Snake With Legs!

We found this hiding in an empty Earthbox.

Parsley Hydroponic!

This is a waterfarm hydroponics system.  Here is a link to see the details online for yourself.  This was a small parsley plants weeks ago.  This has grown into a small tree. I can't eat parsley fast enough to keep up with the growth!
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/waterfarm.html

Waterfarms are great for small plants such as herbs. We grew a tomato in this unit last season and it grew too big for the container to support.  This product does work!  It runs off an an air pump which is included in the system.

Thyme Garden

Big Boy Tomato

About 20 of these guys growing now.  Started the seed on March 15, which was the new moon.  Most are in starter soil, some are in grow sponges.  Will transplant to an earthbox after we move to our new house next week.

Healthy Soil!

Earhtworms are a sure sign of soil health. We found this one in our yard today. Unfortunately we are moving next week. Goodbye healthy soil.

Rapid Growth

A sunflower seedling planted on March 15th inside under the growlight. We had to move it to a larger container today. Healthy white roots.

Great source for gardening ideas

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/How-to-Grow-More-Vegetables-and-Fruits-and-Fruits-Nuts-Berries-Grains-and-Other-Crops-Than-You-id-1580087965.aspx

This is our source for building the wooden seed flat mentioned in a previous post.

Growlight Setup

Here is our grow light setup invented and constructed by Chris. He built this with uneven legs so it could use the hearth as a shelf to keep the seed trays close to the grow light as well as support for the whole setup. We are still using the Sunsystems HPS150 light which we got last year and are still using the original bulb. We have a modified desk fan blowing on the light because it puts off a lot of heat and we also are using a seedling heat mat under the seed trays which mantains a constant temp. of about 80º. We are re-using standard black plastic seed trays with plastic domes on top to keep in moisture and maintain temp. which we got last year at Progressive Gardens . We are growing in grow sponges also from Progressive Gardens and some soil.

Seedlings!

Herbs and Okra. The herbs have been outside in a homemade wooden flat using window screen on the bottom and the okra has been in a seed tray which has been inside under the grow light, both since March 15th.

Japanese Maple

The Japanese Maple in our yard beginning to bloom.

Friendly Visitor

Welcome!

Late summer squash

Started a few squash plants indoors over the last couple of weeks. Transplanted to a self watering container today. This time I drilled 4 holes in the lid so after the seedling was planted, a wire cage could be inserted. Now, as the plant grows, I do not have to find created ways to stake the plant as it gets taller. I do not know why I did not think of this with the tomatoes. We had a couple of massive wind storms early in the season and nearly lost 2 plants. I should have pre-staked them!

Basil a plenty

Thanks, Kait, for this ever producing basil plant. This is in a self watering container (aka, recycled kitty litter container) and gets regular feedings with Dutch Master gold grow nutrient. This plant came as a seedling and is now 1.5 feet tall and we can't eat it fast enough.

I suppose this dispels the old southern myth that you should never thank the giver of a plant for it will lead to its demise.

Peppers on the Vine

Here are a couple of peppers growing in a topsy turvy made especially for peppers. You can search our posts and find photos of this hanging on the front porch earlier in the season. It has openings for 8 plants. When these wrap up in a couple of weeks, I am going to plant a late summer crop of fish peppers and nosegay peppers (ornamental marble size) to carry us into the fall. These seedlings are growing now under a sunsystem HPS 150. They are nearly ready for transplant outdoors. I will start hardening them off tomorrow.

Waterfarm - General Hydroponics

Here is a batch of delicious variety tomatoes growing in a waterfarm from General Hydroponics.

It drinks about a gallon every 72 hours at this growth rate. Adding nutrient at each refill. These are ready to pick.

Time to Say Goodbye

It was time to say goodbye to a batch of hydroponic tomato plants. This set up had 3 pickle buckets tethered by a 1/2 inch black hose at the bottom of each bucket to allow the nutrient to free flow back and forth. A pump in one bucket pumped the nutrient up into another 1/2 in black hose forming a circle and then drip lines were run to each plant. The plants had pretty much run their course and I decided it was time to break them down. This is the root ball of one of the plants. I believe this was a delicious/jetsonic tomato.

Gardening Video Part 1

Here is a gardening video Dad shot while in town about a month ago. Follow the youtube link. There are 3 parts, lasting about 4 minutes each. This video will show you our front porch garden and several of the plants and systems we are using.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0sWhYmCNz4

Jalapenos Hydroponicos

Azalea Bonsai

Blooming!

Color Explosion!

Medusa ornamental pepper.

Turkish Eggplant

Orange you glad these aren't bananas?

Heirloom Tomatoes

Green Zebra and some Cherokee Purples.

Carnival Bell Pepper.

Purple.

Mini Bell Pepper

Bite size.

Volcano Pepper Recipe

This is Carol's recipe: Slice peppers in half, remove seeds and ribs. fill pepper slices with a mixture of cottage cheese, tomato pieces and cucmber pieces. The cottage cheese helps make the peppers not so spicy. Delicious.

Rejects!

Here is a list of things we didn't especially like and will not do again probably:

Volcano peppers-We like these and they grow really well and produce a lot of fruit but we just don't eat them that much. They are a little spicy for my taste and there are so many of them we can't give them all away. Maybe we just planted too many. I don't know why we even plant hot peppers in the first place because we don't really ever eat them.

