Post by clumsythumbs on Nov 18, 2020 10:45:46 GMT -5
Hi All,
After a long absence, I am back! I am sure there are many newer folks I do not know. Because I have been off since May or June, my garden patch is currently scrapped. I thought I would share some updates and photos from my Summer Gardening....This is a long post with lots of photos--BEWARE!
Once the weather started to get nicer in May, I started transplanting as much as possible from my AG to pots/containers on my balcony. It was generally successful. It kept me extremely busy (one of the reasons I was not able to update on here-- was spending hours a day watering, harvesting, and keep the plans clean could not get on here).
I had a constant rotation of herbs in the AG and in outside planters (Basil, mint, Dill, Thai Basil, Curly and Flat parsley, oregano...).
Here is my huge planter of herbs (there are 9 openings in this stacked planter):
20200904_101752 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
20200904_101943 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
I planted two varieties of tomatoes (Yellow Racer and Patio) from Park Seeds. Once they were fairly sturdy, I transplanted each seedling to pots. All in all, I had 5 tomatoes going in containers. I also grew two varieties of peppers (Fresno and Sureno). I did the same-- transplanted the seedlings and ended up with 5 Sureno's and 6 Fresnos. I made a "mistake" whe ordering the tomatoes. I mistakenly thought the Patios were a cherry tomato, but apparently they are a cocktail tomato. They grow fruit about 2 oz and the size of a small lime. Consequently, they take way longer to ripen and produce less. But the tomatoes are wonderful! Had I kept them in the AG I am not sure how they would do... The Yellow Racer produced a great bounty. And the tomatoes are so good. Sweet, but not too sweet. Tart. Yum.
Here are 3 of the Sureno's circa early August, before they set flowers and bore fruit. I did not plant them in the AG until late May/early June...
20200802_113019 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
Here are some of them a month later, in early Sept. You can see the Sureno's have laid a lot of fruit and some of the Fresno's are starting to mature...
20200904_101733 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
And here are some of the tomatoes...
20200804_114314 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
20200904_165402 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
This last one is some of the Patios as they ripen.
And here is the Yellow Racer and one of the Patio's side by side...
20200913_192203 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
Side note: I have several of the seedlings away to my partner and other folks, so I think i the end I ended up with 3 tomato plants, and 4 pepper plants of my own.
And here is a small harvest of the Sureno, Fresno, and Yellow Racer (for the life of my I cannot find a photo of a harvest Patio....)
20200914_091523 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
I used my AGs mainly for greens (chard, kale, mustard greens, arugula, spinach, rocket, cress) and a variety of lettuces. This is what I mainly grow. As some of the pods were wearing themselves out, rather than terminating, I popped them into some pots to see what would happen. They took a while, but all of them kept re-growing and producing (they are currently doing so).
My biggest success, I would say, is my Bok Choy. Back in February I planted 7 of the AG bok choy pods in an Ultra. They are still going! They were doing so well, I transplanted them to a container. I harvest leaves every few days and they continue to grow back beautifully. I currently have 22 bok choy "plants" going.
Many times they looked to be going-- slower growth, yellow leaves, but if I do not harvest from an area for a week or 10 days, they bounce back lush with leaves the size of my palm.
Here is my Ultra with the second round of Bok Choy that I transplanted (photo is from June):
2020-06-01_12-28-49 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
2020-06-01_12-29-12 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
These are photos from this morning. I have not been harvesting as much...currently have 22 plants going that came from about 9 AG pods.
2020-11-18_10-00-25 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
2020-11-18_10-00-47 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr
I moved in late September, so most of my AGs have not be re-setup (yet). I had a few greens going that I eventually ended. I still have a ton of plants going...waiting for peppers and tomatoes. It is too cold here, so I do not think they will come to fruition, but I figure hey why not? I do not have any areas with windows big enough to really move indoors and have them keep going. I am hoping the last of the tomatoes and peppers that are ripening finish before the plants die or the frost kills them. I was counting how much I harvested from tomatoes and peppers, but stop counting as was too tedious. All in all, I would say my sureno's produced 75 or so peppers. The fresnos 60ish. The Patio tomatoes probably produced 30 to 40 and the Yellow Racer 30 to 40 as well (keep in mind this is 1 yellow racer plant that survived and 3 Patios).
