From commentor Catherine D:
I am a winter person and hate being outside in the summer, so my gardening is all indoors and hydroponic. Last winter I had cherry tomatoes and jalapeños in one garden, but my house is cold, so it took a long time for them to grow.
This year I decided to plant flowers for a blast of color in dreary times: calendula, dianthus, lavender, marigold, and petunia. This is what I see every time I walk into the kitchen.
Herbs grow very happily despite the cool house. Right now I have basil, mint, rosemary, and a totally insane oregano plant. The oregano will get a haircut today and go directly into dinner.
I have planted lettuces and other greens such as bok choi before, and I probably will replace the flowers with those once the blooms are done.
***********
Which reminds me… I have a small AeroGarden kit that I purchased back at the start of the pandemic rush, with a vague idea of starting cherry tomatoes just in case. Of course the box is still sitting unopened, but now that I’m feeling less like one of those cartoon critters who accidentally charges off the side of a cliff and has to keep running frantically in place, this is probably as good a time as any to dig it out…
(Satby, were you the master gardener with recommendations for buying micro-tomato seeds online?)
What’s going on in your garden (planning / indoor / tropical / memories), this week?
satby
Morning AL! I suspect it was OH, who highly recommends Baker Creek. I ordered from them last year, and the extensive catalog made choosing just a couple a challenge.
i keep my house at around 64° in the winter, but have no trouble starting seeds or growing things with a heat mat under the starter tray and good strong light, so your AeroGarden should thrive. And I’m glad I’m not the only person who orders stuff and takes months to even open the box (she writes as she looks across the room at her 9 month old “new” tv still in the box).
OzarkHillbilly
I got my seeds!
@satby: Not me, I’m not even sure what “micro-tomato seeds” are.
I only do that with books.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I took the meaning to be cherry tomatoes as AL had said that growing them was the idea behind ordering her AeroGarden in the first place.
satby
As to Catherine D up top: what kind of set up do you use for your hydroponic garden? Most of the ones I’ve seen have been pretty big to keep in a kitchen. I want to start petunias inside this year rather than buy flats of them, so I’m happy to hear you’ve grown them all the way to blooming!
Catherine D.
@satby: They’re both six pod Aerogardens. The flowers are on a wire shelving unit over the sink and the herbs are on the countertop.
oldster
“I am a winter person and hate being outside in the summer” —
Wait, what?
Is there a typo in this somewhere, or are we just extremely takes all types this morning?
Okay, I guess it takes all types. Good on you, Catharine.
satby
@Catherine D.: Thanks! I see they’re having a sale… uh-oh ???
mrmoshpotato
“Oregano? What the hell?”
satby
@oldster: I feel Catherine, I’m much more comfortable in winter and hate the heat and humidity of summer in spite of my love of gardening. Which is why I grow perennials almost exclusively, because come July through August they’re pretty much on their own except for very early morning watering.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: You gardening polar bears.
(I could go for another polar vortex myself.)
satby
@mrmoshpotato: Bad part is I’m not a big fan of being inside either. So I have a fan on porch, massive iced tea containers, and when it gets too sticky I can go inside. I keep the air conditioning at 78° just to dehumidify the house, because I have ceiling fans. Such a delicate flower I am ?! Fall and spring are my seasons.
Raven
@oldster: Geogia winters for sure. It may get cold but it never stays cold for very long. It was 60 yesterday and there were folks out and about everywhere. There is a big brewery downtown with a huge outdoor area and it was jammed.
Anne Laurie
Here’s one short YouTube video, from a quickie google, from a micro-tomato grower. Don’t know if I can muster the focus to actually start seeds, but it’s less intimidating if I can garden indoors, at any hour of the night!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie: Starting seeds doesn’t take much focus, just enough to remember to check them once a day.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
satby
@Anne Laurie: Damn! now micro dwarf tomato plants came up immediately on google when I checked. Off to research ?
