Long Overdue Hydroponic Garden Update

I took some pictures last night, while Jay was outside covering the plants in preparation for the cold, and when I realized I hadn't posted about the garden since May, I figured I should fix that.  We have been thwarted by squirrels ever since we started our garden.  They ate almost every tomato we've grown (or at least taken big bites out of them) along with a whole tower full of swiss chard as it was just sprouting.  We decided to fight with a steel cage match of sorts.

before

after

Before, the squirrels (and probably fruit rats, but we try not to think about that) had free access to all of our garden goodies.  Now, the entire set of 10 towers has been enclosed in chicken wire, including the top.  This has had a profound (and not unexpected) effect on our productivity.  Duh.






Since the drastic steps, we've been able to re-grow the swiss chard, to the point where both chickens and humans can enjoy it.  We also supplied two counties of family with lettuces on Thanksgiving.  There have been tomato feasts, cucumber festivals (of sorts) and radishes galore.  I had forgotten how much I love radishes.
I even harvested so much thyme that it took me three days with the dehydrator getting all of it preserved.  That much thyme is also a little bit nauseating to smell, by the way.  It ended up not even filling a quart sized mason jar.  Everyone act surprised at Christmas if you get a Gift of Thyme from us :-D

I took a bit of inventory last night.  We have asian eggplants for the chickens, two kinds of lettuce, two kinds of tomatoes, red beets, sweet Florida onions, two kinds of non-Plant City strawberries (this will make sense to my Florida readers), two kinds of swiss chard, snow peas, a boatload of thyme (yes, even after all that harvesting), and two kinds of basil and mint.  I'm probably forgetting something that I'll remember after I hit PUBLISH.  Isn't that always the way?  I've gotten a chuckle or two watching The Ladies follow Jay into the cage to see if he'll give them some swiss chard, or to eat some beet greens that are hanging over the side within beak-reach.

herb tower

lots of thyme

We still have issues with squash getting powdery mildew.  Squash doesn't do so well in high humidity, I guess.  We have huge plants, huge leaves that bloom but don't flower... and then get mildewy.  But most everything else is doing really well.

first cuke

I'm pleased with the strawberries, despite their slow start, although if they make gorgeous berries with no flavor, like the variety we planted the last two seasons, it will probably be the last time we grow them.

berry and onion tower

When the weather threatened to get close to freezing last night, we (and when I say, "we" in this case, it means the incredibly tall and handsome man I'm married to) reused some old sheets to cover the towers to keep the tomatoes from freezing, after harvesting all of them that had started to get red on them.  One of the best things about growing hydroponically (aside from more yield, squirrels notwithstanding) is that we save water.  Not just when we grow, but even when it gets cold.  Last year the traditional strawberry farmers, for example, pumped so much water out of the aquifer in the Plant City area that it caused massive amounts of sink holes and water shortages all around the area.  Hydroponic growers can do like we did, and just cover the towers, and not need to spray water as a protective coating on the berries to keep them safe.  We also can turn the pumps on and off, since they're on timers, and we can make sure the unit doesn't water on days without sun.  Handy, huh?

tall and handsome Jay

cold harvested 'maters and cuke

There were probably more than a dozen tomatoes in here, and one cuke.

swiss chard harvest

It took two green bags to store all this swiss chard.



















Before we went to bed, we (remember what 'we means'?) put some plant lights out under them whole thing, to keep everybody warm.  Between that and the red heat lamp we have in the henhouse, it looked like we had the biggest french fry lights in the world in our back yard.

good night, Garden!

good night, Chickies!