It’s been a little while since I’ve provided an update. I’ve been tied up with school, work, and packing up my house to move. As a result, I’ll be spreading the posts out a little more than I originally hoped. On the bright side, I’ve been having a lot of great basement salads as my indoor garden is growing up and out.
I had originally planned to add a few more plants, primarily Bok Choy and Genovese Basil, to my expanding garden. When news came that we may be moving, I put those plans on hold. They’ll have to wait until I see what kind of room I have at the new house.
I did, however, plant some flowers. I put down some marigolds, cosmos, and some random flower seeds from a mixed pack of native flower seeds. Roughly half of them have sprouted and have begun to grow. I anticipate I’ll see flowers in a couple more weeks. Similarly, the dwarf sunflowers have formed their heads and they will likely flower soon.
The various salad greens continue to grow swiftly, although a few of them began to bolt when they got a little tall. I harvested them down and we’ll see if they won’t regrow (without bolting). If they do bolt, I’m comfortable ending their cycle of growing up and out. They’ve had between 6-7 harvests already and starting some fresh plants in the hydroponic system at the new place would not be an issue.
The spinach has bolted repeatedly now. I’m attributing this to being under grow lights for too many hours of the day and keeping the room temperature at a balmy 22 C. I’ve relocated the spinach beneath my somewhat large hot chillies (more on this in a moment). The hope is the extra shade from the peppers will help keep the spinach a little cooler so it can grow leaves for harvest. I’ve barely been able to get anything out of this plant, but I’ll pull it out if this doesn’t work.
Speaking of hot chillies, my hydroponic hot chilli plant is heavy with chillies. They’re all still green, so I haven’t begun to harvest yet, but I’m going to need to pick them soon. I had been worried that I wouldn’t get any, as the flowers were blooming & falling off without any peppers forming. I’m happy I waited a bit longer as the plant is growing up and out. A quick count puts me close to 50 chillies on a single plant.
The potted hot chilli plant remains healthy and has flowered a few times. It’s quite a bit smaller than the hydroponic one, but I’m watching to see what happens. Similarly, the potted bell pepper plant is just about to open its first flower. I’m hopeful I’ll get a couple of peppers out of this one.
Strawberries, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and white onions continue to grow. The tomato plants are definitely growing up and out, and I’ve had to transplant them to a larger pot. The pot is a little closer to the heater, which should help it get the extra warmth it needs.
With the upcoming move in May, I won’t be able to plant anything else for a little while. I had hoped, with everything growing up and out, that I could move some of the plants outside with the warmer weather. Unfortunately, we’ve only a small patio where we’re moving. I’ll need to think further on what I can and cannot do, but it looks like I may need to focus on building up my mother’s garden as opposed to my own.