What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

Btw, I am using a new mobile/desktop app called Notion and creating my own Garden database. I wanted something I could use to quickly filter on a specific plant and then details to help me make decisions. For example, I don't always remember good and bad companion plants. So if I'm planning out the garden and I want to remember what I should plant next to my potatoes....or what I should not plant my dill around, etc.... I'm also capturing things like plant height, sowing depth, time to harvest, pest information, and various care details. I like that I can edit or view it from either laptop or my phone. We'll see if it turns out to be helpful or not....

 

[Sueby]

I haven't used them (except as grow lights for my garden starts) for a while, but I'll see what I can remember.

I wasn't a fan of the cherry tomatoes grown in them because they were really watery/had not much flavor. Maybe it was just the variety Aerogarden provides and a different patio-type variety would taste better.

I've been known to wrap aluminum foil around them to keep the light and some extra heat in, especially when the seeds are germinating and the plants are little. The lights are LED, but still provide a bit of warmth.

The biggest problem I have with Aerogarden is their prices, which is why a while ago I bought grow sponges to grow seeds I already have. I also have trouble with algae and/or mold growing on the sponges, but that could be because light gets to the tops of the sponges (the papers didn't stay on for me).

I do like the convenience of having a garden indoors that has its own lighting. Now I have officially convinced myself to pull them out to grow some herbs!

Good idea with the tin foil! I must say the light is so bright it's kind of annoying, I'm going to use some tin foil for sure. Mine came with their herb pack & I planted them all but I already googled getting empty pods to grow my own herbs, I hate basil & won't use it & it was 2 of the pods. I will keep an eye out for algae. Thanks so much for the tips!

Oh & completely off subject, pics of the littles. They have their adult voices & are almost as big as the big girls. I just love the colors of my BLRW (even after molting her tail, lol) & my EE. & the extra chick was indeed female, to my surprise. 4 girls.

 

[BReeder!]

I'm about to start some seeds this weekend....probably tomatoes and peppers, anyway. I have a south-facing window within 4 ft of my fireplace. We've been running a fire almost non-stop for the past week so it stays pretty warm in the living room. I'm hoping that the warmth from the fireplace, combined with the sunlight from the window will help things germinate. My only concern is keeping the cats & dogs out of it. They've been known for getting into mischief and I could just seem them pulling everything onto the floor. I don't have anything high enough that they couldn't reach it, except a bookshelf but that spot doesn't get direct sunlight.

Consider adding a humidifier in the room if there's not one already. I would also uses domes over starts. Reason being the fireplace will dry the air the in the room.

As for the cats and dogs, you could start most vegetable seed on the book shelf and a lot of seeds do not need sunlight to germinate, but once they sprout they'll need light.

 

[BReeder!]

The recent talk of dill not playing well with other plants got me doing a bit of research. I ended up reformatting my herb bed and moving some herbs to another bed all together.

Here's what I have now:
The long rectangle of green is a 2'x10' raised bed. You can see the layout of the herbs in the bed. The dill should be fine next to basil from what I understand, although I might just move dill to a large pot I have.
At the bottom is a group of herbs I'm going to plant in a ground level bed that will border the garden fence - unlike the raised bed the placement of these is not determined yet. I really struggling with the placement of thyme and oregano because they like dry sandy soil. I might just pot them in large planters set on the border bed. I also am looking for more zone 5 perennial herbs I can use in the kitchen for this border.

Any thoughts, opinions or suggestions?

 

[TJAnonymous]

Consider adding a humidifier in the room if there's not one already. I would also uses domes over starts. Reason being the fireplace will dry the air the in the room.

As for the cats and dogs, you could start most vegetable seed on the book shelf and a lot of seeds do not need sunlight to germinate, but once they sprout they'll need light.

Good idea with the domes... I have some of those clear plastic containers that they sell salad greens in. I bet I could put the seed starter cups in those with a little bit of water at the bottom for humdity. Thoughts?

 

[BullChick]

Good idea with the domes... I have some of those clear plastic containers that they sell salad greens in. I bet I could put the seed starter cups in those with a little bit of water at the bottom for humdity. Thoughts?

Sounds like the seed starter sets they sell near the seeds.

 

[WthrLady]

I had that bug last year....

I have dome envy!

 

[Sueby]

The recent talk of dill not playing well with other plants got me doing a bit of research. I ended up reformatting my herb bed and moving some herbs to another bed all together.

Here's what I have now:
The long rectangle of green is a 2'x10' raised bed. You can see the layout of the herbs in the bed. The dill should be fine next to basil from what I understand, although I might just move dill to a large pot I have.
At the bottom is a group of herbs I'm going to plant in a ground level bed that will border the garden fence - unlike the raised bed the placement of these is not determined yet. I really struggling with the placement of thyme and oregano because they like dry sandy soil. I might just pot them in large planters set on the border bed. I also am looking for more zone 5 perennial herbs I can use in the kitchen for this border.

Any thoughts, opinions or suggestions?

View attachment 2958248

I, personally, use more thyme than most others so I say more thyme! How about sage? Mint?

ETA: I grow most of my herbs in pots as a lot come in for the winter but I'm thinking of adding something like this raised bed as an herb garden:

Good idea with the domes... I have some of those clear plastic containers that they sell salad greens in. I bet I could put the seed starter cups in those with a little bit of water at the bottom for humdity. Thoughts?

That sounds like a great idea!

 

[cherrynberry]

Seeds came today! Planning to start them tomorrow!

Planted cabbage, lettuce, radish, turnips, kale, peas, spinach, and broccoli. With 2 types of lettuce. Hope they are successful!

 

[Acre4Me]

It’s Jan, it was 40F, so I used the opportunity to sprinkle oyster shell on the raised beds (partly bc I discovered I had 150 lbs of oyster shell in the barn). Then added some sulfur bc we know our beds are too high in pH. Finally added some ground rock for trace minerals. Gives them time to mellow in the soil. It was nice to be outside in the garden for awhile.