Tag Archives: fall planting

Fall Harvest Update

4 Nov

GREAT SUCCESS!

Radishes, kale, and carrots are happily growing upstairs! A few weeks ago we had a few unseasonably early cold nights, down to the low 30s. It would have been toast for everyone had I not covered up the tank with towels. Plastic would have been better, but I didn’t have any immediately available. One frost would have done it to them, and I know that others lost plants that weren’t covered. So, we continue to grow. Lots of rain a few weeks ago helped out a lot, too. Here are some recent photos of fall growth from the tank. The white bulbs are watermelon radishes, the red are “fire and ice” and are VERY spicy! The purple kale is really good, too.

Photo Oct 27, 5 45 15 PM Photo Oct 27, 5 42 55 PM Photo Oct 21, 4 35 26 PM Photo Oct 21, 4 35 07 PM

 

Photo Nov 04, 12 50 19 PMI moved the pots of herbs to a different part of the roof near the tomatoes. They have several hours of shade every day now, and I think they really like that more than full sun. They have even started to grow back! I think next year I’ll leave them in the same spot. Even herbs that are supposed to enjoy full sun seem to be doing much better.

 

 

Photo Oct 16, 3 59 14 PMI also pulled up the marigolds from the second tank which gave those sad pepper plants the sun they had been deprived of all year. They immediately started to make fruit, so now I have several tiny SPICY hot peppers. One of them I chopped up and have sitting in olive oil, so now I have some flavor to add to my dishes.

 

 

 

 

Photo Oct 27, 6 50 59 PMSpeaking of cooking….I sauteed the kale and radish greens with a bit of the garlic and spicy pepper. A squeeze of lemon juice and some freshly grated parm and it made a great addition to spaghetti! I’m really enjoying the fresh greens. The carrots aren’t growing as fast as I thought they would, but I’ve been feeding them to Dolley. I have heard no objections.

 

 

 

Oh, and I’ve been pickling the radishes, of course.Photo Oct 27, 10 08 33 PM

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New Babies Need Diapers

17 Sep

I’ve decided to try for a fall harvest. I decided on two kinds of radishes, Photo Aug 31, 2 15 34 PMcarrots, and kale. I thought it would also be good to have something else growing in that tank for a while, kind of rotating my crops.

I cleaned out one of the tanks of dead bean and cucumber plants. Then I dumped one of my finished compost buckets in there for some much needed nutrients and bulk.

I’d wanted to use SoilMoist in the tanks to see if it would help with water retention, but I only used half of one small baggie. Then I heard about using diapers for the same purpose. Why not? The active components are very similar to SoilMoist. I bought the largest kid diapers I could find, which wound up being overnights. I didn’t get adult diapers, I just didn’t want to be seen with them. Also they’re pricier. Took them apart and dumped the powdery stuff into a bowl, just to play. Works! Here it is next to the rest of the SoilMoist

Photo Sep 17, 3 40 55 PM Photo Aug 27, 5 22 38 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wound up using three diapers in total, so for the other tank I’ll use four to make up for the additional SoilMoist. Worked it in a few inches under the soil, as suggested. Makes sense. You don’t want it to evaporate right away. Then I planted.

Photo Aug 31, 1 09 04 PMPhoto Aug 31, 2 19 00 PM

 

 

Then I watered. You could see the new soil mix fluffing up as it absorbed the water. Radishes came up in two days, everything else was up within the week. Three weeks later and we’re doing very well. I will start to harvest the radishes in about a week or two. The intense summer heat has started to dissipate, but we are still having some high temp September days. The diapers have been protecting my babies!

Photo Sep 14, 4 31 51 PM

I’m not really concerned about the material leaching and getting into the plants themselves. It’s basically inert, and it will eventually break down into the soil and I’ll have to replace it. Next year, I’ll add some diaper material to the second tank, and also to the tomato buckets.

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