Gvg
I hate cold. It was semi nice the last two weekends and I planted out most of the seedlings I started in November. Carnations, foxgloves snapdragons, broccoli, lettuce and Shasta daisies. I should start some more but have to figure out how to get more good potting soil. Last time I had to settle for a new kind when I ran out of my usual and it is not a good kind. Held moisture too well and I had a lot of damping off. The feed store is the only reliable source and the customers weren’t having good masking last time I was there so I had stuck to the nursery. I will have to tell them I didn’t like the new product and possibly go the feed store on an empty weekday.
Years ago I learned the potting soil makes a difference for seeds. The popular brands at the box stores didn’t do as well as what the professional’s use but finding it can be an issue. Around here, the feed stores work. Also good for vegetable seeds that work with our climate.
i need to build some trellising for my blackberries and raspberries I planted last year. It is nicer to do projects in cooler weather. Avoiding people while getting lumber is an issue. I may not be able to till next year. Oh well.
Earliest planted broccoli is forming heads so a few more weeks till dinner.
Ken
I congratulate you. I consider my winter gardening a success if my plants survive until I can put them back on the balcony in the spring. The only problematic one is my jasmine, but I’ve found that even if it looks terrible, I can just prune way back and it puts out new shoots. The root is getting a little bonsai-like, though.
Anne Laurie
Any chance you can arrange for curbside pickup, at least?
(Of course, then you have to trust them to pick out the stock for you, but if you have a store where they know you… )
Gvg
@Anne Laurie: curbside yes but trust what they pick, forget it. I think I have talked myself out of it.
satby
Oh, AL, looky what I found!
debbie
@Catherine D.:
How many hours is the light on? I have a gooseneck lamp with full spectrum lightbulb that I’m trying to use to help my plants (mostly succulents) through this ridiculously gray winter.
debbie
@satby:
All 15 minutes of them!
OzarkHillbilly
Unfortunately, there’s no avoiding the sticker shock. Last spring I had noticed a rise in lumber prices but hadn’t done much in the way of constructing around here because of heat and humidity and what little I did do was covered by my current stacks. A couple days ago I went to buy 3 treated 8′ 2x4s.
“That will be $30.67 please.”
“Say WHAAAAAT????”
Yeah. Fuck that shit. When I got home I did some googling.
Last spring sawmills shut down or cut way back, assuming the Covid would kill the housing market. WRONG. Housing construction increased (7-8% over last year) and so did remodeling of existing houses. Between that and trump’s idiotic tariffs on Canadian lumber, things have gone thru the roof, doubling and in some cases triple what it was a year ago.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my winter now.
Jeffery
I put ox heart tomato seeds in about 10 days ago in Philadelphia in the south facing window. No heat matt. The first one was up yesterday. There are nine cells in the container. Two seeds in each cell. By May they should be a foot tall and ready to go out to harden off before going into the ground.
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie: @Gvg: When buying anything more than a stick or 2, always go to a lumberyard. The quality is much better and they cull out the bad stuff as they pick it. When lumber is your main stock in trade, it behooves one to give the customer the good stuff and sell the crap at 50%.
Catherine D.
@debbie: The lights are on 16 to 17 hours. With two in rhe kitchen, I never have to turn on the overhead light.
Anne Laurie
@satby: Ha! I just risked a small experimental order from Renaissance Farms… we’ll have to swap reviews!
zhena gogolia
My morning e-mail from WaPo says, “Welcome to the hot seat, Mr. President.”
Where the fuck was the “hot seat” from 2016 to 2020? Does it get retired when there’s a Republican president or something? Somehow they’ve gotten the “hot seat” out of storage.
satby
@Jeffery: I’m deciding when to start my seeds. Usually in mid-February here times it pretty well for garden planting.
satby
@zhena gogolia: I know, right? Plus of course now the Republicans are worried about the huge deficit they created so of course they oppose additional stimulus. An entire party (edit: and media) of bad faith actors.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: I’m scheduling my seed-starting too. Last year I started mid-February, but I’m going to experiment with starting earlier this year.
