Anyone into gardening/growing your own food?

[voodooman]

sgreger - a tip: the best way to enjoy a really nice slice of tamatoe. on a piece of white bread spread with a smooth peanut butter. a bit of salt and pepper on top. it sounds bad if you've never tried it. but it's awesome!

[squeezyjohn]

Garlic's one of the easiest things to grow for me, but then I think it likes our clay soil. Plant out big fat single cloves about 6 inches apart in November or early December and keep them relatively weed free until July when you pick it! It needs the cold of winter to make good bulbs later on for some reason.

I think different varieties like different climates. I grow hardneck varieties like Chesnok Red and Pink Italian porcelain. One thing they can't stand is being waterlogged - the papery outside rots then, and you can't store it for very long. There's a disease called rust to look out for too.

But generally it's a very rewarding thing to grow.

Cheers

Squeezy

[voodooman]

It's only done by the very primitive european method of sticking it in the dirt and waiting until harvest time with a little weeding in-between

interesting technique. seems to have worked quite well for you. i may have to try that.

my tomatoes are looking pretty good. got a bit of the b.e.r. myself, but many good ones soon to be ripe. some real nice looking cayenne peppers as well.

[sgreger1]

Got the garlic harvest in today with the kids. Just hanging it up to dry now ... last years kept fine dried until this year so that's 100% success and no garlic bought in the supermarket for a whole year ... woohoo!
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It's only done by the very primitive european method of sticking it in the dirt and waiting until harvest time with a little weeding in-between - but I'm proud of it none the less!

Cheers

Squeezy

Wow that' awesome Squeezy, a whole year's supply! Is growing garlic hard? What kind of weather does it prefer?

[Crow]

Very nice, Squeezy!

[squeezyjohn]

Got the garlic harvest in today with the kids. Just hanging it up to dry now ... last years kept fine dried until this year so that's 100% success and no garlic bought in the supermarket for a whole year ... woohoo!


It's only done by the very primitive european method of sticking it in the dirt and waiting until harvest time with a little weeding in-between - but I'm proud of it none the less!

Cheers

Squeezy

[sgreger1]

Damn, that Microgreen salad I made was popular. Got 32,534 unique views on just those salad pics alone in a 3 day preiod. My blog is getting well over 1k of uniques a month sill too. Gonna do mre work on it this weekend to try and raise those numbers.

[sgreger1]

sgreger, how are your tomatoes? did you see any blossom end rot?

Naw man I got some CalMag+ in that bitch and have tomatoes coming out of my ears. I can pick cherry tomatoes literally daily (there are several hundred on that one plants), and I have successfully eaten some ripe purple Cherokee and champion tomatoes, but the vast majority are green still. In about 2 weeks I will have maybe 80+ ripe tomatoes of different varieties, it's gonna be sick. Each tomato plant has at least 15-25 fruits on it and more come every day, once they ripen I won't know what to do with them. I have 6 plants in total so do the math,

I harvested some of my jalapenos today and was dissapointed. While they were numerous and healthy, they were very mild, I think it was the variety I bought.I only eat the spiciest shit so I could literally eat one of these whole and it tastes like a bell pepper to me. other than that, everything is going amazing. I will post pictures of my lettuce here tomorrow. It's only been a week but they have doubled in size, things are ****ing huge and looking like lettuce now.

How is our drain to waste tomato plant wokring out? I have gotten really into the coco coir and am about to plant more shit in it this weekend, tomorrow in fact.

[voodooman]

sgreger, how are your tomatoes? did you see any blossom end rot?

[sgreger1]

Damn, that's impressive. That's definitely got me interested in trying hydroponics (I'm used to growing organically).



Magic Garden Seeds has a packet of 500 seeds for €1.90

http://www.magicgardenseeds.com/VAL01

I'd recommend General Organics BioThrive nutrients with a bit of General Organics CaMg+ since they are vegan organic formulas and shouldn't cause any odd flavors.

[Crow]

Check out General Hydroponics' valerian root garden!!! http://www.generalhydroponics.com/bl...lerian-at-ghe/

Damn, that's impressive. That's definitely got me interested in trying hydroponics (I'm used to growing organically).

That makes me really want to grow valerian root just to see how big I can make the roots. I may actually try this this week, I just gotta find out where I can get seeds. Do you know where to get any?

Magic Garden Seeds has a packet of 500 seeds for €1.90

http://www.magicgardenseeds.com/VAL01

[sgreger1]

I'd like to start with a couple of plants, skullcap and valerian. If they grow well, then I'll add more plants.

Eventually, I would like to have a stocked hydroponic garden that produces a wide variety of medicines.

You know that brings up a genuinely interesting question I had never thought of: With something like valerian root, you are harvesting it for it's roots and not the plant itself. With hydroponics you can get much larger, healthier root systems (if growing in like a DWC for example). I would try growing some in a 5 gallon bucket, and let the roots get about a foot long, I imagine you could get triple or more the amount of roots from a hydroponic system than you would with soil growing. I think I could easily grow a giant knot of valerian roots the size of a small soccer ball with just $20 worth of equipment.

That makes me really want to grow valerian root just to see how big I can make the roots. I may actually try this this week, I just gotta find out where I can get seeds. Do you know where to get any?


Check out General Hydroponics' valerian root garden!!! http://www.generalhydroponics.com/bl...lerian-at-ghe/

[Crow]

Wrong thread, bud.

That sounds like a great idea! What kind of plants were you looking to start?

I'd like to start with a couple of plants, skullcap and valerian. If they grow well, then I'll add more plants.

Eventually, I would like to have a stocked hydroponic garden that produces a wide variety of medicines.

[truthwolf1]

[sgreger1]

I just checked out your tutorial on making a DIY DWC.. great stuff!

I'm thinking of starting a hydroponic medicine garden (not that kind of medicine ) in the atrium. I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress.

That sounds like a great idea! What kind of plants were you looking to start? I they are small, than a DWC setup similar to the one n my tutorial would be perfect. If the plants get larger than a head of lettuce, than I would recommend getting the 20 gallon tote instead since it gives the roots more room to grow. Keep me posted!