Hydroponic Garden

[Mrs.Cicero]

5 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Well, some pretty purplish/blue blossoms showed a couple days ago n the bean plant, the other is several weeks behind, bit that is what it is. tomatoes are growing and getting fuzzy. I think I found the type, and if it is (looked right when sliced) they are a dwarf variety, and perfect for what I'm doing. The Dinosaur Kale is pretty good, but I wish I could find one of the verities the Aero offers in a pod, but it is a one and done harvest it seems.

All is well, trying a different plant food so we'll see how that goes. The reviews on it are way above board.

Canned some peach jam yesterday and it never set, soooo,,,,,,,,,,,,,off with their heads (lids) and the attempt as saving it begins. Internet is great. Cooking to the said times was a flop, and it cooked down a LOT longer. Started with 10 half pints, ended with 6. Yea it cooked down a lot. I went with suggestions on testing a set instead of time. I should know to do that but tire easily and used too small a pan yesterday. It was my first try in my life, so we learn things. Canner worked fine, and I hope to get a lot of use from it. It only makes small batches, 4 pints per batch, but since it is just LostWife and me, with limited produce, I figure that is just fine. This one will do water bath or pressure, so it should cover the experiment just fine.

LostWife was the taste tester on the spoon that set, and said she can't wait for breakfast and fresh jam. I like that I can use half the sugar that recipes call for and still get a very good tasting product. They called for 5 1/2 cups sugar and I used a bit over 3, so that may have made some difference in it setting. The peaches were really sweet though.

More as the experiment goes.

 

Not using the amount of sugar the recipe called for is what caused the jam not to set.  Regular pectin is very sensitive to that.  If you want to do low (or no) sugar jams, get some Pomona Pectin (available thru Amazon).  That will set fine with half the sugar (or less - as in none) that regular pectin requires.  It will also set using honey instead of sugar (what I use since I keep bees).  This week all my jams have been with pears from a friend whose trees' branches are breaking from the weight of the pears on them!  While my trees have a grand total of 12 pears between all 3 of them!  j

[holyjohnson]

had a Friend Years ago bought one out of the back of HighTimes Magazine.

 

worked out well for him.

[LostinTexas]

1 hour ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Not using the amount of sugar the recipe called for is what caused the jam not to set.  Regular pectin is very sensitive to that.  If you want to do low (or no) sugar jams, get some Pomona Pectin (available thru Amazon).  That will set fine with half the sugar (or less - as in none) that regular pectin requires.  It will also set using honey instead of sugar (what I use since I keep bees).  This week all my jams have been with pears from a friend whose trees' branches are breaking from the weight of the pears on them!  While my trees have a grand total of 12 pears between all 3 of them!  j

Thanks Mrs. C. I figured the sugar was part of the problem, at least. I just didn't let it cook long enough I think. Since I added nothing, but cook time and a little lemon juice. I know what to look for now, and have a little better grip. I even found a recipe without pectin, just was scared to try it. We get thing ingrained from horror stories while growing up.

I know for certain my grandmothers never had a pressure canner and canned everything. I know none of us ever died from it either, but things now days say pressure canning is the only way if you do low acidity products. Maybe my memory is incorrect, but mom said the same thing.

[Mrs.Cicero]

13 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Thanks Mrs. C. I figured the sugar was part of the problem, at least. I just didn't let it cook long enough I think. Since I added nothing, but cook time and a little lemon juice. I know what to look for now, and have a little better grip. I even found a recipe without pectin, just was scared to try it. We get thing ingrained from horror stories while growing up.

I know for certain my grandmothers never had a pressure canner and canned everything. I know none of us ever died from it either, but things now days say pressure canning is the only way if you do low acidity products. Maybe my memory is incorrect, but mom said the same thing.

