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Guitarchitect posted:how often did you need to replant, if at all? what were you growing? Parsley, basil, thyme, other thyme, rosemary, and some other one (sage I think). I started them all from seed in February. All of them were doing quite well with constant harvesting until we moved to a house in June. After that I had them outside but they weren't impressed with being changed to real sun where they encountered real bugs. Anyways, I transplanted them all in to the garden and they seem okay now. I haven't had a long term inside herb garden beyond around six months but they presumably would have gone on for a long time with pruning. The basil was doing great, I would cut it right back down and it would grow right back up and never try to flower. The moment it went outside the heat made it bolt though. cowofwar fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Nov 4, 2012 |
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Nov 4, 2012 16:58
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About to break out my Aerogardens. Wondering what to try out this winter. The Oregano and Pepper Oregano is perennial here, and I plan to crop short the Rosemary outside and cover the rest with mulch. So those two are covered. Something aromatic would be neat. Maybe I'll fill one with Basil and the other with something else. Edit: perhaps Dill.
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Nov 4, 2012 21:29
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Depending on the variety Dill can grow pretty tall. I had some in a wildflower mix that was about 3 feet and some other types in my garden plot that got up to 7 feet.
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Nov 5, 2012 03:58
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I've had thyme growing outside for about four winters (rain, sun, and snow). It seems pretty hearty.
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Nov 5, 2012 06:07
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Fog Tripper posted:About to break out my Aerogardens. If I could have one ingredient at hand all the time in my kitchen it would be cilantro, with basil running a distant second. Almost all of our favorite foods involve cilantro and it's impossible to grow here in NC.
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Nov 5, 2012 16:06
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mischief posted:If I could have one ingredient at hand all the time in my kitchen it would be cilantro, with basil running a distant second. Almost all of our favorite foods involve cilantro and it's impossible to grow here in NC.
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Nov 6, 2012 02:06
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I always thought coriander was just the seeds of the same plant? Looking on google there seems to be quite a fuss about the topic. We use a lot of the leaf and upper stem of the plant in our cooking, mostly in noodle dishes, tacos, fish dishes, etc.
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Nov 6, 2012 02:43
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Coriander is the seed, cilantro is the plant. That's how I've always know it. Marjoram is another one I like although it can be a fairly slow grower.
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Nov 6, 2012 03:59
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mischief posted:I always thought coriander was just the seeds of the same plant? Looking on google there seems to be quite a fuss about the topic. We use a lot of the leaf and upper stem of the plant in our cooking, mostly in noodle dishes, tacos, fish dishes, etc.
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Nov 6, 2012 21:43
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The problem I have with cilantro is that it bolts at the drop of a hat here in VA. I think once the temps get over 80 degrees it will go to seed, and once that happens the leaves are useless. I could see that being an even bigger problem in NC.
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Nov 6, 2012 22:05
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Yeah the window to grow it in NC is almost non-existent, though I guess I could make it happen inside or something. It would be a tremendous pain in the rear end for something I can go buy for like a buck at the local Chinese market so ehhhh...
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Nov 7, 2012 00:43
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I planted a lot of seedlings the other day. Broccoli, Sugarsnap peas, basil. Today was really hot and by the time I got home from work most of them were dried up and crispy. Gave everything a good drenching with the hose just in case but RIP little baby plants. You never got a chance to be devoured by me.
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Nov 11, 2012 12:38
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Coriander is the seed, cilantro is the plant. That's how I've always know it. Isn't majoram pretty close to oregano?
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Nov 13, 2012 03:18
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Guitarchitect posted:how realistic is it to grow an indoor herb garden? I've heard that parsley works well because you can snip it off and it keeps growing - others have to be re-seeded which makes me wonder if they're worth the effort. I'd love to have something modest (mostly artifically lit because of the layout of my apartment) that would let me use fresh herbs in my cooking every now and then. getting sick of buying a bunch of herbs for just a recipe and having nothing to do with the rest - and my place could use some green! I had this same idea. How feasible would it be to have a porch garden in DC, or a hanging indoor garden? Would it be possible to grow anything besides herbs in an indoor set up like this?  Sorry if this is a stupid question, I am just horrible at growing stuff. The only thing I can keep alive is THinkGeek's dino plant.
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Nov 13, 2012 07:26
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Are there holes drilled in the bottom? Would moisture be a problem?
