| Blog series by scottb consisting of 7 parts so far |
Part 1: week three
Day one involved some assembly of the hydroponic garden. Total time, about an hour to assemble, fill it up with water, insert the seed pods, and plug it in. On day three the basil poked up. Within 10 days everything had sprouted, but was too small (or too bright) to capture with my camera, even on the macro setting. The dill didn’t appear until about half of the herbs showed up, and took off to an early lead (just to spite me, I don’t like dill). But in time the chives have...
Part 2: week four
What a difference a week makes: last week: this week: The chives are almost touching the light, and it looks like I’ve got to prune the basil a bit. The idea is to keep all the herbs growing at about the same height before I raise the light. Looks like the mint and parsley need a little help. The dill on the other hand is doing too well – just to spite me. (I don’t care for dill). It’s starting to fill in the spaces between its neighbors. It better not touch t...
Part 3: week 7
I’ve been cutting herbs twice a week for a while now, and we’ve been snacking on them too. Well, sampling really.Even the ones I’ve previously disliked are pretty tasty. Never noticed the citrusy flavor in dried cilantro – just a “soapy” quality that I’d always substitute parsley for. And fresh dill is pretty nice, just a faint aftertaste that must get amplified (and ruined) in the drying process. I’ve got 1/4 pound of herbs! (tare weight) in...
Part 4: week 8
5 days after pruning it down (and raising the lights one click) time to harvest again. This is the biggest they’ve been. For instance, the Purple Basil, has doubled it’s growth. (went from 3 sets of leaves on the stem to 6 or more!) Two weeks, before and after, with 3 or 4 trimmings between!
Part 5: week 8 1/2
This morning I harvested this weeks bounty: before: after: I got bold, and took the dill down to the “ground”. I’m not supposed to thin more than 1/3rd at a time, but there is some new growth ready to spring up from down there, and all the stems were the same height otherwise, just about touching the lights. I am so not expecting this luck from the real garden – once the snow finally fades….
Part 6: almost 3 months later
No new pictures to post – just a status report… The Dill started coming back from being chopped down to nothing, but with a little elbow room, the Cilantro has pretty much taken over. I”m not kidding, when I say I have to trim it a little every day or two. Yesterday I trimmed a few of the taller stalks, and right before I went to bed, another one was practically touching the light. At first I was refilling the water tank every two weeks, then weekly, now more often. IR...
Part 7: more (and more) of the same
after nearly 4 months, I’ve used up all the fertilizer tablets that came with the kit, and EVERYTHING is still growing better than ever. Gonna let it “run it’s course” and see how much longer they keep growing. Nothings bolted yet (despite four months of 17-18 hours of “sunshine) A small stack of baggies in the freezer have bulked up considerably, and I’m on the verge of starting a second bag for the cilanto and parsley. The mint has also come into it...
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Blog Series
- Herb garden - 7 parts
- Recipes - 1 part
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