Peaches have enough natural sugars in them to be canned in a water bath canner without killing anyone.  You can make nearly any fruit or berry jam in a water bath canner without adding sugar - the no-sugar recipes have to be boiled down a lot to reach 220F so they'll gel.  I don't do many of those because they take a lot longer, and I get annoyed when they reach temp, and I check to see if they'll gel (the frozen spoon trick)... and they fail for another 30 minutes of boiling.  Hence my love for Pomona pectin - half the normal amount of sugar, only 1-2 minutes of boiling after adding it, and a consistent gel.  If you are concerned about canning safety, grab a copy of the Ball canning book wherever canning supplies are sold (they often have it at the Meijer where I shop for groceries).  It'll have all the latest FDA info on what is safe to can in water bath, in pressure canner, and not-at-all.  I got kind of annoyed when the FDA changed the apple pie filling recipe so you had to use ClearGel instead of cornstarch, because cornstarch was "no longer recommended for canning" (whatever that means).  I'v eaten so many pies made with filling canned with cornstarch in my life...

 

[LostinTexas]

1 hour ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Peaches have enough natural sugars in them to be canned in a water bath canner without killing anyone.  You can make nearly any fruit or berry jam in a water bath canner without adding sugar - the no-sugar recipes have to be boiled down a lot to reach 220F so they'll gel.  I don't do many of those because they take a lot longer, and I get annoyed when they reach temp, and I check to see if they'll gel (the frozen spoon trick)... and they fail for another 30 minutes of boiling.  Hence my love for Pomona pectin - half the normal amount of sugar, only 1-2 minutes of boiling after adding it, and a consistent gel.  If you are concerned about canning safety, grab a copy of the Ball canning book wherever canning supplies are sold (they often have it at the Meijer where I shop for groceries).  It'll have all the latest FDA info on what is safe to can in water bath, in pressure canner, and not-at-all.  I got kind of annoyed when the FDA changed the apple pie filling recipe so you had to use ClearGel instead of cornstarch, because cornstarch was "no longer recommended for canning" (whatever that means).  I'v eaten so many pies made with filling canned with cornstarch in my life...

 

LOL, I guess times change and so do recommendations. I do remember watching a friend of some of our hunting party canning Salmon? in a water bath. I never thought much of it, but they had a stovetop full of pots and fish in jars, no pressure cooker in sight.  They were snagging them out of the lake. Seemingly a common practice there.

The amazing part was we were in the 7000-8000 ft altitude as well. There may have been a pressure cooker that I missed, especially at that altitude, but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Mrs.Cicero]

2 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

LOL, I guess times change and so do recommendations. I do remember watching a friend of some of our hunting party canning Salmon? in a water bath. I never thought much of it, but they had a stovetop full of pots and fish in jars, no pressure cooker in sight.  They were snagging them out of the lake. Seemingly a common practice there.

The amazing part was we were in the 7000-8000 ft altitude as well. There may have been a pressure cooker that I missed, especially at that altitude, but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

YIKES!  Yeah, all the meat I can goes straight to the pressure canner!

[LostinTexas]

Well, it had to happen. Killed both gardens last week. Our water system puts some kind of flush in the water, usually in the middle of the night, and it dissipates in a few hours. Normally they tell us, several times. They missed me on the email list I guess. It isn't supposed to be harmful to humans or mammal pets, but they say not to give it to birds and definatley don't fill the fish tank. I know why now. Filled the gardens, and in 2 days plants were beyond wilted, day 3 they had crunchy leaves.

I was beside myself wondering what happened. Hitting every site I could to sort it out. My soil tester does ph, but it doesn't do liquid. I don't know. So, I put a sample in a fresh soil that had a grantee of 7,and with plain water, that is what it had. With a sample of the garden it dropped it to a 5. How acidic was that water? I put a total of 3 quarts into two two gallon reservoirs to drop it to that.

Emptied everything and rinsed it all down. Filled and put in food, and started pretty much over. I had some greens freshly started, and they seem to have survived, but my tomato plant was blossoming, and the second was probably a week behind. My bean plant was blossoming like a champ,,,,,,,,,,,,,Dead. A second that seemed a week or two behind dropped dead as well. So, I  started both again, and saved a shoot off the tomato plant that was the most mature. It laid around for a few days and started standing up. This one should save me a month of grow time if I calculated right. I'll know in a few weeks how much of a jump it made. It has new growth @ 5 days in and a bean is up. Both pods with tomato seeds seem to be going. One looks like it is getting ready to sprout, the other is showing color. The second bean plant will be several days behind, if it comes up at all. The good part, is there are 4 bean plants outside that are doing OK. In these parts, I should get into December before they get frosted, and I have a little green house to put over but no way to heat it, so may get more from them. We'll see.