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Nov 13, 2012 20:30
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Fog Tripper posted:Isn't majoram pretty close to oregano? They are similar but marjoram has a sweet floral taste and smell compared to oregano.
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Nov 13, 2012 22:32
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thepitgoddess posted:I had this same idea. How feasible would it be to have a porch garden in DC, or a hanging indoor garden? Would it be possible to grow anything besides herbs in an indoor set up like this? With the right equipment, you can grow anything you want indoors...just snapped these.    Herbs would definitely be doable, and my feeling is that if you just want to grow them in soil/pots/jars, it's no big deal as long as you have tons of sun through windows or artificial lighting.
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Nov 14, 2012 02:30
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thepitgoddess posted:I had this same idea. How feasible would it be to have a porch garden in DC, or a hanging indoor garden? Would it be possible to grow anything besides herbs in an indoor set up like this? Some kind of porch garden or an indoor herb garden is totally feasible. A setup like that, not so much.
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Nov 14, 2012 02:46
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i like nice words
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We just moved, and now have a good sized back porch, but a much smaller basement than before. I'm thinking about starting my tomatoes and peppers on the back porch this year, but I have no idea if I can keep it warm enough. So, I'm looking for a set of thermometers - preferably ones that can either save hourly readings until I look at it and reset it, or, better yet, ones that can periodically send a signal to my computer for analysis. Does anyone know of such a thing, and if so, if they work well? I'd need at least two and preferably three - one for a baseline temp on the porch without any extra insulation, one for inside whatever covering I put on the growing racks (probably something taped together out of old shower curtains to start), and one for inside the styrofoam box that will have my heating pad for sprouting seeds. And since there's every chance that this just won't work at all, I'd prefer not to spend a fortune on it.
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Nov 30, 2012 15:34
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Yeah they make soil thermometers and indoor/outdoor thermometers. Something which takes hourly readings and logs them may be a bit more spendy, although you could probably jerry-rig something. My concern would be the lack of insulation beneath the deck - if there's free airflow below the deck, a pot or planter will freeze more quickly since it'd be getting cold air from every side and below as well.
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Nov 30, 2012 19:04
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There are min/max thermometers but I've never seen one that wasn't a piece of poo poo. You're better off just doing spot checks with a standard digital kitchen thermometer for $20.
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Nov 30, 2012 23:14
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 Found this today as I finally got around to winterizing the beds.
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Nov 30, 2012 23:38
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I decided to take a dive into indoor aquaponics and went with a very modular, self contained IBC based setup. I'm using 300 GPH pump with constant flow (May switch to flood/drain down the line), 4 x 48" T5 light fixture and hydroton clay pellets.   Ive got everything cut, cleaned, stacked and plumbed. The big things left to do are hang the lights (4 bulb, 48" T5 fixture I picked up off CL for $80 with bulbs), wash the hydro medium and fill the grow bed. I'm going to use gold fish for now, and eventually switching to Blue Tilapia (When my friend gets his IBC setup finished we are going 50/50 on an order of tilapia frylings) - after that, just need to plant everything.
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Dec 3, 2012 02:22
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Totally TWISTED posted:
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Dec 3, 2012 23:38
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WildFoxMedia posted:I decided to take a dive into indoor aquaponics and went with a very modular, self contained IBC based setup. Can you talk a little more about how this is set up, or post some resources to learn more about aquaponics? I'm really interested in trying it out but I don't know much about it. And please, keep us updated!
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Dec 4, 2012 18:41
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drat Your Eyes! posted:Can you talk a little more about how this is set up, or post some resources to learn more about aquaponics? I'm really interested in trying it out but I don't know much about it. And please, keep us updated! Most importantly, what's your total cost so far?
