Gardening: (2016– )

[Shelby]

That's just beautiful @dcarch.

[KennethT]

19 minutes ago, dcarch said:

My DIY high power LED system has been very rewarding during this pandemic and bad weather season. I can't keep up with the output. Have not had the need to go out to shop for veggies much.

 

dcarch

 

 

 

The photos are a bit chopped up - would it be too much trouble to ask for a photo of the tomato plant?  How are you trellising it?  What variety is it?  Is it a dwarf?

[KennethT]

Here's the latest family photo...

 

Lots of stuff lurking in with the gigantic lemongrass... There's the curry plant on the left of it and the kaffir lime tree on the right against the wall.  This is just after an extreme haircut of the mint and replanting the laksa (rau ram).

 

[dcarch]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

That's just beautiful @dcarch.

Thanks!

My "farm to mouth" setup. No sanitizing needed..

 

2 hours ago, KennethT said:

The photos are a bit chopped up - would it be too much trouble to ask for a photo of the tomato plant?  How are you trellising it?  What variety is it?  Is it a dwarf?

 

That happens to be a volunteer tomato plant. I have no idea what it is. I never have grown dwarf tomatoes before. It seems to stay short. No staking. Relatively productive.  Nice flavor. I must have had 30 fruits already. There are at least another 15/20 on the vine.

 

I just bought some dwarf seeds. Now that I know I can do well with tomatoes using my LED lights.

 

dcarch

 

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I love "volunteer" tomatoes, though they are sometimes not very good, taste-wise. Work pretty well for sauce or other cooked applications. If your volunteer has good taste, save the seeds and see how they do in subsequent generations. Find a tomato that's dead ripe but not mushy, scrape out the seeds (that haven't already started to sprout) and gel into a small jar of water. Shake the jar several times a day for a week or so to remove the gel (which will make seeds rot) and then spread the naked seeds on a piece of waxed paper to dry. Next year plant a seed or 2 to see if they taste the way the original one did--ideally better, depending on what the parent variety was. 

 

The problem with volunteers is that they may have come from a hybrid and thus won't be the same as the parent. But you never know--your volunteer's seeds might work out. Worth a try. I plant non-hybrid varieties because they just plain taste better, and I can save seeds from one generation to the next. Often they change subtly and sometimes improve based on my growing conditions and climate. Select only good quality fruit, not the discards.

 

Did this volunteer come from fruit that fell off last year's plants? That could give you a clue about what to expect.

[TicTac]

The itch continues - plotting my layout this year - thought I would share

one new wintering girl and one old stalwart - curry leaf & bay leaf - enjoying the southern exposure and heat vent by the front door...

Cathy curry leaf was shipped as a single twig with maybe 10 leaves to her measly stalk, she has surprised and rebounded quite nicely 

 

[heidih]

Do you have to spritz the foliage when heater is running as it can dry the air? Looking good.

[TicTac]

I haven't, but I do water them at least every 2-3 days or so it seems (find empty wine bottle, fill it up, and glug glug glug! 😛)  They seem to enjoy dryer soil, so we get along just fine!

 

 

[KennethT]

Time to change out the basil plant!!!

 

[heidih]

Proud dad ?  I almost linked Elton doing Circle of Life

[jimb0]

good. grief. how old is that monstrosity?

[KennethT]

30 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

good. grief. how old is that monstrosity?

Probably over a year.  And, it was constantly heavily pruned at least once a week!

[heidih]

6 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Probably over a year.  And, it was constantly heavily pruned at least once a week!

which just stimulates the growth hormones  

[jimb0]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

Probably over a year.  And, it was constantly heavily pruned at least once a week!

 

bro. you grew a basil tree. 

[gfweb]

@dcarch
I know you've posted it but I can't find it.

Whats your LED setup?

[dcarch]

16 minutes ago, gfweb said:

@dcarch
I know you've posted it but I can't find it.

Whats your LED setup?

