Week 5 Oh My, Squash!

Over the last week, a lot has happened in the soil tent.

The fertilizer regimen has a boost in some of the reagents that includes quite a bit of calcium and magnesium which has given a great boost to most of the plants, but most notably the squash which now have small squash and more flowers.

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We had to “rope up” the squash because they were taking over quite a bit of room and the peppers were not getting the light that they require, especially my poor little jalapeno that is already quite small and was planted late.

The bush beans are doing well and growing and because of this, I had to string up both of the plants in order to expand the plant. Hopefully they will fill out, continue to grow more foliage and keep sprouting beans.

The Early Girl tomato seems a little more wilty than I like, but the base of the plant is thick and strong and over the course of the last week has developed some flowers, so that is a positive thing.

I did prune a little bit off of the bottom of the plant so I hope that helps over the next week.

The bell peppers are doing well. The small jalapeno pepper is still hanging in there so as long as it seems to want to grow, I will just let it be until it no longer wants to stick around. Hopefully it will take off at some point.

The basil in the soil tent is not doing as well as it is in the hydroponic tent insofar as the height and girth of the stem; however, it’s much more aromatic in the soil tent than it is in the hydroponic tent.

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To be honest, I am not sure if the carrots are really doing that well or not, but I will just let them keep going and see how they do. The radish are all done growing at this point so It’s time to either plant something in their place or to plant more radish (which is what I will most likely do at this point given that they did well this last run).

Week 4 Indoor Vegetable Progress and Mods

In a better effort to streamline our weekly clean out process, We made some adjustments.

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A drain valve was added to the 10 gallon tank.

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A 1/2 inch tube was then connected and an on/off valve was added so that when the weekly fertilizer draining and washout takes place, I don’t have to carry the tank across the room to the sump pump.

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On the way to the sump pump another junction was added to the tube in front of the tent itself with another on/off valve connected to the drip pan located under the soil structure itself.

Previously we had been catching the overflow in an aluminum pan and dumping it every night. This way, it will dump into the drip tray and automatically drain out to the sump pump in the same tube.

This new streamline method really helps with the weekly change-outs.

The soil tent seems to be responding well to the fertilizer system that I have been product testing this time.

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The squash are thriving well and have small flower buds.

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The beans are doing exceptionally well and have quite a number of flowers!

We just planted an extra jalapeno pepper plant in the soil tent and it’s slightly stunted; however, this last week it has shown some signs of life by growing a small set of secondary leaves which is great progress as peppers grow relatively slow.

Below is a overall picture of our pepper row, the first and second peppers are both bell peppers which are doing extremely well, the third is the jalapeno (seen above).

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Our tomato plant is doing very well as well, but does not have any flowers as of yet. The stalk of the plant is relatively thick even thought the plant seems slightly small.

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The basil is growing slow. It does have a nice odor and wonderful color but it’s counterpart in the hydroponic tent is probably twice the size of the one in the soil tent which tells me that I have to do a little research and figure out the differences between the two tents at this stage.

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Our radish will be ready to be picked within a week to two weeks! The carrots are growing at a great rate.

Here is the overall picture of the tent for week 4:

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Outdoor Garden Progress, Day 18

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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