Garden for your Fresh Vegetables

Total,

Unfortunately none of my windows get good enough sun in the winter to grow anything (including a chia pet) so I have to use lights, I have two light setups, the first is a series of blue spectrum fluorescents that are great for growing out seedlings/cuttings then I have another setup that consists of a red spectrum high-pressure sodium lamp that I use for forcing flowering/fruiting.

All together it's just shy of a thousand watts of lights, it definately takes your eyes awhile to get accustomed to the brightness when you first walk into the room.

If your interested in building an indoor garden for you & your kids feel free to ask any question you can think of & I'll do my best to help you out.

And no I don't have a greenhouse yet, but I would definately love to have one.

Richard ,

Check your PM .This is what I am talking about. You have a lot of knowledge to share with AFP .

I can't grow weeds so I need the help of an expert . 

With the economy where it is at and cost on utilities going up I would need a small fortune to operate something like that... About what do you think it cost to run them per month, also how long of a cycle are they on?

Nice of you to offer your help I will keep that in mind for the future.

I have considered it myself, they can extend the growing season for many root crops in raised beds layered for access... Would like to have a small one for carrots, radishes & a variety of lettuces. Maybe try some turnips, and have you ever grew a plant named Kohlrabi?

Kohlrabi easier to grow than broccoli very tolerant of insect damage, stores well it can be direct seeded.. can grow an early crop.., then a second late crop in most warmer areas. Can plant every couple weeks for a continuous supply. Tolerates heat better than most cole veggies such as broccoli and cabbage.

Peel it cut it up cubed or sliced steam, or fry. Like to fry it up with turnips and taters.. Serve with butter. Taste like a cross of turnips & cabbage to me..

Total,

I only indoor garden during the winter months, so the jacuzzi's been shut down/winterized & the air conditioner is turned off for the season so that sort of off-sets the utility difference.

Tomatos are generally fine kept on a 12 on 12 off blue spectrum cycle from seedling/cutting to the point where you are ready to start flowering them, then I start them on the red spectrum high-pressure sodium gradually increasing their on cycle time an hour at a time until they are on a 16 on 8 off cycle.

But no I have never tried kohlrabi but I'll look for a package of them the next time I buy seeds.

Canning isn't hard. You do have to do your homework though or risk having some of you pushing up daisies. The Ball Blue book though sets you straight. If you are going to can you can not do without one. The next thing you need to learn is what is nutritionally reduced by canning and what isn't. Tomatoes for example, improve nutritionally by cooking because it breaks down some of the nutrients into accessible forms where they are inaccessibly to you raw. Pumpkin is another that actually improves in nutrition. Honestly it is simply cooking that does this but canning cooks the things to the point of only needing to be heated to be done. Most things are better off going to the freezer but need to take a trip through hot water for a minute or two first.

Second thing to know on canning is what is acidic and what isn't. Canning kills nearly everything because of the heat. Boiling water is particularly good at dispatching bad bugs. It is worthless against botulism spores though. If those little guys get going they are odorless and tastless but potent enough to put you on a slab. Acidity stops them in their tracks. Tomatoes are no problem but if you can salsa the addition of so many other non-acidic ingredients neutralizes the PH and you are back to potential trouble. If you are canning something acidic then a straight water bath canner is all you need. They are cheap too. If you are canning things that are not acidic then you need a pressure canner to be really safe. They are not so cheap. Again, the Ball Blue book will set you straight. Good luck!

Those are all the rules for composting! You can compost with only green or brown and you get a lack of one type of nutrient and it can just take longer. The green material is what jump starts the composting process. All brown material just breaks down a lot slower. If you don't have the green aspect you will also not have a high nitrogen level. Still good stuff though.

Now then, what can you do with compost. Of course you know you can add it to garden soil for impressive fertilizer but much more importantly is the organic nature added to the soil that improves drainage, critter count in the soil to help work it for you, and vastly improved texture for greater root growth. You probably knew most of those though.

A fully functiong compost pile gets hot. Add some raw horse, chicken, or what ever you can get, manure and it can get very hot. Mix that together with the greens and brown and you have a hotbed of microbal activity. Once that is started it will truck right along. One thing you can do with that is to dig a hole in the yard, layer in plenty of that raw and very hot compost, layer in a few inches of ready to go compost. Build yourself a frame with a glass or clear plastic top and you have a hot bed which can substantially lengthen the growing season, even more than a cold frame because you are adding the heat from the composting manure rising throught he soil and being trapped by the frame. You can find the details by searching for hot beds. The down side is that you do have to be able to crack them open if you get a warm day. A fifty degree day with the heat from the hot bed can wither the plants. Other than that you just have a nicely extended season. 

What Items did you freeze, and how well did they last?

 I froze tomatoes, corn, peppers, and carrots this year. I did not cook anything before I froze it. I had read that I could just rinse the tomatoes in hot water then freeze them, skin and all, and they would be good for soups, sauces, etc. They have been good. I boiled the corn and then cut it off the ear into freezer bags. It has been very good. I have been told you can freeze corn still in the stalk just putting it in a brown paper bag. I didn't have enough to try that though. My peppers and carrots I rinsed in hot water, chopped them up, and froze them. They have been yummy!

Canning isn't hard. You do have to do your homework though or risk having some of you pushing up daisies.

PatriotDan, I have the canning jars and supplies. I'll have to get that book though. 

As far as salsa goes I make my own fresh salsa when we want it. I don't care much for the cooked kind. I don't like using tomatoes that have been frozen in it, but frozen peppers work just fine. 

krolchiha, my husband (sparky) fixes up his own compost that seems to work great. He takes the leftovers from the fridge out there as we have them. This year he also put a load of horse manure from his brother's farm. He put most of the grass clippings out there and then all the leaves that we raked went out there as well. He builds up ground where he plants and added something to it last year but I can't remember what it was. I'll have to ask him.

Thanks for your comment, hopefully we all can change the weed growing problem you have.. Maybe with some advise from forum poster you can grow all the weeds, Veggies & flowers you would want..

Read the thread as i hope it grows, and maybe some information will be helpful to you.. Feel free to ask any questions you might have..

Thank you again for your post.