We have a new "guest" in the garden this week. I don't know the back story, but here's the tale as I understand it:
Jessawick walks over to me, holding a green leafy chunk of plantlife. I don't know what it is, but the rest of it is growing in a planter near her desk. Regardless... She's holding a chunk of plant matter.
She asks if she can put it into the MegaGarden, in the hopes that it might sprout some roots and survive. Mmmmm. Foreign plant matter. Hopefully, it won't hurt things too much.
Freeloading plant matter aside, here's this week's update:
Everything is doing pretty well. I've still avoided starting up the aeroponic unit (I'm stalling because a 400W HPS bulb is expensive to run).
Algae has started to grow on the rockwool cubes of the strawberries. It makes sense, as they are very slow growing. They haven't yet formed a canopy, so algae growth is natural, I suppose. Thus far, I've just scraped it off (with a paper towel). It's not out-of-hand; and it's also the only algae in the entire system. It doesn't seem to be a threat, the strawberries are still quite well.
Everybody else is growing as expected. The lettuce(s) are larger, the tomato plants are larger, everybody seems happy. I'm still keeping with the slightly higher than usual pH... It's been about 6.8 (tap pH in my area) since the beginning. I'm taking the lazy and stable route, with good success.
I'm probably going to move some of the other plants into the aero-style net pots shortly.
Here's an overview of the plants at the moment. Notice the large green freeloader in the foreground.
Keeping with my promise of solid record keeping, here's this week's chart:
| Plant | Type | Status |
| #01 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. |
| #02 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. |
| #03 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. |
| #04 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. |
| #05 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. It looks like two seeds have been growing, rather than just one. |
| #06 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. |
| #07 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as strawberries tend to grow. |
| #08 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 2.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as
strawberries tend to grow. It looks like two seeds have been growing,
rather than just one. |
| #09 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 1.5" tall. Looks very healthy. Growing slowly, as
strawberries tend to grow. |
| #10 | Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Heirloom Tomato | Approximately 12" tall. Lots of secondary leaves. |
| #11 | Delicious Heirloom Tomato | Previously killed through personal stupidity. |
| #12 | Bambino Baby Eggplant | It's about 4" tall, and it looking quite healthy. Soon to get an aero-pot.
|
| #13 | Monet's Garden Lettuce
| Approximately 11" tall (if it stood). We've got roots roaming the bottom of the tray.
|
| #14 | Monet's Garden Lettuce | Approximately 10" tall (if it stood). We've got roots roaming the bottom of the tray. |
| #15 | Monet's Garden Lettuce | Approximately 11" tall (if it stood). We've got roots roaming the bottom of the tray. |
| #16 | Monet's Garden Lettuce | Approximately 9" tall (if it stood). We've got roots roaming the bottom of the tray. |
| #17 | Lime Basil
| Looks healthy. About 3.5" tall. It's getting more leaves. Looks tasty.
|
| #18 | Delicious Heirloom Tomato | Approximately 9" tall. Looks quite good healthy. It's younger than the other tomato, so the smaller size makes sense. It needs transplanting to an aero-style pot.
|