Garden
Saturday brought us some really lame weekend weather: rainy and 50s. Today was sunny and perhaps as high as the 70s. It was a perfect day to send my little green babies out into a world full of cats and raccoons and birds who would like nothing more than to eat them all up right now.
Sprouts
It’s official: At least one of every type of plant has broken the surface, including the two season old watermelon variety and the cantaloupe. The lettuce sprouts have grown too tall for their growing box lid and some of the soy beans are touching their ceiling.
Hydroponics
I just purchased a some fancy hydroponics fertilizer from a local sun shop. The strawberry buds have begun to bloom and the leaves are looking very healthy. I am considering expanding the hydroponics rig when all of the other plants have been moved out into the garden. I’d move the fogger into a central canister and fabricate a small forced air system to pump the fog through two or more growing trays in parallel.
Hydroponics
Today I needed a little pick-me-up so I decided to treat myself to a creative project. When I proposed the idea of making a hydroponics rig some time ago, Emily thought it would be a good idea. Tonight I went out and built that rig:
Sprouts
It pays to read.
The back of each seed package indicates the number of days each plant should take to sprout. The lettuce varieties indicated 1-3 weeks to sprout; among the longest of any of the seeds I’ve planted. The fact that they germinated in possible record time and that they may soon be too big to keep the lid on their growing tray has put all of the other seeds to shame.
Seeds
The Butterhead lettuce is growing like weeds. 17 out of the 18 cells have growth, the tallest of which are approaching an inch. Over half of the Bon Vivant lettuce has sprouted.
Meanwhile, in the 50-pod trays, there is still little sign of life. A soy bean that I left on the dirt surface as an experiment is beginning to sprout. I imagine these larger seeds will take some time to catch up with the tiny lettuce seed. Still, I’d expect to see some action in one of the 100 pods growing tomatoes by now…
Less than 48 hours after planting, four of the eighteen butterhead lettuce starts have begun to sprout. These seeds were planted in the 36-cell starter kit that uses a different kind of medium than the rest.
The 36-cell tray uses a small cylinder of “dirt” with no mesh covering. When broken up, it filled the tray segments just like normal dirt. The 50-cell trays use the mesh-covered “coins” that grow in height to about 1″ when wet.
I might have spotted mold growing in one of the 50-cell tray pellets. I’ve removed it and will continue to keep a close eye on their progress. I wonder if it would be beneficial to grow without the tray lids on at this point…
Growing Trays
Today I cleared much of the remodeling junk still left in our laundry room away to make room for 4.5 large growing trays. The lamp is a 4 foot fluorescent fixture which holds two medium brightness plant lights. The light is hung about about 12″ above the plant trays: 4 x 50 pod growing trays and a single 36 cell tray.
It has only been 24 hours since we planted the seeds, so there is no sign of life yet. I have the lids on top of the trays and I have lightly spritzed each of the pods as indicated in the directions. None of the trays have any standing water left in the bottom.
Today marks the beginning of the first growing season in our new house. This blog is my journal of the growing process. My hope is to keep this information in an easily accessible place and perhaps share some ideas with other home gardeners who may come across this site.
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