 

page 50, Gardening

 

 

dcarch

 

 

[dcarch]

On 2/25/2021 at 10:50 AM, TicTac said:

The itch continues - plotting my layout this year - thought I would share

one new wintering girl and one old stalwart - curry leaf & bay leaf - enjoying the southern exposure and heat vent by the front door...

Cathy curry leaf was shipped as a single twig with maybe 10 leaves to her measly stalk, she has surprised and rebounded quite nicely 

 

 

Looks like Toona sinensis. 

Toona sinensis tree leaves are edible.

I am trying to grow a few in my garden.

 

dcarch

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, jimb0 said:

 

bro. you grew a basil tree. 

Yeah - the trunk was about 1-1/2 inches in diameter and woody.

[Shelby]

Ok all you smart gardeners.  Ronnie wants to put a grow light in the greenhouse.  I need something not very expensive, not super extensive...just a plain ole light.  Suggestions?  I know nothing about them.  He read that his tomato plants will do better...be less "leggy".

[lemniscate]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Ok all you smart gardeners.  Ronnie wants to put a grow light in the greenhouse.  I need something not very expensive, not super extensive...just a plain ole light.  Suggestions?  I know nothing about them.  He read that his tomato plants will do better...be less "leggy".

 

Check out red blue led grow lights on Amazon.  Lots of choices and not expensive.  These are the choice of "professional herb gardeners", if you get my drift.

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by lemniscate (log)

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Ok all you smart gardeners.  Ronnie wants to put a grow light in the greenhouse.  I need something not very expensive, not super extensive...just a plain ole light.  Suggestions?  I know nothing about them.  He read that his tomato plants will do better...be less "leggy".

Cheapest thing you can do for that is fluorescent lights... for a small # of plants you can use a CFL (compact fluorescent) using one of those clamp-on fixtures.  If you need more space, use a 4' shop-light or something like that.  Stay away from bulbs labeled "soft white" or anything like that which will have more red in the spectrum - for CFLs, they make "daylight" spectrum bulbs which are good, otherwise a cool white will be good because it has lots of blue which will keep plants more compact and keep them from getting leggy.

 

The LED grow lights on Amazon are ok but will be a lot more expensive than a fluorescent for the equivalent amount of brightness.  Yes, they're more energy efficient, but that won't make a difference for 1 or 2 lights... it makes a big difference when you're lighting up a warehouse.

[dcarch]

4 hours ago, Shelby said:

Ok all you smart gardeners.  Ronnie wants to put a grow light in the greenhouse.  I need something not very expensive, not super extensive...just a plain ole light.  Suggestions?

 

Is a $10 solution too expensive for you?  If not, take a look what I have done for my greenhouse. Just an alternate idea.

$5.00 so called "space blanket" reflective plastic sheet.

$2.00 fishing line.

$3.00 paper clips.

 

A reflective curtain that you can open/close easily for watering/harvesting, which can double the sunlight you get.

BTW, Those turnbuckles etc in the picture are not related to the curtain system. They are my "invisible heavy duty" steel shelve support system.

 

dcarch

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by dcarch (log)

[TicTac]

On 2/28/2021 at 10:08 PM, dcarch said:

 

Looks like Toona sinensis. 

Toona sinensis tree leaves are edible.

I am trying to grow a few in my garden.

 

dcarch

Looks can be deceiving!

 

Toona Sinensis has larger veins in the leaves, more spaced, and larger leaves.

 

This as mentioned, is a Curry Tree (ok, little stubby one) - Murraya koenigii

 

[heidih]

Actor Judi Dench on her life with trees - she is passionate  

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by heidih (log)

[TicTac]

Pepper seeds are in seedling trays, on a heating vent - under cover.  Fingers crossed.

 

Quite the variety this year, we have Serrano, Poblano, Aleppo, Basque, Aurora and Pueblo.  And some red Italian varietals I forget the name of.

 

2 more weeks, and in go the heirloom tomatoes - I am thinking another week or two later, Armenian cukes (actually melons) and a few types of zucchini.