Who'd a thunk I would be involved in Aquaponics, Squarefoot gardening, hoophuts, greenhouses, cold frames etc etc etc, a year ago. This all started with my wife making a keyhole garden last year. It produced so much food for us, I figured I would jump on the band wagon and help this year. After all, my wife D, had 600+ mason jars to fill with food. Back in December, she showed me a youtube video of an Aquaponics system in Australia. Since I hated getting dirt under my nails (for 30 years now) I figured I could contribute by making the fish to veggie system in the basement of our house. I promised D I would help with the dirt gardens, after I bought her Mel Bartholumew's book Squarefoot Gardening.
The planning for it was left to D. She calculated we needed four 4x4 ft gardens to sustain the two of us. So when it came time to make the frames, I made EIGHT. Ok so I don't listen, but we did have 600 jars to fill. Eventually, we ended up with ELEVEN. I was in charge of seed planting in the house, and the aquaponics. Like the SFGs I was a bit extreme. 160 species of plants were seeded. Everything from veggies, fruits, herbal meds, flowers, catnip, hell, I even saved apple seeds, grapefruit seeds and my beloved Keylime seeds. Since I knew nothing about gardening, I had to go on the side of percentages. The more I planted, the more would grow. Thanks to the internet and input from everyone under the sun, we started to have successes. Here is a photo history of the garden project.
This is the start of the SFG. Eight 4x4 ft gardens. My job was to make the frames, haul the dirt up the mountain into the backyard. D got to line the frames with cloth, mix her special mix of dirt, compost, and perlite, and transplant the seedlings. The day we got the seedlings planted, the weather guys were calling for frost. We scrambled to make the hoophuts to save the crop.
This was the result of the hoophut scramble. It worked great. No plants suffered. Note the uncovered garden to the right. D is masterfully calculating the exact location for every plant. Also note, the pot at the lower left has a piece of plexiglass on it. This was a two-fold success, it kept the plant from freezing, and it kept the damned cats from eating it, it was catnip. The trellace in the back row is made from 1/2" conduit, and is for the beans and peas to grow onto. It worked great.
I made a stand, to mount a grow light, using a fluorescent light fixture. I had it sitting on the counter over our beer and wine fridges. D put the tyvek cover on it to keep the seedlings warm.
This was the aquaponic setup, and my indoor greenhouse for the seedlings. I used CFC full spectrum lights in the greenhouse and the seeds loved it.
This is one of two grow beds in the aquaponic system. Those are Jalepenos and Gypsy peppers. To the extreme right, are tomatoes that grew to the ceiling.
Who ever said gardening was relaxing never had neighbours like these looking in on our progress. That bruin is about 20 ft from the gardens, biding its time until I would leave. This guy showed up about 8 - 10 ft from where D and I were working on our retaining wall. She saw it first and ran. THEN and only THEN told me there was a bear 3 steps away. My first assault was with the broom, bounced off, then the shovel, again bounced off, then rocks..... ok ok.... anyone who knows me, KNOWS I can't throw anything. However, I did manage at a distance of 8 feet girly toss a few rocks and connect. That was enough for me, I brought out the big stick. As soon as the bear saw I meant business, he climbed the tree to wait me out. For the record, the big stick is just that, a BIG STICK.
That ain't no super telephoto I am using. That squirrel on steroids would not leave.
I took this photo in more or less, a RAGE. That beast sat there swinging his foot back and forth, with his bear nads hanging down. Determined to taunt me into leaving. D insisted she didn't want a bear skin rug.
As the seedlings started to grow rapidly, we transplanted them into buckets. We found we needed every available space, including our cats railing walkway. Everyone had to sacrifice for the sake of the garden. This is our herb gardens. Thyme, Chives, Parsley, Catnip, Anise, Cumin and Stevia.
When the weather got warmer, the hoophuts came off, and everything exploded. We still had hundreds of seedlings to find homes for. I had created a monster. I had no idea the success rate for germination would be so high. I estimate about 80%.
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