One issue I struggled with all Spring and Summer is the algae/mold on the machines. I acquired a Harvest in May for my Bday and I have to say, less than impressed. No matter what I did, the thing was invested with algae within a few weeks. The plants still grew, but it looked gross. It is a Black based Harvest witht he white top. I also had a lot of issues with algae in the other units (Ultra and Bounty). I know earlier this year there was some questions about did the formula of the nutes change. Some of the algae definitely killed off a few of my chard pods...It was a bit of an annoyance and disappointing. Most of my nutes are older...so I could not figure out what was happening. I will have to see this next round.
All in all it was a very fun and productive Summer and Fall growing. Given that I do not have a house AND a very late growing season here in Upstate NY, outdoor, in-ground gardening is not really something I can do. I was happy to have made a lush garden on my balcony. I moved to a duplex in October and many of the tomato plants were harmed in the process. But they more or less survived (just some branches and fruit sacrificed). They are all still going, but as I mentioned the 19 degree temps are going to kill them soon. Which is fine. I have had some of these going since January/February (well the Bok choy, which will still keep going for who knows?). I am trying to figure out where and how to do my next gardens. With my teaching schedule and COVID this Fall has flown by. Since I moved in, I have not really had the mental bandwidth to plan or plant my gardens...but am a bit mad I have not gotten stuff going. I want to try to grow some eggplant (Fairy tail or dwarf or?). I will plant my usual rotation of greens. I may plant one of the yellow racers....to see how it will do if it stays in an AG the whole time....the plant got big, but the fruit is compacted on branches, so I think it would do fine being pruned and kept under 2'. I am not sure I want to devote a whole machine or half machine though...I want to experiment with some new stuff, but cannot decide (as usual). I have also gotten my partner into AGing too, so I was wanting to have it be a joint effort, but I may need to just take the reins and go forward.
I look forward to being more active on here again!
After a long absence, I am back! I am sure there are many newer folks I do not know. Because I have been off since May or June, my garden patch is currently scrapped. I thought I would share some updates and photos from my Summer Gardening....This is a long post with lots of photos--BEWARE!
Once the weather started to get nicer in May, I started transplanting as much as possible from my AG to pots/containers on my balcony. It was generally successful. It kept me extremely busy (one of the reasons I was not able to update on here-- was spending hours a day watering, harvesting, and keep the plans clean could not get on here).
I had a constant rotation of herbs in the AG and in outside planters (Basil, mint, Dill, Thai Basil, Curly and Flat parsley, oregano...).
Here is my huge planter of herbs (there are 9 openings in this stacked planter):
20200904_101752 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr20200904_101943 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrI planted two varieties of tomatoes (Yellow Racer and Patio) from Park Seeds. Once they were fairly sturdy, I transplanted each seedling to pots. All in all, I had 5 tomatoes going in containers. I also grew two varieties of peppers (Fresno and Sureno). I did the same-- transplanted the seedlings and ended up with 5 Sureno's and 6 Fresnos. I made a "mistake" whe ordering the tomatoes. I mistakenly thought the Patios were a cherry tomato, but apparently they are a cocktail tomato. They grow fruit about 2 oz and the size of a small lime. Consequently, they take way longer to ripen and produce less. But the tomatoes are wonderful! Had I kept them in the AG I am not sure how they would do... The Yellow Racer produced a great bounty. And the tomatoes are so good. Sweet, but not too sweet. Tart. Yum.
Here are 3 of the Sureno's circa early August, before they set flowers and bore fruit. I did not plant them in the AG until late May/early June...
20200802_113019 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrHere are some of them a month later, in early Sept. You can see the Sureno's have laid a lot of fruit and some of the Fresno's are starting to mature...
20200904_101733 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrAnd here are some of the tomatoes...
20200804_114314 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr20200904_165402 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrThis last one is some of the Patios as they ripen.
And here is the Yellow Racer and one of the Patio's side by side...
