Growing...growing...

Our early attempt at upside down planting....

In Mike's words:

"Based on my experience so far, this arrangement seems to work the best:
line the interior of the container with something opaque. The idea here is keeping light away from the roots as they spread to the wall of the container. I used newspaper (papers in the U.S. use soy ink) -- almost any material will work, but make sure it's food-safe.

Push the root ball of the seedling through the opening. In this case, cutting an opening in the bottom of the container might be the ticket, since that would allow the roots to spread out into a mat more easily. Cover the root ball of the seedling with a layer of dirt (say, 1" over the root ball). I mixed in some peat to keep the soil fluffy and provide some nutrients.
Add a layer of "fluff", say 1" thick. In the containers that are doing the best so far, I used spun polyester (the kind of stuff that is used for fake snow displays) -- but I think that anything will do here --you just want to ensure that is will let water pass through easily and that it will maintain an air-space.
Fill to the top with soil. I used a top-soil/peat mix."

So far, so good. The plants at both Mike's house and at our apartment are doing well using this upside-down method. We also planted a few in the ground, using traditional methods, to compare results.

"It's Alive ! It's Alive !!"

Our beautiful seedlings are finally coming around... it was difficult to get them evenly moisturized in the peat, but with some TLC and "peat poking" we finally got some results.

More exciting updates to follow, including experimenting with LED lights and the  hanging tomato plant's valiant struggle against gravity!

 Also, last week Brian and I planted:

•  green beans
  
•  herbs
  
•  green onions
  
•  spaghetti squash
  
•  peppers
  
•  corn salad ("zing")

One Tomato, Two Tomato...

Here are some photos of our first stab at making an upside-down tomato grower. This is Mike's attempt, and Brian thinks he cheated by using seedlings. Is that cheating? Truth is, I am not far behind him. As I write this only three sprouts have appeared, and all three of them are radishes. Radishes. I am SO hoping for Black Beauty Heirloom Tomatoes that even the mention of them makes me salivate. Problem is, certain types of Heirlooms can only be grown from seeds as buying the plant can be difficult.
I wonder if we could plant something to grow out of the top of the basket. Like potatoes or flowers?

The basket basics:

• cut out a little square in the middle of the bottom of the poly-wastebasket.


• lined the interior with newspaper (the inks are soy, so it should be perfectly safe).


• pushed the root ball of the seedling through the bottom, and filled the basket with a few inches of soil


• placed a layer of poly-fiber in the over the dirt (the idea is to stabilize the moisture levels and keep the soil aerated)


• filled the basket up to the top with soil


• hung the basket in a sunny spot

The Problem with Peat

"Philadelphia Gothic" - Mike and I contemplate the UG project, holding the actual fork we used to poke the peat to break the surface tension.
Where's Wald--er, Brian?

Why peat moss initially hates water:
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/peatmoss.htm

Mike contemplates our issues with Peat:
"I was reading up on that -- once it actually gets wet, it will soak up a great deal of water. However, it initially has a negative electrical charge, so it tends to repel the water.
I think that I'll make little pads out of cotton balls for the next round of seedlings (i.e. wet a cotton ball, push it in a depression in the peat and then sweep some peat over it). Another alternative might be to mix in a good bit of dirt or something that can actually absorb water."

He also jokingly wondered whether we could utilize the super-absorbent gel from unused diapers. I wonder if we could just plant seeds in a used diaper, thus solving two ecological problems in one swoop. Could the produce from such origins still be considered organic? Have we finally found a way to "recycle"disposable diapers?

Later... Mike corrects his early theory:
"One minor techie point -- I was wrong about the charge on the surface of peat -- it is apparently neutral -- so I guess no matter how the water molecule is oriented, it has no incentive to bind to the surface of the peat. Once the material is actually wet, the mater molecules on the surface happily invite buddies to join them ..."

What the ?

In case you are also wondering what Kohlrabi is, here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi

and a picture:

Looks to me me like a small hard cabbage, which believe it or not, is an appealing thing: I like cabbage. However, if you follow the link above and read about this odd "sputnik-like" shaped green, you may be surprised what the flavor and texture resembles. I am looking forward to trying it. And --hallelujah!-- it is a hearty plant that will grow almost anywhere. Very good news for novice Urban Gardeners...

Photo Post

...Tax day :(
Maybe if we successfully grow some of our own food paying taxes won't be such a drag.

Mike planted his first batch of 84 -- about 60 tomatoes and a handful of cukes and peppers.
Next up on his agenda is:

• Okra
• Kohlrabi (what?)
• Squash
• Pumpkins
• Radishes
• Misc other veggies

We wonder now if the peat might not be a great seed starting medium? The water doesn't seem to absorb so well. Hope that we'll get away with it....

Day One

Mike dropped off supplies at our house and said he'd be starting his seeds the following day. THE RACE IS on!

Supplies include:

• A tub of potting soil
• A bit over 100 seed-starting cups
• Some seed packets
• Some poly-fiber buckets (these are actually waste-baskets). The idea is to use the baskets to make upside-down tomato planters.

Last evening, Brian and I frantically poured ourselves glasses of wine so we could get to the business of planting. We carefully marked each small cup that Mike provided for us so that we would know what was growing inside. We planted:

• Super Marmalade Tomatoes
• Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
• Sweet Hybrid Cherry Tomatoes
• "Gardener's Delight" Tomatoes
• Banana Peppers
• Jalepeno Peppers
• Herba Buena (also known as Mint)
• Cucumbers
• Radishes

Interesting note, the Mint seeds were the size and color of powdered black pepper. It is impossible to know just how many of those little suckers we planted.

Now we watch and wait...