By anonymous
Jewleeia's Grow Log
Submitted on Tue, 2008/12/30 - 5:22pm
Last updated on Fri, 2009/01/02 - 10:28pm
My adventures with the Classic 7 Pod Aerogarden. An ingenious invention that will surely help "winter-over" a bit of my tremendous eagerness to start my first garden in AK. Happy browsing!
Wed, 2008/12/31 - 4:49pm
#2
Wed, 2008/12/31 - 5:03pm
#3
Very cool stuff. 
I've done a bunch of fractals stuff workwise - including Mandelbrot-Julia sets.
Wed, 2008/12/31 - 5:37pm
#4
WOW! (insert smiley that repeatedly bows down and is thankful to be in your presence) And I was just patting myself on the back for being able to follow your instructions on inserting light boxes.
Wed, 2008/12/31 - 6:44pm
#5
Just earnin' a livin'.
Granted, I kinda play for a living. I like it that way. 
Fri, 2009/01/02 - 7:27pm
#6
Jewleeia - I forget. Do you get to pick first herbs at 3 weeks for basil, or 4 weeks?
I'd intended to replant my pro100 with herbs this time, but... I think I'm going for a short crop of greens again, instead, then maybe herbs after starting some crops for spring...
Fri, 2009/01/02 - 9:57pm
#7
The guide states 3 to 4 weeks but I believe that is just to get the basil bushing out. I don't think it would be much of a harvest. Although, now that I think it through, with the 2 basil pods I planted I have a total of 15 seedlings (10 from the Genovese and 5 from the Purple) and just clipping a bit of each should give me quite a pile of leaves eh?
Fri, 2009/01/02 - 11:13pm
#8
Could definitely brighten up a dull soup. 10 basil in one pod could be a bit much - those you might want to thin down to 5... or fewer. Basil plants are big. That should get you an even bigger pile!
Gardening in AK, huh? That should be interesting! What part? We just went up the Inside Passage this June (Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway). Very soggy place. We caught on to the native "cloud failure!" cry of delight pretty quick. 
Sun, 2009/01/04 - 1:41am
#9
Ahh, you are right...I am so excited to see green right now that thinning hadn't yet dawned on me
. I probably need to thin my Thyme (18 sprouts), Oregano (9 sprouts) and Mint (10 sprouts) down to 7, 5, and 5? Does that seem about right? My Savory seems good at 5. I checked the guide (in an attempt to further convince myself that reading instructions is important) and it said- Plants do not need to be thinned. Go figure.
I live in Homer. Our property is high enough though that being on the coast doesn't help much with gardening. Last frost date is May 31st but this summer I woke up to 32F on the 4th of July! Yep, it is going to be interesting but I am taking it slow and planting simple veggies. I worked in
Edit: Gisette removed bunch of Word-formatting that showed up.
Sun, 2009/01/04 - 2:34pm
#10
You're right, they do say thinning isn't necessary. But... basil are big. I haven't grown the thyme, oregano, or savory, and my mint never amounted to much of anything. I think your amounts sound reasonable. Be sure to snip with scissors, not pull - pulling them out will mess with the roots of those who stay behind.
Agreed, southeastern AK was beautiful, but yes, that quantity of rain was daunting. Homer looks gorgeous!
What veggies are you growing?
I'm trying out kozy coats water walls this spring on a few plants - one each tomato, pepper, and probably-eggplant (may change my mind and try a cucumber). That might give you a few more options. Probably not tomatoes given how very short your growing season is... I've read online of people who managed the same basic effect with plastic jugs of water surrounding their plants.
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 1:33am
#11
Yes, Homer is really beautiful!
I am planning to grow green beans (bush), sweet snap peas, broccoli, carrots, radish and spinach. Nice, easy stuff that our family eats the most of! I've got a bit of work ahead of me though. I built the raised bed last year and this spring I need to fill it up with soil. The soil I have set aside for it is full of horsetail roots--- I'm planning to either sift them out or burn the soil to kill the roots. I have road fabric to lie down under the garden which will discourage the surrounding acres of horsetails from creepin' in. Next will be a bit of cow manure, then the soil and finally maybe some bags of pro-mix mixed in to rejuvinate the soil. I'll eventually go organic; I started composting this fall. The raised bed is made out of logs and measures 18' x 15'. I'll seal the ends of the logs sometime this summer so they will last longer. I also plan to bore holes 4" deep every four feet in the longer logs, stick thin pvc tubes in, arc them over the garden toss on some clear plastic and volia...I'll have a cold frame. Oh, I need to build a fence to keep moose out. Yup, I've got high aspirations this spring!
Those cozy coats are cool, when I graduate to tomatoes and peppers I'll have to give em' a go! The mini bell peppers and bambino eggplants have also sparked my interest!!
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 3:28am
#12
Wow, Jewleeia! You're a hard-working gardener! I hope to see pictures of this masterpiece abuilding!
