Another Year, Another Try

"If At First We Don't Succeed..."

I went to Home Despot this afternoon, and picked up some stuff. PVC pipes, L and T joints, 4 narrow growbeds, a half-barrel (made from plastic, moulded to look like an oak barrel), seeds, and some assorted bits and pieces. I have a pump, timer, and extension cords on order (and en route). When the pump arrives, I'll be picking up the tubing.

No News is Bad News

My cats ate the plants from the grow bed. The fish have been doing very well, until this morning, when one of the cats managed to catch one of the fish... I found that fish, intact and mostly unmarked, covered in shed fur. I think the cats had no idea what to do with it once they got it out of the tank.

So, I'm down to two fish and zero plants. I need to pick up a plant from Home Despot and gently remove the soil from its roots, so I can put it in the grow bed.

It's been a couple of weeks

Time marches on.

It's been a few weeks since I started my plants. As you can see from the photo, they're doing pretty decently. The plants on the right half are tomato, the left half are the sweet peppers. I managed to kill off the mint. I think I'll do a 'ponics rig specifically for mint.

Frustrated

If it's not one thing, it's another.

So, I remembered to bring the spigots for the pump, this morning. Hooray! I got to the house, did some puttering around, and then started to hook up the hose to the pump, set the pump in the fish tank, and turned it on.

The pump's instructions say to start it at full blast, and then reduce the flow if necessary. Since the pump is rated for a 10 gallon set-up, and mine is 2 gallons, at best, I knew I'd have to reduce. Still, I followed the instructions, and once the flow was flowing, I reduced it to minimum.

Sprout Transfer

We puts the seedlings in the gravel and sprays it with the water

Yesterday (16 May 2011), I picked up the hose for my water pump. Today, as I was getting things set up, I realised I left the spigot from the pump at the other house. D'oh!

Regardless, I drilled holes in the bottom of the grow bed, 1 in each corner and 1 in the middle. I poured the remaining gravel into the bed, and then decided which plants were getting transferred.

Everybody's Working For The Weekend

The fountain still isn't running

I still don't have the water pump running, and had to change the water for the three fish. Their names are either Manny, Moe & Jack, or Larry, Moe & Curly. I still haven't assigned which fish gets which name. I'll leave that for my 7 yr old son.

Spring is springing

Less on the 'ponics side of things. Squeeing with delight at plants

A couple of days ago, I posted a picture of my 3 little plant pots. At the time, only the tomatoes has sprouted. Now, all three have sprouts, even though the pepper sprouts haven't quite come above the surface of the soil. I could see an unfurling stem.

As this is my first time trying to grow plans on purpose, I'm a happy camper, that plants are actually growing! No, I'm not counting my tomatoes before they've fruited, but the fact that I'm that much closer to having my own veggies makes me wriggle in my seat with a happydance. Look beyond the cut for macro photos of my little vegetative minions.