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Dec 5, 2012 15:54
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 There are many different setups for aquaponics - I chose this one because its fairly modular and self enclosed. It's made from an IBC Tote which are used in industrial settings to hold bulk materials in both food grade and non food grade varieties. Some typical uses are things like molasses or syrups, etc. I purchased this IBC Tote for $125 from a guy on my local Craigslist who runs a power washing and restaurant service company. As far as totes go, especially food grade, $125 is actually a good price. I'm mostly following the build instructions from http://ibcofaquaponics.com/ The light is a Hydrofarm 48" 4 bulb T5 fixture I picked up with 6 bulbs from a guy on Craigslist for $80 and is being hung by 2 eye screws into the ceiling joists and using a dog tie out is essentially a steel cable, wrapped in vinyl with clips on each end. The goal is to be able to raise and lower the lights as needed, and also for maintenance. My costs thus far look like the following:
There are also some other one time expenses I had to deal with because I didn't have the tool which include a $60 angle grinder, a 50' garden hose for $35, $20 in various cutting disks and saw blades. It's not the cheapest endeavor, but I feel like now that I know what I'm doing, it could be done for cheaper and could be done more efficiently. Still left to do is buy the media which I'm having to change up since the company that makes Hydroton has gone out of business, and stalk with fish and I'll be ready to plant.
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Dec 6, 2012 03:36
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I know the Bigelow Brook Farm guy (the guy that built the aquaponic geodesic dome) uses expanded shale - I think he sells it too. Not sure how it compares to other media though. http://www.bigelowbrook.com/Products/Shale/ExpandedShale.aspx
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Dec 7, 2012 07:53
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Tad SG posted:I know the Bigelow Brook Farm guy (the guy that built the aquaponic geodesic dome) uses expanded shale - I think he sells it too. Not sure how it compares to other media though. I found a guy who bought and cleaned 9 bags of Hydroton before his partner decided they were going with a different setup, be that as it may, I bought the whole lot for $150 which is a little less than half the price retail. I'll be splitting this with my friend. So consider it $75 for roughly 4.5-5 bags which typically retail for $33 each
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Dec 8, 2012 05:39
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WildFoxMedia posted:I found a guy who bought and cleaned 9 bags of Hydroton before his partner decided they were going with a different setup, be that as it may, I bought the whole lot for $150 which is a little less than half the price retail. I'll be splitting this with my friend. So consider it $75 for roughly 4.5-5 bags which typically retail for $33 each Nice score!
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Dec 8, 2012 21:50
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Floating raft seems like it would be the cheapest. Does it not perform as well as a media bed?
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Dec 9, 2012 00:02
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dwoloz posted:Floating raft seems like it would be the cheapest. Does it not perform as well as a media bed? I honestly don't know a lot about floating rafts - From what I've read it seems like some folks feel they are more advanced and being my first entry into hydro/aquaponics I wanted to go with a solution that was documented and pretty newbie friendly. I do agree that raft would be cheaper - Your cost at that point is the raft material itself and the baskets.
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Dec 9, 2012 03:37
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Last year my wife and I started some raised beds here in Las Vegas. We got a late start, and as such everything got clobbered by the summer heat (and hornworms) and was stunted (or eaten). We got some cucumbers, and a few small watermelons and a handful of peppers but that was it. This year we are having another go at it, and we are expanding. We are going to try another type of bed, this time amending the rocky soil in our backyard with ammonium phosphate, sulfur and composted steer manure. Hopefully this works, as I think the soil in the beds was too woody and was stealing nutrients. Then again, the soil in our backyard is half rocks and I am only able to remove the big ones, unless I build or borrow a screen. For 2 5'X3'x1' beds that's a fair amount of dirt. We dug half of one today, and about 1/4 of the other. Hopefully we can get at least one done tomorrow. Also, I got a small 6x6 pop up greenhouse for use in the winter for over-wintering peppers, and raising seedlings and hardening them off. Our indoor setup is great for germination, but the seedlings get leggy fast and having more space would be a plus too. It's also a buffer against a late spring, as it's a good idea to start plants indoors as early as January here, and planting time could be anytime in March. Anyways, I'll take some pictures of the beds, my wife's seed starting shelf and the new poo poo-holes, of course. EDIT: pics. Our old beds. The tires on the left have artichokes in them.  Empty holes and our major soil amendment, steer manure.  The west bed full of native soil mixed with manure, sulfur and ammonium phosphate. The edges are raised to leach salt out of the main bed, and to keep water in during irrigation and out when the yard floods.  The plan is to put in irrigation and put up string trellises, then plant some climbing winter plants like peas or sweet peas. We'll probably argue about cutting them down in early march, but that's what we'll have to do if we want cukes. AxeBreaker fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Dec 10, 2012 |
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Dec 9, 2012 09:34
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Aquaponics update! Been busy with other stuff, but I picked up the bags of hydroton a bit ago and got them in the grow bed. I also picked up 20 feeder gold fish from a pretty ghetto fish store in the area because I refuse to give Petco my money for live animals. I need to pick up more at some point because 20 little feeder goldfish are going to have a hell of a time starting the cycle in 180 gallons of water. Lastly, I got impatient and decided to sow some arugula seeds in some rockwool cubes I picked up. A couple days in under 8 hours of light/day they are starting to open up and root out. I have mostly cleanup work to do for the mean time, like setting up proper electrical, looking into aquarium heaters, etc.