Have a water ph tester now and will make sure things are good from now on, but what a kick in the ego. Live and learn. More drama as it comes.

Thanks for playing along.

[LostinTexas]

4 weeks in, and lots of lettuce and kale. Beans and tomatoes are looking good, but no blossoms yet. It is hard being patient at this point.

The no dig outside is growling kale. There was supposed to be two, but one looks suspiciously like a tomato plant.  Not sure about that one, but time will tell. A tomato plant and okra plant disappeared. Not sure what we have around that would go after them, but something is out there. May need to put up a barrier.

My compost is working marvelously. I haven't watered the section in over a month and it is still moist. Not sure how, but it is good. The whole bed is holding moisture well with just leaves and a few pine needles for mulch. I'd like to get some water in there to get the leaves decaying, but don't want to kill the plants growing in them.

Not a lot, but it helps me keep a diary of what is going on.

[Huaco Kid]

On 8/6/2021 at 10:23 PM, LostinTexas said:

My bean plant never felt the pull of gravity and was growing upside down.

Several years ago,  I grew "upside down" tomatos.

You take a big hanging pot and drill a 3" hole in the bottom.  Take a little tomato plant,  stick it's roots up into the hole in the bottom.  fill the pot with dirt and hang it in a tree.

You don't need to stake them. Because they're all qwazy upside down!

If they had been upright,  they'd be ten feet tall. You have to keep moving them up the tree branches.   They grow in a big bushy clump.  And when the branches fill with meaty-ones,  they don't break!  They just hang there.  It was a pretty good success.

And you can grow petunias, or what,  on top of the pot.

[Maser]

 

[Huaco Kid]

Fck HOA's.

We've got a compost pile,  that we don't use,  behind the garden,  that we don't use. (except for the asparagus,  that turned feral and just keeps coming back.  So,  we eagerly eat it.

Many moons ago,  we were camping at halloween-time,  and the campground had a "guess the weight of the pumpkin" contest.  We all put our name in the bucket.

Very early Saturday morning, a forklift came to our campsite.  My daughter had won (like, 260lbs, or something).  We said we didn't want the pumpkin.  The forklift guy said, "Too bad.", and dumped it.  Someone had a trailer,  and took it to our house, (it was 5' wide).

My daughter loved it.

We made him a jack-o-lantern.

We thought there'd be ten tons of baked-and-salted seeds in there,  but it was pretty much hollow.  Not many seeds.  The skin was 3" thick,  so tough carving.

So it went from a huge smiling Jack,  into a wilted toothless sad Jack,  after a while.

But it still weighed 100lbs of gooey mess.

So we drug it around to the compost pile.

The turkeys hated that ******,  all winter long.  "Goo-googly-goo!!!"  All winter long,  while attacking it with their sharp talons.

And then it turned into compost.

But now we have pumpkin vines,  shooting all over the back corner, every year.  They grow tiny pumpkins.  They didn't get the genes.

[Mrs.Cicero]

