Update 3.10.16

Goodness gracious! 

The plants have really, really started to grow. Last update I had trimmed some of the larger herbs, and last night I had to do it again. The second harvest was even bigger than the first! I'm still kind of new to the whole herb garden thing, but I had no idea these things could replenish from a trimming so fast! 

This week we switched some things around. All three lettuce plants are doing fine and getting huge. So much so, that I decided to move them to the big garden temporarily so I could give the smaller plants their own spot with good light. 

The cilantro did sprout one little green vein, but it hasn't grown any leaves yet. We are way past the 21 day mark for sprouting, but I'm still letting it hang out. Hopefully this fresh water and plant food today will wake it up. 

Here is a shot of the "toddlers" as I call them. On the left is "Curly Parsley", in the middle is "Italian Parsley" and on the right is the Cilantro. I'm still really hopeful that the cilantro will take off, it's one of the main reasons we started this garden. (And I hate buying it now that we have all these herbs! 

Next we have our Big fat 9 pod. The Dill by far is growing the most, however the Genovese Basil is doing really well also. You can see here why I had the thought of moving the smaller plants. These others are large and in charge. There really wasn't a way to trim them back so the little guys could get enough light. (Trimming more than a third of the plant could actually damage or kill it.)

:)

First Trimming! 3.4.16

We harvested our first clippings from the gardens today.
It's really amazing how fast some of these plants are growing!
So far the fastest growing herbs have been the Dill, Genovese Basil, and Thai Basil. These three have been overtaking the back row of the Garden. Our Cilantro has finally shown some signs of life, giving us a 100% success rate with both gardens. =)
All three lettuces are doing fine and growing full. I may experiment a bit and move the smaller Lettuce to the back.


Herb Garden Before:

Lettuce Garden Before: 

Here is all of the edible trimmings: 

Here is the after of the Herb Garden: 

Here is the after of the Lettuce Garden: 

According to what we have read, with regular pruning we will be able to harvest the maximum amounts from our gardens. SO if you will excuse me, I have a date with a salad bowl =) 

Update 2.23.16

So everything has sprouted for us, except for Italian Parsley and Cilantro. Which is a bummer, because I probably use cilantro the most. Still haven't got the 21 day ceiling yet on either, the Italian parsley calls for 12 days-21 so it's not out of the game yet, and the cilantro is 10-21, so there is still hope. 

Today is day 12. 

Sprouts!!

We have Sprouts!
The kids have been excited about this garden, especially Drew, the 3 year old. "Leaps! There's leaps on the bubble garden Dad!"
(The "Sprout" model aerogarden has a little bubble wand you can see and hear)
SO here they are, the first to make their long awaited appearance at the Whitehouse!

Deer Tongue Lettuce

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

Thai Basil 

Genovese Basil

Here's a shot of our Lettuce Garden. (AKA "bubble garden")

Here's a quick shot of the "bounty" model, packed with our herbs. 

The AeroGarden Experiment

SO this year we decided to try our hand at hydroponics. Don't let that sound super complicated. It's really quite simple.
We have purchased two aerogardens.
Check them out here
Shanon and I had seen advertisements for these several years ago, and we always said that it looked very cool. I have always wanted to have fresh herbs in the kitchen for when I'm cooking, but we never really put this whole thing on our priority list.
Now that we have been cooking much, much more at home, we decided to make the investment. Although we know it will take several batches of herbs/Lettuce before we see much return on our investment, we do spend money on fresh herbs quite often, and although they are not the most expensive thing we buy at the grocery store, $2.99 here and there 3-4 times a month does in fact add up over a few years, and with us growing our own, we will definitely use even more fresh herbs, which is overall healthy for the family as well.
We have also been researching how to plant/grow with these gardens organically, although the first initial planting has been done with the seed pods the gardens came with.
We are looking forward to doing some container gardening this year, as I have had the itch the last two summers to get some veggies planted.

Alright, enough of the why.
Thursday February 11, 2016 We planted 12 pods across the two Gardens.

On the 3 Pod "Sprout" model, we planted leaf lettuces. Black Seeded Simpson, Deer Tongue, and Paris Island.
On the 9 Pod "Bounty" model, we planted Thai Basil, Genovese Basil, Dill, Italian Parsley, Mint, Chives, Curly Parsley, and Cilantro.

Update 8.5.10

Wow! how time flies!
First off, the onion patch was completely stripped bare of all the seedlings by birds. (Apparently we are learning the downside of gardening right next to 20 acres of woods.)
The soil that I bought for the buckets was exactly that, soil, which is not the recommended growing medium for the water wicking. Needless to say, the one tomato plant that was planted several days ago did not survive, despite my best efforts.

Also, The new little greenhouse box that we bought, did not work. Two of the 36 seeds planted actually sprouted. Not sure if perhaps it was the seed starting soil I bought, or if the whole mini greenhouse thing is to blame.

Frustration. And, I wasted a ton of good seeds on that tray. hopefully, I can dig them out and re-plant them. Time is ticking down to the second growing season, so hopefully we can get this going soon.

Update 7.23.10

So today I was finally able to set up six buckets. One of them is also planted, but since the kids were at church I saved the remaining five to be planted tomorrow after work.
I also am going to start researching making my own growing medium. This bagged soil seems to be fine, but the cost is just nuts. There has to be a cheaper way.
I also read a short blog today about a gardener who is successfully growing all sorts of vegetables in those re-usable grocery bags. Those are super cheap, so that may be an interesting alternative to buying more buckets.
The broccoli and cauliflower couldn't handle the heat, and they burned up today while I was at work. Oh well, I had them, so I figured I'd try. The peppers and Tomatoes are doing fine in their pods. They are now at full sun and are growing what seems to be inches every day. Also the cucumbers and pumpkins seem to be handling the heat as well. Even the Swiss chard seems alright.
I am worried about the onion patch. None of the plants have stood up yet, meaning one, they are still in shock, or two something isn't right and perhaps it's just too hot.
Still waiting to see sprouts in the new flat of seeds.
Hopefully tomorrow Shanon will snap some pictures, and maybe the onions will stand up!