Also, any recommendations for cucumber and bean trellises, for an individual who can assemble things but doesn’t have much equipment for major building projects?
satby
@Anne Laurie: Well I just ordered the AeroGarden too ?
debbie
@Catherine D.:
Thanks.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: Ooh, which one did you get? I’m on the website now and my buying finger is itchy. :)
OzarkHillbilly
I use cattle panels and ‘T’ posts.
As far as starting seeds, I’ve always started mine around 2/15 but this year I’m thinking of starting my tomaters a week or so later. They get leggy real quick after a point.
artem1s
@Anne Laurie:
Don’t worry too much about starting tomatoes. they are essentially weeds. Heirloom’s are easiest as they don’t have all the heartiness engineered out of them. I get volunteers in my compost heap and garden plots where the rotten ones have dropped. the trickier part is timing the transplants. and judging whether the ground is ready when the seedlings are. They do not like the ground to be cold and wet. One of the challenges of global warming here in Ohio has been the false April/May springs followed by cold, wet June’s. The tomatoes stall a little if the weather turns wet and cold after planting. They love the heat though as long as they have enough water.
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: The 6 pod Heritage one marked down from $149 to $99.
I hope you’re proud of yourself Catherine D ??
debbie
@satby:
I also saw them marked down $50 on amazon.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Kos has a good article today on the benefits of walking for stress relief and heath. He cites lots of scientific research.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: Oh FFS. And: top left (top story) on the WaPost this very minute:
Fight over the rules grinds the Senate to a halt, imperiling Biden’s agenda
The two parties have yet to agree how to operate the 50-50 chamber days after Democrats took control.
Imperiling! And Biden’s been in all of half a week.
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you! Those cattle panels look affordable and sturdy. I’ve jerry-rigged several trellises to varying degrees of success, but none that would last past one season.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, last year mine got leggy and I transitioned them into 4″ peat pots, but lost a couple after that. I’d rather just plant them out without a transitional pot.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: Hehe. It’s the tulip craze translated to AeroThings all over again, started right here at Balloon Juice! Where’s Tom Levenson when you need him?
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Weather permitting, I’m out there every day. Health, exercise, sure, but getting to see the flowers, etc. is the real stress relief.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@debbie: At this time of year, flower sightings are rare in Chicagoland. I like walking though. For one thing, it’s time alone, which is rare right now.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
The winter wind, though!
satby
@artem1s: I use plastic cloches I make from milk jugs and dog biscuit containers as mini greenhouses to prewarm the soil and protect the seedlings. Any plastic tallish container will work as long as you cut an opening near the top for ventilation.
MelissaM
I spy with my little eye … a PENZEYS spice bottle! I love that company! Also, the flowers look lovely!
ljt
@satby: Me too!
satby
@debbie: That’s when masks are handy ?
Catherine D.
@satby: *smirk
waratah
AL I was the person looking for micro tomatoes and OH found me the Bakers. I was surprised they had some I had not seen any where else. I like to use them for patio pots and you can tuck them in with flower plants.
I was late planting the seeds last year and they were slow growing from seed outside but produced a lot of tomatoes for a small plant. The Red Robin already had a reputation for doing well inside homes by the time I found them years ago.
satby
Catherine D, you’ve really inspired us today! Thank you.
@ljt: We’re all going to have to compare notes. I also got the seed starting option so I can start petunia seeds for my hanging baskets this year.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I use remesh. I cut it with small bottle cutters and make cages from it.
debbie
@MelissaM:
If that’s a bottle of orange peel, Catherine D. should know that Penzy’s Orange Extract is also very excellent!
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly: Another question: it looks like the cattle panel is 50″ high. What height t-post do you use? The five foot?
Catherine D.