Well, my cukes are long since done.  I've been digging up taters (anytime it's dry enough to work the soil) where they volunteered (from a planting last year, apparently I didn't manage to dig them all up last fall so they came back to haunt me... right where we planted pumpkins (there are 6 winter luxury pie pumpkins and one with seeds that have to shells - great for eating).  I think we are going to be eating a lot of potatoes this winter (which will be harder than usual to do, since my daughter that loves potato soup is off at school).  I can't pick the rutabagas or parsnips til we get a frost to make them sweeter, but that's ok 'cause I have too much to do right now anyway.  Like extract some honey next week - because it looks like it'll be our last week of good temps for it).  And I have kale, bok choy, purple pole beans, asparagus beans (they grow several feet long if you let them.  Weird, but tasty).  Hardly any tomatoes (a total disappointment this year).  There might still be a watermelon out there I need to bring in and eat.  A couple tires worth of carrots.  Some spinach at various stages.   Peas that are blooming but not making peas yet (they're a very late planting).  And I have thyme that needs to get cut and go in the dehydrator (already did enough sage and oregano).  I should make more applesauce, too, but I don't think I'll have time... the stupid fat woodchuck eats all the ones that fall on the ground.  I'm not motivate to collect the black walnuts this year, either.  There's still lettuce, and a ridiculous amount of jalapeños (I let a bunch of them ripen to red just for fun) and sweet bell peppers (some red, lots green, none purple like they were supposed to be).  And of course the rhubarb is going bonkers again, but I still have 3 gallons of it left in the freezer, so I may not do anything with what's outside now either.  I'm not feeling well again, so I'm going outside to weed some more VERY VERY SLOWLY, until I get hungry enough to make some red pepper/bok choy stir fry for supper for everyone else.

[LostinTexas]

1 hour ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Well, my cukes are long since done.  I've been digging up taters (anytime it's dry enough to work the soil) where they volunteered (from a planting last year, apparently I didn't manage to dig them all up last fall so they came back to haunt me... right where we planted pumpkins (there are 6 winter luxury pie pumpkins and one with seeds that have to shells - great for eating).  I think we are going to be eating a lot of potatoes this winter (which will be harder than usual to do, since my daughter that loves potato soup is off at school).  I can't pick the rutabagas or parsnips til we get a frost to make them sweeter, but that's ok 'cause I have too much to do right now anyway.  Like extract some honey next week - because it looks like it'll be our last week of good temps for it).  And I have kale, bok choy, purple pole beans, asparagus beans (they grow several feet long if you let them.  Weird, but tasty).  Hardly any tomatoes (a total disappointment this year).  There might still be a watermelon out there I need to bring in and eat.  A couple tires worth of carrots.  Some spinach at various stages.   Peas that are blooming but not making peas yet (they're a very late planting).  And I have thyme that needs to get cut and go in the dehydrator (already did enough sage and oregano).  I should make more applesauce, too, but I don't think I'll have time... the stupid fat woodchuck eats all the ones that fall on the ground.  I'm not motivate to collect the black walnuts this year, either.  There's still lettuce, and a ridiculous amount of jalapeños (I let a bunch of them ripen to red just for fun) and sweet bell peppers (some red, lots green, none purple like they were supposed to be).  And of course the rhubarb is going bonkers again, but I still have 3 gallons of it left in the freezer, so I may not do anything with what's outside now either.  I'm not feeling well again, so I'm going outside to weed some more VERY VERY SLOWLY, until I get hungry enough to make some red pepper/bok choy stir fry for supper for everyone else.

Hope you start to feel better. Nothing that busy in these parts. Glad you had some production. It sounded like the garden was a total flop earlier in the year.

I keep calling for a couple of peach trees and blueberries, but the Texas snowpocolyps seems to have taken quite a toll on fruit tree availability.

[Mrs.Cicero]

16 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Hope you start to feel better. Nothing that busy in these parts. Glad you had some production. It sounded like the garden was a total flop earlier in the year.

I keep calling for a couple of peach trees and blueberries, but the Texas snowpocolyps seems to have taken quite a toll on fruit tree availability.

I thought it was going to be a total flop, too... the varmints ate so much of it so many times... but I kept replanting, and replanting, and building the fence higher and higher - and there were a few things they never ate (like the peppers) and a few that survived anyway (rutabaga).  And some plants still had time to produce even after a third planting after the fence was finally tall enough (beets, carrots, arugula, bok choy, spinach, even the purple pole beans finally started producing the third week of August and now I have more than I can use).  And the potatoes survived the evil depredations of the Colorado Potato Beetle (with a little help from my youngest daughter handpicking them off and drowning the little jerks).  Still don't think I'll get any sweet potatoes, though, since the ground hogs and rabbits keep eating all their leaves and I haven't managed to trap them and the barn cat only kills the littler rabbits, the groundhogs are too big for her...

