Container Gardens

    My first experiment I'm working on is growing some vegetables in window boxes. For this I'm using radish seed and arugula seed. I planted my radishes in a window box measuring 8" X 24" on March 3 ^rd. I spread the seeds in rows fairly close together and barely covered them with soil. After about a week or so I saw emergence and by March 17 ^th there was enough growth to thin them. To thin, I simply pulled out sprouts that were close together and transplanted them into other window boxes full of soil, making sure the roots were firmly packed into the soil. I was able to fill about four other boxes and still had an abundance of sprouts in my original box.

    I planted my arugula on March 10 ^th using the same method. I noticed emergence about five days later. At this point, there is still not much growth.

Radishes 10 Days After Planting

Original Box of Radishes 3 Weeks After Planting

	Arugula 3 Days and 2 Weeks After Planting

Hydroponics

    Another exciting experiment I have going on is a hydroponics system. This one has been a really neat learning experience for me. For those that may not know, hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Instead, you use another form of growing media and a mineral nutrient solution in water. In my case, I'm using clay pebbles.

    For this I used a hydroponic system available in the store called "Emily's Garden Aeration Circulation Hydroponic System". I started my seeds in a product called "rock wool" provided in the kit. Instructions said to soak the rock wool cubes in water with a pH of 5.5-6.5 (I used vinegar to achieve this pH) for 12 to 24 hours. After soaking my cubes, I planted seeds in each one. I used spinach, lettuce, beets, basil, lemon balm, and cilantro. Once planted, I placed them in a black growing tray and covered with a clear humidity dome, misting with water occasionally to keep moist. I noticed sprouts in about half the blocks after 10 or so days. Shortly after that, some sprouts did start to die off. 

    After this, I placed them into the hydroponic system. This is an orange tub that gets filled with water and has two air stones inside to aerate the water. I then placed each planting container in to the solution and filled with the clay pebbles. I placed each rock wool in the pebbles, making sure the bottom of them was touching the water. After about a week, I'm noticing some good leaf growth as well as root growth.

    I'm also starting another set of seeds as the original didn't go quite as well as it should have. For this batch, I'm using "A-Ok" rock wool and following their directions. I only soaked this cubes for about 10 seconds and used a mineral solution with phosphorus (provided in the kit) to adjust my pH. I also didn't squeeze the excess water out of the cubes like in my original batch and I'm using a humidity dome that has some ventilation. After about five days, I began to seed sprouts emerging out of these cubes. They're still under the humidity dome and I'm doing a better job of keeping these moist. They appear like they'll turn out much better than the original batch.

Original Set of Seed Starts 1 Week After Planting

	New Set of Seed Starts 1 Week After Planting

Seed Starts 1 Week After Being Placed in Hydroponic System

Growing in Bags of Soil

    My final experiment came from an idea I saw on Facebook. Someone was growing lettuce using nothing but seeds and a bag of potting soil. I thought it was a really innovative and simple idea so I thought I'd give it a try. I have one bag of ferti ·lome Ultimate Potting Mix with Buttercrunch Lettuce, and one bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil with Mixed Leaf Lettuce. To do this, I first roughed up each bag to break up the soil and sliced some small holes on the backside of each back to provide drainage. I then cut out a square on the front side of each bag leaving about a one inch border all the way around. After that I loosened up the soil one last time just to make sure there weren't and clumps left and planted three rows of seed in each bag.        These were planted on March 13 ^th and I noticed some emergence around five days later. At this point, there is still good growth going on in each bag and it's looking like they will have a promising crop.

Lettuce Seeds Planted After Being Planted

    Please feel free to come out and take a look at these experiments for yourself! They're located in the back of our second greenhouse and I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

"In the spring,at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt"- Margaret Atwood

Spraying for Cedar Apple Rust

    If you've had problems with Cedar Apple Rust in the past on trees like crabapples and ornamental pears, start thinking about spraying their foliage when the leaves start to come out on the trees to protect them from picking up Cedar Apple Rust again this year. We have a product called f

erti·lome F-Stop

  to use for spraying the foliage to help prevent this problem. Once a trees' foliage picks up Cedar Apple Rust for the year, it can't be reversed. Therefore, spray in a preventative action to control this issue.

Fertilizing Plant Material

    Attend our "Amend, Feed, Protect-Simple Steps to Grow Better" seminar with our Soil Mender rep Dave Young on Saturday, April 7

^th.