@debbie: Yup, I have a jar of orange and lemon peel, along with a ton of other Penzey’s stuff.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
I have refurbished our old dining room winter-garden light- shelves this winter (which we haven’t used in almost 10 years) and disposed of the old 2′ Fluorescent lights and put in 2 foot long plant-light LED strips with reflectors (From Amazon) which are modular and very easy to set up and take up less height so I can put in taller plants! (I have a shelf for succulents that is about 7 or 8 inches from the plants on 12 hours a day @debbie: ) and a shelf twith a rosemary, 3 Cyclamens and some some 2 year old seedling Clivias. and a lower shelf for bulbs that we want to look down on as I bring them from the greenhouse. Righ now there are a couple of pots of blue and purple Ipheon uniflorum there.
sab
Is it possible to grow anything inside with multiple cats?
I have a meyer lemon with wire mesh around the base to protect its roots (dirt=litter box if you are a cat) and it has its own thorns to protect its top. The cats have destroyed every other houseplant I have ever had.
I can’t even have flowers arrangements except holly at Christmas. They eat the flowers and knock the vases over.
NeenerNeener
@satby: My mom used to use fish tanks as little greenhouses for her seedlings.
Elizabelle
@satby: What a great idea for repurposing plastic milk jugs.
Doc Sardonic
@sab: Can’t solve the cats eat plants problem (have 4) but can solve the knocks over vases problem. I use earthquake wax, kinda like Frank’s Red Hot, I put that sh-t on everything I want stationary. Works like a charm, easy to remove and doesn’t mess up the wood.
Elizabelle
@ Catherine D: I really enjoyed the riot of color this morning, with your beautiful indoor garden.
Beats the riot of white we’ve been discussing ever since.
sab
@satby: I think you already (at 49)answered my cat question at 61. So did Doc Sardonic at 64.
sab
@Doc Sardonic: Living in Ohio I didn’t know there was such a thing. Googled it. Apparently there is, but we call it museum wax. Sounds useful for cat owners.
mrmoshpotato
@NeenerNeener:
And no need for regular watering! ?
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa: Yes, durable they are. Word of warning: They have nubs sticking out on the ends, that if one were to slip in the mud and fall into the end of the panel, their is a fair chance of one needing 20 or so stitches to put a very ragged cut back together.
I have since ground those nubs off.
japa21
@OzarkHillbilly: Assuming you know from personal experience.
dnfree
@Gvg: try Gardeners dot com. They have good potting soil and containers with water reservoirs. They usually have some sales this time of year.
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa: 6′-6 or 7′. One foot in the ground, then I set the panel 6″ off the ground. From time to time a plant may have difficulties finding the panel and I have to give it a little help.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: That’d do it.
satby
@Elizabelle: Yeah, I cut the bottoms off and use the cap as the vent – off during sunny days so that it doesn’t overheat the seedlings, and capped for those late frosts to retain the day’s warmth. Other containers I just use upside down after cutting a vent flap into the top that I can lift or close as needed. When they get too beat up I recycle them and start over with fresh ones.
sab
@mrmoshpotato: I used to use those with a hardware cloth cover and my cats would stand on top and pee into them.
OzarkHillbilly
@japa21: What? Me? Why I never!
satby
@sab: I have one cat that’s dedicated to munching on my plants, another who snacks occasionally, and two that completely ignore them. Young plants like seedlings are always covered, but my banana tree and tropical hibiscus are both far too large, so I just figure the cats are helping me prune them. I always check to be sure none of my plants are toxic to animals, protect what I can, and just let go of the rest. I also have two rooms that are completely off limits to all animals: My bedroom because I’m allergic, and my project room because no one wants to buy lotion or soap with pet hair. That’s where any other plants or flowers go.
satby
@sab: You need more litter boxes or an automatic one. I have 6 boxes for four cats, because there’s always one that doesn’t like to share.