Carnival bells-We like these bell peppers o.k. but not enough to grow again. They are unique because they are small and colored but the novelty wears off. Also, we didn't like the taste as much as a traditional bell pepper.

Jetsonic tomatoes- We got these as freebies when we ordered seed this year. They have an o.k. flavor but we would rather use the space for something more delicious. The plants act determinate only reaching about 2 feet.

Georgia Streak heirloom tomatoes-We didn't have good luck with these at all. We gave them the same care as all the other tomatoes but only ended up getting a couple tomatoes off of two plants. They seem more prone to rotting than any of the others we grew. Also the taste was good but not exceptional.

Red Velvet okra-I don't know if this is the norm or if something went horribly wrong but our plants only grew about 2 feet tall as opposed to head high for green okra and only produced about 2 pieces per plant. Also the okra was tough and not really good eatin'. Chris says "If you want to serve this for dinner give your guests a hack saw in addition to a fork." Ha Ha.

Turkish Eggplant- We didn't grow any of these here in container pots and our soil garden didn"t do so hot this year so we may be biased based on our own inabilities to grow these. They were smaller than we expected (about golfball size as opposed to softball size). They grew pretty well considering the trouble we had with the soil garden so I think in the right conditions they would probably produce a lot. The taste is pretty good. Not as tough and dry as a normal black eggplant. Overall, we like these but didn't grow them very well so I would not be averse to trying again sometime in the future but maybe not next year.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Things we for sure want to re-plant next summer because we liked them this year:

Green Zebra heirloom tomatoes-We didn't get a lot of fruit but they are the best tasting of all the tomatoes we have grown. We both agree.

Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes-We got a lot of fruit from the two plants we had and they are really delicious. Second place taste to Green Zebras.

Patio tomatoes-We got tons of fruit from the one plant we had. Tons! They taste pretty good too.

Carolina Gold heirloom tomatoes-We only got a couple of these off the one plant we had but they are really sweet and delicious. We would like to try again next year for a higher yield.

Mini Bells-These are bite-size bell peppers. They have a delicious taste and they are still producing into August.

Preparing for Fall

Getting ready now for the fall growing season. Picked up some squash and broccoli seed and got it planted. Going to take scrupulous notes on all the details of seed starting for record keeping purposes. Planted the squash and broccoli seed today. Will get fall leeks going in a couple of weeks. Using a HPS 150 light to for the seedlings once they get going.

Moon and Stars Watermelon

This is the only edible fruit so far from the moon and stars watermelon patch. This one is about 5 pounds. About 10 watermelon have grown or are growing in the patch now. Taken 3 out so far to eat only to have 2 of them raw in the middle. Ate some for breakfast this morning. Very good fruit, but lots of seeds. The plant is doing well in the garden, but not sure really how to tell when they are ripe. This is an heirloom variety and we will likely not plant this type next year.

Mini Herb Garden

This mini garden is doing quite well. The growing medium is coco. I keep it watered and use nutrient a couple times a week. Chives, parsley and basil.

Front Porch Gardening?

In keeping with the spirit of our home garden, I decided it was time to upgrade the blog to an easy to remember URL, along with promoting how to's on container gardening. We do not have space or enough sunlight in our backyard to create a purposeful garden. Everything we are growing is in container pots on our front porch. I have manufactured them from 5 gallon pickle buckets along with purchased items such as the earthbox and waterfarm hydroponic systems.

By using container pots, the plants are kept off the ground and away from crawling predators. In the pots, the soil can be customized to our particular needs. Compost can be added as well. We are planning on expanding our garden next year. We currently use a relatives back yard for our standard soil garden, but contemplating using only container pots next year along with an array of hydroponics to further control the growing environment.

Homegrown Evolution

I learned a lot of container gardening along with many other great ideas for urban gardening at the homegrown evolution website. I have their book in the library and I highly recommend picking up a copy!

http://www.homegrownevolution.com

Blog - Website Update

Hello everyone,

Maggie and I are going to update the blog slowly with new content and a new format. We have been working a lot lately at our jobs and are running behind getting our fall crops ready.

I pulled up the yellow pear from the topsy turvy and planted a small better boy sapling. The volcano peppers are working overtime, but too hot for my colon to enjoy, so we are giving those away. We had a good run of tomatoes this year. The green zebra and carolina gold tasted the best, but only produced a small run of fruits. The hydroponic tomatoes did not taste as good as the container potted plants, but we had a ton more fruit, with more still ripening on the vine.

Planted 9 fish pepper seed trays and 9 marble (nosegay) ornamental peppers from seed that i picked up at seedsavers exchange online.

Medusa updated!

Here is the medusa pepper in full bloom!

Demon Spawn

Front Porch

Medusa

Medusa ornamental peppers grown hydroponically in an earthball.

Succulent

This is a cactus we got at the farmers market. It is called "Stone Faces".

Size Comparisons

On top we have our largest tomato so far- a Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato and on the bottom- a leaf from our eggplant. Both growing on the porch.

Erupting Volcano

One of many Volcano peppers growing on our front porch.