my attempt at aquaponics, though I'm having some difficulty coming up with a way to float the plants on the surface of the water without them sinking to the bottom, or not reaching the water. So far I've only got one successfully balanced using the top of a 2-liter bottle and some wire, but I'm still afraid the cats will eventually knock it in, or the fish will eat the roots, or the soil pellet will rot from always being moist. Learning experience, so we'll see. Tonight I looked up the difference between aquaponics and hydroponics. Turns out they're very much the same (growing plants over water, so the roots take in nutrients from the water instead of soil). The difference is in the water. In hydroponics, you have to put chemicals in the water to grow your plants. This offers you the ability to tweak the chemicals to the needs of the plant, but it requires the maintenance of checking chemicals and so on. In aquaponics, you have fish in the water and the plants feed off the waste products the fish leave behind.
I love my fish tank - it's 100% organic (no chemicals, rarely cleaned, it regulates itself and all fish are happy and healthy). Now I just need to come up with a way to make something that floats that still has holes for the roots to get into the water... This will be my next project, right after I finish re-potting some more of the seedlings. I got most of the peas and cucumbers replanted into containers, but still need to find new containers for the peppers. Perhaps we'll plant a couple peppers, and a few peas and cucumbers in the aquaponics set up I'm planning. What fun! Sorry, no photos tonight. We put the newly re-potted plants in #2's bedroom (he has a shelf under his window that's just perfect for setting them in the sun), and he's already asleep. |
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