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you for the height and construction info, as well as the severe injury avoidance warning! Fortunately mud is rarely a problem in the southwest — or unfortunately given the severe drought we’re experiencing — but I’ll watch out for nasty nub attacks.
scav
From a different climate, I just finished getting in all the potatoes (bout a bushel each of russet red and yellow). Snowdrops and cyclamen are blooming, but I am soooo hoping for a little snow. But yes! the catalogs are arriving!
Doc Sardonic
@sab: Works well for me, even though we don’t really have earthquakes of consequence in Florida. Trick is figuring out how much you need to use for a given piece. I have 3 big boys, 23lbs,15 lbs and a 2 year old that is 14lbs or so and still maturing and a tiny little girl kitty that runs things.
sab
@satby: We are out of space for litterboxes. We have 5 for 5 cats. Also, we have wee pads around the house. We didn’t have those when we had the terrarium.
WaterGirl
One of my christmas gifts from a family member was an AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360. I thought it was cool but I have been struggling a bit this last month or two, so I look at it and think “I should really unpack that” and then let it sit there. Like many things lately, it just felt overwhelming.
Thank you Catherine D for the inspiration! As soon as I press POST, I plan to unbox my new toy.
edit: photo below at #90.
Doc Sardonic
@Doc Sardonic: Missed the edit window. My rule of thumb is a big enough blob to cover the bottom of the item, set it firmly, then clean any squeeze out.
satby
@sab: Sounds like enough. I’m a big believer in divide and conquer, so maybe you just have to set aside a no ? room if you can.
satby
@WaterGirl: oh, nice!
japa21
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s okay. Everybody as an inner Cole.
sab
Catherine D: I am impressed with all those hydroponic flowers (is that even possible?) but I absolutely love that herb garden. I want one!
waratah
@satby: Thank you. They have a tomato named after me Waratah.
WaterGirl
okay, my AeroGarden is officially set up! (I think)
OzarkHillbilly
@japa21: Not me, I’m as graceful as a ballerina.
Catherine D.
@WaterGirl: Nice! What did you plant?
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: That looks so 60s Space Age. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been watching The Prisoner, and anything that *can* look 60s Space Age *does* look that way to me right now.
sab
@WaterGirl: How big is it?
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow, Fantasia was really wasted on me when I was young.
WaterGirl
@Catherine D.: I’m not sure! Whatever came with it. There were 6 herbs shown on the box, but I think maybe it’s lettuce.
I forgot to write them down before I set it up, so i tried taking photos while they were under the lights. This was as good as I could do.
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: Same here. Now that I can appreciate it, I watch it once a year or so.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
That looks like Obama’s time machine.
germy
WaterGirl
@sab: It’s 9″ in diameter and 11″ tall with the light set to 4-6 inches. The light can go higher than that as the plants grow.
WaterGirl
@Baud: If that’s Obama’s time machine, then surely there is a pod for arugula!
Catherine D.
Yes, those look like lettuce. I liked growing the lettuce, because I could get enough for a small salad or sandwich by cutting the outer leaves.
ETA My CSA usually has newborn-sized heads of lettuce, which is a tad too much for me.
WaterGirl
@Catherine D.: Only the outer leaves because that left the inner ones to keep growing?
How do you get more seed pods for various things that work in these aero gardens?
WaterGirl
If anything sprouts, I can take a photo for show-and-tell in next week’s garden chat.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl: My parents took the family to see Fantasia when I was a tyke. I liked the dinos and was disappointed that they were not the whole movie.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Watching that Fantasia clip – 1940! – helps me remember why Disney movies were such a big thing. Disney really was ahead of its time. Way ahead!
sab
@WaterGirl: Hope its lettuce. Herbs might get too tall unless you eat a lot of them.
laura
The Daphne on the front porch is just starting to bloom. It’s a brief pop of color and scent in a dreary stretch of winter.
germy
Deems Taylor (MC of Fantasia) was quite a character. Composer, journalist, critic.
sab
I have a lot of chickenwire leftover from when the rental goats were trying to eat the cedar trees’ bark. Maybe I will bring my herb planter inside and fence it. Cats won’t like that, but disappointment builds character (or craftiness.)
