Spring has sprung, and we've gotten our first sprouts of the season. We've also had a lot of false-starts with seedlings that die off quickly.
Let's begin with Grandma's place:
Preparing Grandma T's hydroponicsA big bowl of coconut coirLoading up each of the bottles
Meanwhile, back at home John helped me set up our own bottles:
Cutting the wick to fitThe wick keeps the soil in the top, and draws the water up from the bottomA bunch of bottles prepared for the soil medium (coconut coir)A bucket with dried compressed coconut coir in it. You'd not believe how much it expandsJohn crumbling the coir with water mixed inFilling the bottles with coirLaying out seeds for the bottles. Cucumber in the very back
Then, several days later:
Our first seedling!More time, and it grows!John's green onions and those first lettucesClose up of the lettuces
Note that in the close up of the lettuces above, their stems are really thin and frail and exposed. This is likely the root of problem that comes later (pun always intended).
Our first radish sprout!John harvesting some green onions for dinner
Another week later, and some more bottles to prep. This time with cucumbers:
Three cucumber seeds being soaked in warm waterThree new bottlesUh oh! The biggest lettuce is wilting...Another angle of the wilting lettuceI ended up pulling it out – it was already snapped off at the stem where it's black
I'm not sure how I got so lucky with my first lettuces last season, and why I'm having so much trouble this season. I suspect the thin lettuce stalk was the problem, especially with the wind blowing the plant back and forth.
Meanwhile, our first cucumber sprouted!Two cucumber sprouts!We're up to six radish sprouts now!The lettuces are at different stages of growth, though none have reached their roots into the water yetCucumbers and lettuces. Note that one lettuce is dead/wilted
That's all for this month! Let's hope we can figure out these lettuces and make ourselves a fancy salad.