20200913_192203 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrSide note: I have several of the seedlings away to my partner and other folks, so I think i the end I ended up with 3 tomato plants, and 4 pepper plants of my own.
And here is a small harvest of the Sureno, Fresno, and Yellow Racer (for the life of my I cannot find a photo of a harvest Patio....)
20200914_091523 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrI used my AGs mainly for greens (chard, kale, mustard greens, arugula, spinach, rocket, cress) and a variety of lettuces. This is what I mainly grow. As some of the pods were wearing themselves out, rather than terminating, I popped them into some pots to see what would happen. They took a while, but all of them kept re-growing and producing (they are currently doing so).
My biggest success, I would say, is my Bok Choy. Back in February I planted 7 of the AG bok choy pods in an Ultra. They are still going! They were doing so well, I transplanted them to a container. I harvest leaves every few days and they continue to grow back beautifully. I currently have 22 bok choy "plants" going.
Many times they looked to be going-- slower growth, yellow leaves, but if I do not harvest from an area for a week or 10 days, they bounce back lush with leaves the size of my palm.
Here is my Ultra with the second round of Bok Choy that I transplanted (photo is from June):
2020-06-01_12-28-49 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr2020-06-01_12-29-12 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrThese are photos from this morning. I have not been harvesting as much...currently have 22 plants going that came from about 9 AG pods.
2020-11-18_10-00-25 by Aaron Blasyak, on Flickr2020-11-18_10-00-47 by Aaron Blasyak, on FlickrI moved in late September, so most of my AGs have not be re-setup (yet). I had a few greens going that I eventually ended. I still have a ton of plants going...waiting for peppers and tomatoes. It is too cold here, so I do not think they will come to fruition, but I figure hey why not? I do not have any areas with windows big enough to really move indoors and have them keep going. I am hoping the last of the tomatoes and peppers that are ripening finish before the plants die or the frost kills them. I was counting how much I harvested from tomatoes and peppers, but stop counting as was too tedious. All in all, I would say my sureno's produced 75 or so peppers. The fresnos 60ish. The Patio tomatoes probably produced 30 to 40 and the Yellow Racer 30 to 40 as well (keep in mind this is 1 yellow racer plant that survived and 3 Patios).
One issue I struggled with all Spring and Summer is the algae/mold on the machines. I acquired a Harvest in May for my Bday and I have to say, less than impressed. No matter what I did, the thing was invested with algae within a few weeks. The plants still grew, but it looked gross. It is a Black based Harvest witht he white top. I also had a lot of issues with algae in the other units (Ultra and Bounty). I know earlier this year there was some questions about did the formula of the nutes change. Some of the algae definitely killed off a few of my chard pods...It was a bit of an annoyance and disappointing. Most of my nutes are older...so I could not figure out what was happening. I will have to see this next round.
All in all it was a very fun and productive Summer and Fall growing. Given that I do not have a house AND a very late growing season here in Upstate NY, outdoor, in-ground gardening is not really something I can do. I was happy to have made a lush garden on my balcony. I moved to a duplex in October and many of the tomato plants were harmed in the process. But they more or less survived (just some branches and fruit sacrificed). They are all still going, but as I mentioned the 19 degree temps are going to kill them soon. Which is fine. I have had some of these going since January/February (well the Bok choy, which will still keep going for who knows?). I am trying to figure out where and how to do my next gardens. With my teaching schedule and COVID this Fall has flown by. Since I moved in, I have not really had the mental bandwidth to plan or plant my gardens...but am a bit mad I have not gotten stuff going. I want to try to grow some eggplant (Fairy tail or dwarf or?). I will plant my usual rotation of greens. I may plant one of the yellow racers....to see how it will do if it stays in an AG the whole time....the plant got big, but the fruit is compacted on branches, so I think it would do fine being pruned and kept under 2'. I am not sure I want to devote a whole machine or half machine though...I want to experiment with some new stuff, but cannot decide (as usual). I have also gotten my partner into AGing too, so I was wanting to have it be a joint effort, but I may need to just take the reins and go forward.
I look forward to being more active on here again!