I have one lone head of lettuce still growing (usually I have way too much, this year I got hardly any).  And I have peas blooming now, but they haven't produced any.  I'd really like some fresh peas before I put the garden to sleep for the year...

This year is a good lesson that depending on a garden to keep ya' from starving is a mighty chancy thing...

[Historian]

On 9/26/2021 at 6:38 PM, Mrs.Cicero said:

  And of course the rhubarb is going bonkers again, but I still have 3 gallons of it left in the freezer, so I may not do anything with what's outside now either. 

You...wouldn't be makin a pie, would you?

 

[Mrs.Cicero]

10 hours ago, Historian said:

You...wouldn't be makin a pie, would you?

 

Rhubarb Pie is Best Pie.

[Historian]

28 minutes ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Rhubarb Pie is Best Pie.

You most certainly had my attention.  

[Historian]

5 hours ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

Rhubarb Pie is Best Pie.

The stuff of memories.

[LostinTexas]

OK, 35 days in and we are seeing blossoms on the beans again. Tomatoes are doing well, I recon. No blossoms just yet, but for what ever reason, I expect them any day. Seems they were a few days behind the beans last time. The beans and tomatoes seem more leggy than last time, but still only 12-18 inches, so a great fit for the use, so far. I hope the tomatoes are indeterminate.

I have a nice little Kale growing outside, but the second one is definitely a tomato. I don't understand how that happened and have no idea to the type, so we all get to be surprised if they get the chance to make. What ever got the plant I know was a tomato and my okra seems to be in check with the diatomaceous earth.

Not sure if I posted earlier, but there was a very nice tasting kale in the aerogarden pods. It only said "Kale Medley" on the pods. I found the name of the good stuff and ordered some seeds. Red Russian Kale. It is pretty one and done on the harvest, or seems to be, but what the heck, there are a couple hundred seeds in a package so I will let it rip when I can get it outside again.  The Dinosaur Kale is doing well, but seems to be a slow starter.

Till next time.

[Mrs.Cicero]

On 10/1/2021 at 9:06 PM, LostinTexas said:

OK, 35 days in and we are seeing blossoms on the beans again. Tomatoes are doing well, I recon. No blossoms just yet, but for what ever reason, I expect them any day. Seems they were a few days behind the beans last time. The beans and tomatoes seem more leggy than last time, but still only 12-18 inches, so a great fit for the use, so far. I hope the tomatoes are indeterminate.

I have a nice little Kale growing outside, but the second one is definitely a tomato. I don't understand how that happened and have no idea to the type, so we all get to be surprised if they get the chance to make. What ever got the plant I know was a tomato and my okra seems to be in check with the diatomaceous earth.

Not sure if I posted earlier, but there was a very nice tasting kale in the aerogarden pods. It only said "Kale Medley" on the pods. I found the name of the good stuff and ordered some seeds. Red Russian Kale. It is pretty one and done on the harvest, or seems to be, but what the heck, there are a couple hundred seeds in a package so I will let it rip when I can get it outside again.  The Dinosaur Kale is doing well, but seems to be a slow starter.

Till next time.

Red Russian Kale is the best.  This is my fave kale recipe...Boil 12-16 baby/new potatoes (I always use the purple ones because that's what I grow, but any will work) for 15-20 minutes. Drain.  Set aside to cool. Take a   bunch of the kale leaves and slice them off their stems, tear into bite size pieces, then throw them in a salad bowl, pour a T of olive oil on them with 1/4 t salt and massage them til they are wilted like they'd be if you cooked them.  Then MIX WELL  2 minced garlic cloves, 1 minced red Thai chili pepper, 3 heaping T of peanut butter (the real stuff, not the kind with sugar in it), 1T soy sauce or tamari  or aminos (usually I use tamari), 2 t honey, 1/2 t Chinese 5-Spice Powder, 4 T water in a bowl... if the sauce is too thick (you want it like satay sauce) you can add another T of water (and if you use real peanut butter you probably will need to, if you use fake peanut butter you might want even less than the 4T the recipe calls for).  Anyway, add it to the kale leaves/. mix that well.  Add the taters (cut them in half or quarters if they are too large for one bite), add about 20 grape tomatoes (or chop a dozen cherry tomatoes in half and use those).  Mix gently.  You can garnish it with a handful of fresh chopped cilantro if you like the stuff (I do, but I only add it when there's some in the garden to use, and no one has ever asked where it was when I didn't put it in, so I consider it optional).  The recipe is very slightly modified from a cookbook called Naturally Nourished, which has some other fabulous recipes in it (especially Beet Pesto, which turns all the pasta fuchsia, so the kids love it just for that).

