Just for fun

I like to add an occasional pot of flowers to my indoor gardening activities, however, I don't give them any special growing conditions. The Thumbelina Zinnia shown above was placed into the same system as my salad greens when I launched the grow chamber in mid-October, and it is already flowering.

In addition to the zinnia, I have started calendula, dianthus, marigold and cineraria seeds. I have a few calceolaria seeds started also, but I find them very difficult to grow, in spite of what my gardening books say about them.

Having a flower or two around the house makes the dreary upstate New York winter just slightly more tolerable.

Planning ahead - continued

In less than 24 hours the seeds that I placed in the coffee filters have started to sprout. I will hold off transplanting them to the growing media until I see the cotyledon leaves begin to form. The seedlings will remain in the starting media until true leaves begin to develop, and roots are protruding from the bottom of the media. I will continue to feed them with a very dilute nutrient solution while giving them 16 hours of light daily until they are transplanted into one of my systems.

If at least sixty percent of the seeds fail to germinate, within a reasonable period of time, I would discard the seed package and purchase new seeds.

When I purchase seeds, I remove them from the package and place them in 3" x 5" zip lock bags. Any information regarding the variety is cut from the package and placed in the bag with the seeds. The zip lock bags are placed in sealed Tupper Ware type containers, by type, and stored in a freezer until a day or so before I intend to start them.

The above may not be "according to Hoyle", but it works for me. And, I should add that I have stored the Antago seeds in the above photo for at least three years.

Planning ahead

Planning is essential in maintaining a constant supply of veggies, as it takes several weeks from seed to harvest. For instance, today I started three different varieties of lettuce, and I expect it to be about ready for harvest around Christmas.

In defiance of the seed starting recommendations in all my gardening books, I have developed a method that works for me. As shown above, I use moist coffee filters to germinate seeds. The filters are moistened with a quarter strength nutrient solution and the seeds are folded into the filters. The filters are placed in a zip lock bag, which I place in any convenient spot on one of my systems. From that point on I let nature take its course and check the filters every 24 hours.

As my objective is to have six plants each of the three different varieties of lettuce, I will start twice that number of seeds. When the seed coat splits, usually within 24 hours, and the radicle begins to develop, I use tweezers to gently place the tiny seedlings into whatever media I intend to use. As vigor is important, I select the first and largest seedlings for growing, and discard the remainder.

Today's batch of seeds includes: Jerico, a type of romaine, Red Lolo Antago, a red Italian leaf lettuce, and Sanguine Ameliore, a french heirloom also known as Strawberry Cabbage. They should make a colorful addition to Christmas dinner.

Hydro Harvest

Ava, our three year old granddaughter, is going to be spending a few days with us. In order to continue to encourage her interest in gardening I like to have a few projects that she can participate in.

Ava particularly likes mixing nutrients and planting with hydroton in net pots. That said, I harvested the plants growing under the red/blue LED shown in my November 2, 2010 post so that we can fill and replant that system tomorrow.

The top photo shows the harvested plants, and the produce is blemish free and a deep healthy green. The yield was enough to fill two storage bags, which should last us several days.

Is growing your own greens economical? You bet. Is the produce fresh and pesticide free? You bet. Is it worth the effort? You better believe it!

An interesing plant indeed.

Being a history buff I enjoy researching the history of plants that I am growing. As such, I found what Wikipedia had to say about Arugula interesting, so I thought I would share it. Perhaps if more people knew it was considered an aphrodisiac it would be a lot more popular.


Arugula:

"It is used as a leaf vegetable, which looks like a longer leaved and open lettuce. It is rich in vitamin C and potassium.[7] It is frequently cultivated, although domestication cannot be considered complete. It has been grown in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and is considered an aphrodisiac.[8] Before the 1990s it was usually collected in the wild and was not cultivated on a large scale or researched scientifically. In addition to the leaves, the flowers (often used in salads as an edible garnish), young seed pods and mature seeds are all edible.

It is now cultivated in various places, especially in Veneto, Italy, but is available throughout the world. It is also locally naturalised away from its native range in temperate regions around the world, including northern Europe and North America.[2][6] In India, the mature seeds are known as Gargeer.

It has a rich, peppery taste, and has an exceptionally strong flavour for a leafy green. It is generally used in salads, often mixed with other greens in a mesclun, but is also cooked as a vegetable or used raw with pasta or meats in northern Italy and in coastal Slovenia[citation needed] (especially Koper/Capodistria), where it is added to the cheese burek. In Italy, rocket is often used in pizzas, added just before the baking period ends or immediately afterwards, so that it will not wilt in the heat.

On the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples, a digestive alcohol called rucolino is made from the plant, a drink often enjoyed in small quantities following a meal. The liquor is a local specialty enjoyed in the same way as a limoncello or grappa and has a sweet peppery taste that washes down easily.

In Egypt the plant is commonly eaten with ful medames for breakfast, and regularly accompanies local seafood dishes."

Be that as it may; the plants in the photo are growing in a modified areoponic unit using a 90 watt red/blue/white LED. Previously I have only used this light for seed starting, and this will be its first test for growing plants to completion. So far, so good.

Indoor gardening

The top photo shows the interior of the grow chamber with all of the systems finally in use. All of the plants have been grown hydroponically, under artificial lighting, receiving not one photon of sunlight, or drop of rain. They have not had to deal with insects, or insecticides, or contaminants of any kind. In fact, their environment is so clean it is not necessary to wash the produce before using it.

I might add that the plants in the foreground were mere seedlings when I launched the grow chamber on October 18th, and they have made remarkable progress in only two weeks.

The three ebb and flow systems each contain fifteen plants, and the modified aeroponic system has six plants, so there are fifty one plants growing in this small area. Try that in your soil garden, or greenhouse!

The author of the current greenhouse gardening book I am reading denigrates hydroponic gardening with such phrases as: "you are tied to a hydroponic dealer" and " it requires expensive equipment." and blah, blah, blah. He goes on to tell soil gardeners to buy bugs to control bugs! There are endless pages regarding bugs, fungus, mildew, sterilizing soil, making compost, manure tea, and on and on. Hmm, I can skip chapters seven to fourteen, as they don't apply to me. And, that will be the day when I pour manure tea on lettuce I am going to eat! Well, to each his own I guess.

Each of my three ebb and flow systems has a slightly different nutrient strength varying weak to normal, and the seedlings will progress through the three systems as they grow. The plants in the foreground in the top photo are the very first plants to enter the chamber, and they are about two weeks from harvest at this point.

The bottom photo shows a modified aeroponic unit overflowing with lettuce under a 90 watt red/blue LED. The LED light is so intense that the strobe on my camera can not overcome the red from the lamp. I can, however, assure you that the lettuce is a deep healthy attractive green. Again, these plants have never grown under anything other than LED lighting.

Thanks anyway, but you can keep your beneficial bugs, fungicides and manure tea!