I haven't posted about the hydroponic system in a little over a month, so I thought it was time for an update. I'll start with before (February) and after (last week) pictures. 
We've been enjoying eating and sharing with friends (and dogs next door) our snow peas, beets, onions, kale, tatsoi, rape, lettuce and swiss chard. The broccoli is starting to do its thing and we have one small head of cauliflower forming. I'm actually surprised that those are doing as well as they are given the heat. The brussels sprouts aren't producing yet, although the plants are thriving, and the strawberries, while prolific, proved to be disappointing in taste. Next year, we'll double the amount of snow peas since those have been our best performers so far. The yellow ball squash, patty-pan and zucchini are all producing flowers and fruit. If I can keep the grasshoppers off of them, we should have a good harvest of all of those. I need to clear out the beet box and get the cucumber I've been nursing along in the pot I bought it in a month ago put in their place. We have plans for a bean bed and a pea bed, as well as a place for okra in mind. I'm looking forward to getting the beans in, especially, since I've got red noodle beans and dragon's tongue varieties to grow. The red noodle bean is about 20" long, and the dragon's tongue is a yellow bean with purple streaks on the pod.
The heirloom tomato "Mr Stripey" was put in before the other 5 heirloom varieties, and has had quite a head start. We've got some Florida Sweet Onions resting on the shelf under the grill so they can crisp up their skins.
It's been a learning experience, that's for sure. We keep finding things we'd like to have done differently. For example, we would like to turn the bottom bins perpendicular, and spread them out a bit more so there is more airflow, and so the snow peas don't grab hold of everything with their twisty tendrils. All in all, though, it's been a lot of fun, and has allowed us to feed ourselves, and share with friends. A good man once told me that food is love. He was right. When food is grown with love, it's even better!
I'm excited about how far along your garden is. Mine is WAY behind. But the local growers are telling us we're not out of the clear for frost until the end of April! I still put the seedlings out 2 weeks ago (against their advice). We've had hot days (panting chickens too) but are expecting rain 3 days this week, which means cooler weather. Hopefully it won't drop down to frost levels.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know when the beets and onions are ready to pull?? It's my first time growing them. I stuck my finger down in the dirt near the beets b/c they've been growing a good 45 days (from seed), but I can't feel any fruit and don't want to disturb the root if it hasn't developed yet.
I wouldn't consider yours behind.... your season is just different because of our vastly different climates. I think, though, you could do a lot on your back porch hydroponically to get you a jump start. The onions and beets both pushed themselves out of the ground. I gave the beet to Kim, but forgot to ask her how it was. Both the beets and the onions were planted from small transplants in November. I looked up the maturity days in a few seed catalogs and they all ranged from about 45 to 98 days depending on the variety. I've never grown them, either. This is a first time for us, too.
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