 

[LostinTexas]

Well the kale outside has blossoms starting today. I would dare it is definitely a dwarf plant since it is only about a foot tall, but that is all I've got so far.

I hope with our normally mild fall and early winter temps to keep it going. I have a little vinyl green house thingy to put over it as long as the wind doesn't wreck it, and we get decent sunshine I may get into January with it. Wouldn't that be cool.

My surviving bean plant either had the blossoms eaten off quickly by the unknown marauder, or it germinated in record time. I haven't seen any baby beans yet, and it seems to be putting it's energy into more growth, so that one is still in the air.

Kale is a favorite here. We eat it in salads, and use it a lot in soup during the cooler months. Something we always want to have around. We love the leaf lettuce varieties as well, but I think I'll be trying more kale during the winter. Next fall, I hope to be more prepared for some outdoor planting, just hate to have too much of it. Just the two of us, but I did find out the kids next door like it, so have a place to send overflow if needed.

[LostinTexas]

Not hydroponic, but found some blueberry plants and got them in containers today. Not sure how old they are and the nursery wasn't either, but they were a little woody on the trunks and in 3 gallon pots, so maybe next year, the year after for sure. I hope I can keep them alive, but a lot of internet study, so maybe. They seem to sell a lot of them.

No dwarf or miniature peaches there and they can't get them, so that search continues. Of all place Home Depot has them for delivery. Not too sure about that, but maybe early spring will find some in the store.

The mayhem continues.

[LostinTexas]

Happy Halloween, y'all.

Indoor is going well. Tomatoes are getting going, only 5-6 on the two plants out of all the blossoms so far. Beans are still producing, but not as many as I'd thought. It is hard to get a meal worth from the two plants. Oh well, I figured they would be toast by now but they keep going. I have two more started to take their place. Trying to rotate lettuce growth, but for some reason I've been striking out on getting a batch started. Kinda odd, but i guess it is to be expected on occasion.

Outside, the okra is starting to produce, the kale is going, and the bean is giving.  The Flowering "kale" is going nuts. Still have no idea what kind of tomatoes it will make, but hope it does, it is loaded with blossoms. It s cooling off at night, and I put out the little cheap "green house" that came with the garden border. It should keep things going longer if it holds up.

Nothing in the future for a frost, just yet, but as prepared as we can get.

Update:  HA! All I had to do is mention it. Now they are calling for 36 on Friday morning. Still a week away, but that one might be riding the fence a little on the frost front. Should still be better than OK though.

[LostinTexas]

No idea what kind of tomatoes are impersonating my kale plant. They are elongated and most are about the size of my first finger joint. Still green, I hope they are supposed to turn. LOL

Okra growing, the plant is hosting half a dozen baby okra at the moment. The dinosaur kale is growing.

Inside, my tomatoes are still doing there thing, just slow. The next round of beans are showing blossoms on one plant, but not blooming yet. Lettuce and kale are going well. 

I may have spoke too soon, just looked over there and see pink.  I sure hope the Red Russian Kale makes and does well. It seems to be kinda frail and not much to it. Quite the odd experience from what I read on the stuff. Oh well, it's good.

Till next time

[norton]

Commercial hydroponic tomato growth was a big thing back in the late 20th century.  The insurance company I worked for insured a number of these operations here in Indiana.

I don't see the grow houses anymore  we insured that I visited.  

Maybe it wasn't as profitable as projected?