Homesteading

Outdoor Garden Progress, Day 18

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It’s almost planting day, but not yet… we are anticipating planting on Earth Day (April 22).

So, without further ado, here is our outdoor garden… again.  ~18 days after planting (plus the grid, again):

The peppers are a little slow and stout but generally they take longer to germinate, so it’s expected.  Most everything in this big planter is up, so it will be ready to plant when the time is right.

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The below seedlings actually went into the tent for germination about a week after the original batch so they are still catching up but still doing quite well.

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The medium sized sunflowers are still having a little trouble, but I let them get a little dry last week, so hopefully they will catch up; however, the 5′-7′ flowers are all up and ready to go.

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Outdoor Garden Progress, Day 5

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We have had the sprouts under a T5 fluorescent light for 5 days now.  As I thought, the seeds are sprouting wonderfully!  Most of the peppers are taking their time, but for the most part, the other plants are up and running!

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Left Side:

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Right Side:WIN_20170331_17_06_36_Pro

Winter 2017 Indoor Soil Garden, Day 19

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So, Awesome things have been brewing in the indoor garden!  Here are my update pictures:

Each of the potters have grown so much.  Unfortunately, I am still waiting for my lavender to sprout, but it will soon, I am sure.

The white powder on the top of the potters is diatomaceous earth to keep away the gnats that were in the tent.

 

The left side is yellow onion, the right side is red onion:

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Grand Rapids Lettuce on the left, Radishes on the Right:WIN_20170331_17_04_39_Pro

Raab Broccoli on the left, Black Opal Basil on the right:WIN_20170331_17_05_16_Pro

Buttercrunch lettuce:WIN_20170331_17_04_25_Pro

Turnip on the left, Kohlrabi on the right:

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Beets on the left, Carrots on the right:

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The Navel Orange has been accruing new growth.

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It dropped some of it’s flowers and some of the fruit, but it’s supposed to drop what it does not feel is healthy to flourish.

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There are still over a dozen oranges left on the tree.

WIN_20170331_17_04_13_ProThe potato bucket has flourished!  All of the sproutlets have developed very nicely.  In a few days I will cover the spoutlets with more soil and wait for them to continue to grow.  As the potatoes grow vertically, they will put out more potatoes in the bottom of the bucket horizontally.  Within about a month, there will be potatoes to pick and harvest from the bottom of the bucket where I cut the holes.

Winter 2017 Indoor Soil Garden, WHAT THE GNAT!!!

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As much as I love my Orange Tree I have discovered something terrible!

After I put the tree in the tent, it became… comfortable.  The temperature was just right and the conditions were very favorable for the eggs from some gnats to hatch that had been previously laid while the tree was at the nursery.

UGH!!! NO GOOD!!!

So, in order to combat the gnats I purchased two products:

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The Gnat Stix are basically Popsicle sticks that attach to a grid that looks and acts like fly paper.   The gnats stick to it.

The Diatomaceous Earth basically stops the gnats from reproducing and since gnats have a short life span it works pretty well.  Its a white powder that just gets sprinkled over top of the soil.  It kind of reminds me of using talc powder, only the plant version.

Winter 2017 Indoor Soil Garden, Day 6

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Today I lightly watered all of the plants and put the miniature red potatoes on the top rack so that they can start rooting.  Once they start rooting, I will begin a potato bucket. I have never done this before so it will be an experience for sure!

I will be doing this for both miniature red potatoes and russet potatoes.

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The turnip and kohlrabi are flourishing!

I thinned out the sprouts today.

 

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The beets have decided to make an appearance, right on time (germination time between 5 to 10 days) and are doing very well.  I thinned them out.

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The Buttercrunch lettuce finally made an appearance!  Right on time as well (germination time between 5 to 10 days).20170318_140301

 

The Rapini (or) Raab Broccoli is doing very well, especially for being early!  I thinned it out.

 

 

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The radishes and Grand Rapids lettuce is doing well and I thinned them both out.

The Winter 2017 Indoor Soil Garden’s Genesis

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I began my soil garden on March 11.

It was completely on a whim.  I was in HTG Supply picking up some stuff for the garden and decided, well, rooted vegetables sound like a great idea.

The thought was as simple as that.

At this point it is too cold to start the outdoor garden so, it made sense.

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The soil tent started to take shape and the first seeds were planted on March 11th.  While I was at it, I also purchased a navel orange tree.  I wanted to see how it would do in the tent along with the other items.  The soil I used was the MiracleGro plant soil.

I used regular tap water to water the plants.

This is the final set up of the tent on March 12th.