My daughter loves eating beans fresh off the bush / vine, and I failed to deliver well last year beanwise. I've never used bean inoculant before, but this year I'm going to have to try it. I suppose it makes sense that no proper bean bacteria were around. If anything lived in this yard before I moved here, it was purely by accident. 
I'd like a raised bed. (Just a little one, maybe 4x8' - my whole yard is smaller than your raised bed!) Might have to wait until a certain someone is voted off the condo board, though.
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 1:41pm
#13
Oh, btw, Jewleeia - does your family like zucchini? Normally I wouldn't think zukes a candidate for Alaska, but I saw this one at Burpee. If you started it indoors 4 weeks early, and could provide cold frame temps of at least 50 or so for a month or so outside, it might work.
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 5:09pm
#14
Maere said that at the end of season they'd take a huge basket of zucchini to a neighbor's porch, right the doorbell and run like hell.
Great to see you from Homer here. Do you leave the light on for us?
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 5:51pm
#15
I love zukes, my daughter will eat anything so far. I might try some down the road but this year I am focusing on veggies I can freeze or dry. I want to try to get our family through next winter on mainly home grown (at least with the veggies we eat on a weekly basis).I've all ready got ideas for more raised beds...Asparagus...yum!
Bruce- I once found a Dr. Suess book at our thrift store signed by Tom Bodett. Our light is always on, we usually have to beg people to visit- all of our family is in the mid-west. I think AK seems like another country to them.
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 6:01pm
#16
LOL, Bruce! Yes, once a zuke is in full swing, neighbors learn to hide...
I love asparagus! It's the strangest thing - asparagus makes me happy. I've looked, and haven't yet found an explanation for this biochemical quirk. But it works like a charm. Any time I'm down, I can eat asparagus and be happy, no matter what's going down in life. Don't have a good spot to grow it in, though. 
Buy it every week anyway - $4 isn't much to pay for happiness.
I made a bunch of ratatouille over the summer and froze some. But my freezer's not so big, and I really love ratatouille, so... Didn't really last til winter.
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 8:39pm
#17
Never thought about asparagus making one happy but I do love to scarf it up, maybe there's something to it.
Real stew needs meat! Hmm.... a little miniature corral with 12" cows, water and tiny hay bales would make a great adjunct to an AG. With good timing it would allow a proper homemade stew. 
Sometimes you shake or brush flowers to fruit, what would you do with the cows? Play Roy Rogers songs or....
It could be self sustaining, just use the cow uh.. residue to fertilize your plants. A multi-million dollar idea... now to find some 12" cows for my MiniRanch (tm) and another AG for alfalfa. OOH, fill the water trough with beer and massage them daily - Mini Kobi Beef! Instead of a light timer, have little boxing gloves give them gentle punches ever 15 minutes. A zillion dollar idea.
Wow Jewleeia, Dr Seuss and Tom Bodett - Shakespear and Walter Cronkite rolled into one, I'm in awe! Seriously, how is the weather up there, I hear it's not like what I think.
Gisette - how come I can't edit my stupid posts anymore? I meant ring the bell above and it came out right the bell. I nead a spel cheker, the wun in FF doesn't werk hear.
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 8:45pm
#18
re the cows.
You never could edit posts in the forums... Or rather, I had it so you could for a while, but unfortunately, that allowed you to delete other people's posts... 
Sun, 2009/01/18 - 9:24pm
#19
There must still be a time frame to edit, I just tried it on another post after a few minutes and it worked. I'll play a little.
Mon, 2009/01/19 - 2:55am
#20
That's a good question Bruce! I've lived here 10 years and I still don't have it figured out! Sometimes we have summers that are 60-70*F and sunny the whole time, other times its 40-50*F and rains almost everyday. Some winters are mild and rainy, others- like this one- are sunny and really cold. We just had 2 weeks of 10*F BUT today it was 45*F! Sometimes we have 3' of snow and other times the ground is brown all winter. It's consistantly unpredictable
I blame it on being coastal, north of Anchorage has pretty consistant winters.
The changing of seasons is pretty predictable though. Spring starts sometime in May, gardens go in around the begining of June, July feels like summer, August the tourists start leaving, Fall comes in September, October it usually snows.
Thu, 2009/03/12 - 1:38am
#21
Hey, Jewleeia! Was just thinking of you tonight. There was this show on Discovery Channel, Planet Earth: the Sequel, that featured an entrepreneur in Chena (sp?), AK, just outside Fairbanks. He runs a hot springs resort, and wants it not only completely self-sufficient on renewable energy, but aspires to supply geothermal power to Fairbanks. Has a huge hydroponic (aeroponic?) garden setup, to feed his resort, the works. 
He's got an elegant hotel, made of ice. I gather it melted the first summer, then he got busy building generators.
I'm a sucker for hot springs, and really cool gardens. I wouldn't mind vacationing there!
Ooh, love your avatar.