Baud
@sab:
If that were true, I’d me a much better person.
A Ghost to Most
I use aeroponics; a small pump pushing a drip spinner in a reservoir to aerate and water roots. Simple, effective, and easily fixed. A CoolWorx IceProbe cools the reservoir. A combo 400w MH/HPS handles the light. Proper ventilation handles the heat.
Catherine D.
@WaterGirl:
Exactly. Works very well with bok choi and tat soi too.
You can get empty pods from Aerogarden to start your own seeds. I usually order custom packs from them and chose whatever I want. There’s a lot available that don’t show up in the standard packs.
sab
@Baud: You sound like my cats. My dog agrees with me.
WaterGirl
@Catherine D.:
I’m sorry to be dense, but I am not understanding what you said.
Catherine D.
@WaterGirl: They make the cone thingys you can put your own seeds in. (I think they’re called Grow Anything on the website.) A gardener friend uses those to plant saved herb seeds from her summer crop.
I just go to the custom packs and mix’n’match their available varieties.
WaterGirl
@Catherine D.: I checked out their site and now what you were saying is totally clear! thank you
Catherine D.
@WaterGirl:
There is! Just noticed it while looking up the custom seeds.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
It’s a real shame Walt’s dad couldn’t see the value in his son’s work. I read that when he showed his father around a new film studio he was building in 1940, his father couldn’t help but see what the building would be if Walt failed, such as a hospital. Walt Disney’s father was a man of 19th century where a respectable career was a doctor or lawyer. 20th century entertainment was frivolous to him and something he didn’t understand
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): That would be the Disney Burbank campus, there actually is a hospital next door.
jnfr
I keep a growing shelf in my office. All in dirt, not hydro, but one shelf and some lights can grow a lot of plants. I used to use fluorescents but shifted to LEDs when they got so inexpensive.
I have started some summer crop plants like tomatoes and peppers but I’ve mostly shifted to buying plants elsewhere for those. I like to grow greens which I usually can’t keep outdoors because we have so many birds and rabbits that they don’t last long.
We keep our strawberry bed in a cage for just that reason.
flickr.com/photos/jnfr/28111866154/in/album-72057594107363874/
I grow pot inside too now and then, since growing was legalized here. Saves a lot of money there.
germy
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Disney’s vault, a cartoon by the TV Funhouse guy:
youtube.com/watch?v=LWr5SLg8hSE
debbie
@germy:
Heh, I remember that one.
LuciaMia
@sab: Yup, those are all the names of varieties of lettuce. A nice selection. Rouge D’Hiver has red tinged leaves.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: It is the Giant Evil Corporation.
Omnes Omnibus
Is nine hours the record between threads?
scav
@Omnes Omnibus: But then again, isn’t it a luxury not to need all those cascading threads? Might as well come up with a term for it though. Stagninetion?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I think it might be. I just put up an Open Thread.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I think we’ve gotten close to 12 hours before.
Stuart Frasier
We have an Aerogarden. It’s great and I like having a constant source of fresh herbs. However, for some reason, we’ve had no luck with cilantro. We’ve tried multiple times and nothing ever grows. It would be the most useful herb to have fresh. I hate buying cilantro, as half of the bunch usually go bad before we can use it.
sab
My husband is so pissed that we will be saving milk jugs. He is our resident milk drinker. If they weren’t drinking the stuff we wouldn’t have this issue.
sab
@Omnes Omnibus: Why were you awake? It’s the weekend. Don’t they have those in Wisconsin?
WaterGirl
@Stuart Frasier: That’s my problem with parsley!
Kpk
So jealous at how well your gardens are doing! While the different basils grow like gangbusters for me, all the other plants (parsley, oregano, thyme, etc.) go to pot and slowly languish or never catch-on. I wish I could figure it out. Did you start them at different times? I was able to get dill to grow this time, but there was no flavor.