Welcome to My simple home garden
I had this crazy idea to try to grow fruits and vegetables in the winter. After researching a bit I started a hydroponic garden in my basement. This blog documents my successes and failures. I probably won't have a lot of good advice, as I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but I am hoping that other beginners will see what mistakes I have made and will be able to avoid them.
You may notice when you look at the pictures that my garden is getting more and more complicated. But as far as maintenance goes, It still is a simple home garden.
Oh, by the way, I notice many people are coming here looking for pictures of particular plants (zucchini mostly). If you need a picture of something let me know by using the contact us link at the top of the page, or leave a comment on one of the posts, and I'll do my best to take a photo of what you are looking for and posting it here.
Tom
Strawberry Experiment update
It looks like the strawberries I planted in the bucket are sprouting. However, they still haven’t broken through the tissue that they were wrapped in. I think strawberry plants are pretty small and weak as sprouts.
I’m going to leave them wrapped for now and see if they can get strong enough to break through the tissue.
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Dealing with yellow leaves and flowers that aren’t opening
I read somewhere that the yellow leaves are probably because the roots aren’t getting enough nutrients and/or air. I don’t know that I can do much about that.
Also, I’m dealing with flowers that aren’t opening on the zuchini and squash. I have read that maybe I should shorten the “daylight” time. So I’m going from 16 hours down to 14 hours to see if the zucchini will get back to growing like it was.
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The great strawberry experiment two week update.
Nothing to report other than to report nothing. No signs of sprouting yet. Though the last time I planted strawberry seeds it took a good bit of time for something to show up. In two weeks I’ll take a closer look to see if I see any signs of life.
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Plumb and Peach tree in their happy homes
A few pictures of the Plum and Pear trees after they have been planted. The sticks in the branches are to try to force the branches to grow out a little more than they want to do naturally. I’m trying to get them to be open centered.
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Growing Challenge update
As part of the growing challenge I took it upon myself to further expand what I’m growing. I ventured outside the realm of hydroponics and planted a fruit tree outside. It is a semi-dwarf “Gourmet Pear”. It came bare root and it is
the first time I’ve ever planted a tree.
I have two more trees coming, a peach and a plum. I’ll be sure to write about them and maybe take pictures when they are in the ground.
As far as the hydroponics are going, it looks like the bean plant is finished doing its thing. It doesn’t have any more flowers so no more beans I assume. The corn is about 2 feet tall. pumpkins are about a foot tall with about 2 or 3 true leaves. The cucumber plant has 2 cucumbers growing on it. The zucchini plant seems to have stalled. There are some female zucchini but they aren’t flowering. There is no change in the strawberries. I think there is one squash that was properly pollinated. The pepper plant looks close to flowering. The hand pollination of the watermelon didn’t seem to take. And the tomatoes seem to be doing okay with a true leaf of so on most of the plants (3 seemed to have sprouted out of 4)
To answer the question of “Do you hand pollinate everything?” The answer is “yes” If it needs it (the cucumber, squash, watermelon and zucchini all need it).
And now. A picture of the new pear tree. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Exciting news. The female watermelon flower opened up!
So, now I’m hoping that a male will open up. I did try to pollinate with a male flower that opened up but it was wilting. Not sure if it is going to work or not. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Growing Challenge update
Seems everything is going well this week. The garden is starting suck down nutrient solution so I have to give it about a 1/2 gallon in the morning and 1/2 gallon at night. Things are going to get real interesting when this starts growing!
This week we harvested a few beans. Looks like a cucumber is about ready. 2 more inches or so and I’ll pick it.
I started a few strawberries in a separate container which still haven’t sprouted yet.
I’m starting to think about laying out the garden better. Once these plants are done for I’ll start over and try to be more organized next time.
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The great strawberry experiment
I had a few extra strawberry seeds and a spare 1 gallon milk jug and some hydroton and rags, so I put together an experimental wick system without aeration. We will see how it goes.
Instead of posting all the pictures in this entry, click the link below to see them in the gallery.
pictures of the great strawberry experiment
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Growing challenge update
This week is mostly a photo essay. I saw lots of people coming here looking for various pictures of plants, so I took a few close ups of what I’m growing.
Everything is still living (mostly). The strawberries are very burnt from the strong nutrient solution I’m using, as is the pepper. Both seem to be surviving, but the strawberry plant lost a lot of leaves and yet it decided to flower this week.
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More sprouting
I now have 3 pumpkins in a 3 gallon bucket sprouting. The first one’s true leaves are starting to unfurl. Also, one of the tomato plants in another bucket is sprouting as well.
I’ll try to get pictures up this weekend.
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