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Dec 16, 2012 10:59
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WildFoxMedia posted:Aquaponics update! No, they ought to start the cycle just fine. Goldfish produce a hell of a lot of straight ammonia, and if you drop a shitload of fish in there at once you'll just turn your tank into a 180 gallon vat of dilute window cleaner. It takes around a month for a proper cycle to set up in a normal home aquarium with a far lower fish:water ratio than what you've currently got, just let it ride for a bit til you can confirm everything is getting converted to nitrates, then start adding fish. Or, just let the ones you have grow. Strictly speaking, carp(which goldfish are a type of) are actually good eating if they're not feeding on nasty food or in filthy water.
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Dec 16, 2012 21:16
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spandexcajun posted:Figure I would post this here as well the foraging thread. Anyone grow mushrooms before? Awesome, I'm psyched to see how this works out. If it takes you're going to end up with a poo poo ton of mushrooms. I would avoid doing things like blocking the sunlight and covering this thing with plastic. Oyster mushrooms need a lot of air flow because they put out quite a bit of carbon dioxide. They also need sun so they can synthesize vitamin D. The only problem is that you don't want things to dry out -- try to keep it humid but not dripping. Stagnation can also gently caress things over as well. WildFoxMedia posted:
Also very interested in how this pans out. Are you gonna be logging things like pH, nitrate levels, etc? Are you doing this to primarily produce edible fish?
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Dec 17, 2012 15:17
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and just want to kill this tree stump / get some tasty gourmet mushrooms. 
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On the subject of -ponics, I recently put together a DWC(deep water culture) setup and am in the process of converting it to a NFT(nutrient film technique) system. This is my first foray into hydroponics and I'm really just making it up as I go. I'm pretty close to being finished though, should have it running by next weekend barring any major setbacks. Right now I've got Parsley, Cilantro, Sage, Dill (still in soil), and Basil. Oregano and Thyme are waiting for the new digs. Also going to be growing spinach, a couple varieties of lettuce, sugar snap peas, grape tomatoes and a bunch of cat drugs. What it started as (minus the plumbing etc):  What it will be:  Here is the album: http://imgur.com/a/COQTd
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Dec 17, 2012 18:55
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SniperWoreConverse posted:Also very interested in how this pans out. Are you gonna be logging things like pH, nitrate levels, etc? Are you doing this to primarily produce edible fish? I am planning on logging pH, nitrates on an ongoing basis. Eventually, I would like to buy sensors to hook up to a Raspberry Pi and monitor via simple web interface, email or as a guy in Oakland has setup, twitter. I'll admit that I'm a bit impatient and decided to jump ahead with things. I've added another 15 feeder goldfish - all of the fish in the tank are approximately 1-2" long and aside from 3 dead in the latest batch (they didn't look good to begin with) things are going well. I also went ahead today and started planting the rest of the items I wanted to plant which include Little Gem Romaine, Long Thin Cayenne peppers, a smaller varietal of yellow onions, Red Belgian sweet peppers and a couple Genovese Basil. One of my big goals is to produce edible fish - currently I'm waiting on a friend to get his similar setup running so we can go in half on an order of illegal, out of state Tilapia but he's taking for god drat ever and I might try to source some myself.    
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Dec 19, 2012 07:07
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Seems like there's enough interest that a separate hydro/aqua-ponics thread might be in order - I know I'd love to check it for updates on how these projects are going.
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Dec 20, 2012 05:26
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Tad SG posted:Seems like there's enough interest that a separate hydro/aqua-ponics thread might be in order - I know I'd love to check it for updates on how these projects are going. I've been doing loads of research the past 6 months or so, I can take a crack at a thread sometime in the next few days.
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Dec 20, 2012 06:47
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