Indoor Gardening Already; Pine Bonsai Update

The dismal year in the vegetable garden (probably because I neglected to water it enough) and a renewed desire to eat tasty greens has caused me to return to basement gardening. I can easily grow enough sweet, tender lettuce for sandwiches in the basement. The time investment is minimal -- I remember to water the plants whenever I do laundry. Also, there are no bugs (other than the odd spider) and the temperature is pretty comfortable to work in. So far, my two buttercrunch seedlings haven't grown very large. Unfortunately for them, I got hungry. I'm thinking that I need to start more lettuce, ideally in a variety of shapes and colors. What I really need is enter a lottery to win a greenhouse. Anybody heard of such a thing? At least it sounds better than the legion's "meat draw".

Here are the two Jack Pine seedlings, destined to become my first bonsai conifers (the white bottle is just to demonstrate their size):

They were started at the same time (Feb/09) despite the dissimilar appearance. These were part of a mini bonsai kit I got last Christmas. These trees really should have some sort of change in climate for their winter. Perhaps I'll put them out in the partially heated garage, but in bigger pots so they don't totally dry out.



Continuing on with the fall's indoor gardening kick, here is my recent shipment of Kaffir lime seeds. I ordered these on ebay and they arrived with these handy instructions. I got tired of reading my Indian cookbooks and skipping recipes that called for the leaves of this plant. They give a limey flavour and are used like bay leaves. The green fruits are not edible.

Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) seeds planted, keeping company with my herbs:

Finally, the most exciting indoor garden news is a purchase of a miracle fruit plant. Have you seen these berries on TV? They are like LSD for your tastebuds. Miracle fruit parties are popping up everywhere. RLM mused that it would be really cool to have one of these plants, though I replied that plants native to Ghana probably wouldn't thrive here. After a quick internet search the other night though, I found a supplier in Montreal and ordered a plant for about $35 including shipping. Canada post sent me a tracking information email today, so I hope to get my plant soon. It has a few particular needs, like acid soil, but that's not too hard to manage. I'm so excited. I'll post as soon as I get my new plant.

Honey, the worms started a corn farm...

Have you ever considered vermicomposting? RLM and I were at a dinner party last night where we discussed (among world politics and office gossip legends) making our own dirt. This is no small matter in northern areas, where garden dirt is either made locally or imported. I've heard many stories of local people making dirt from fish guts or peat from the thousands and bogs around here. I still think that some enthusiastic entrepreneur could make good money making dirt by composting whatever is available and then selling it to local consumers.

The worm compost is used in the vegetable garden, flower beds, and in the pots growing herbs and vegetables under grow-lights in the basement. There is the odd worm living in the bottom of my pots, and they, like cats, like to leave their droppings in a particular place. Most seem to poop out of the bottom holes of the pots, and a few extrude their waste matter towards the top corners of the pots -- check this out:

Whole heads of corn + worm composter = Abundant corn sprouts in the worm box.

We also have a heap of slowly composting grass clippings and yard trimmings outside. In cold climates with short seasons, the outdoor compost heap operates slowly and I imagine it has to maintain a critical size in order to generate heat at its center and actually result in decomposition. I laughed hard at the post on (outdoor) composting in the Tundra Garden, a blog about the most northern garden in North America.

"The pumpkin from Halloween 1996 didn't look any different than the one from 2005 before the snow fell. As an archaeologist, I can attest to the fact that organic material can stay frozen with minimal decay for hundreds of years here."

I think this just goes to show that there are just some places you can't do outdoor composting! As an aside, if anybody locally wants some Eisenia foetida (special compost worms) for their own worm box, let me know. I have lots.

Self-Watering Garden

My vision for a self-watering indoor garden with capillary mats has been realized. I am going to wait a while longer to declare it a complete success. I have two shelves that are watering my plants from the bottom, rather than me needing to water the pots individually with a watering can. This is a benefit to the plants, which usually appreciate bottom-watering.

Self-watering indoor garden: arrows indicate flow of water.
There is a reservoir on each shelf, with a capillary mat "wick" from the reservoir (the green boxes) to the adjacent tray, and another wick between each tray. Each tray has a capillary mat lining its bottom, which conducts the water through the holes in the pots, where the potting mix sucks up water and delivers it to the plant roots. I had to wet all the fabric mats to start the capillary action, and the trays have stayed moist for the past week. I add several litres of water to each reservoir per day, so the water must be going somewhere!

Capillary mat between reservoir and tray:

My edible indoor garden. There are spicy purple greens, cilantro, basil, and watercress as well as romaine, butterhead, green leaf and red oakleaf lettuces. My "Micro Tom" and "Red Robin" miniature tomatoes were just sown today. I can't wait to see my tiny, genetically-freakish tomatoes.

Lastly, I sowed a large number of Primula denticulata (Drumstick primula) seeds and got only three plants. I have tried these seeds before and only produced one plant from my efforts. They take an exceptionally long time to germinate and seem to grow very slowly. I am hoping to have nice robust plants by spring. Primula denticulata and Primula auricula are hardy to zone 2, thus are good selections for our climate. Has anybody else had experience growing drumstick primulas from seed?

Spiral Pepper Plants

I am growing "Heat wave" chili peppers in the basement for kitchen use, because we can't find any in town. They have been growing successfully, which is my problem. I grow my plants on shelves under grow lights, but the plants have grown too tall for the shelves! This is my first attempt at making them shorter by wiring them into having spiral stems. I am using bonsai wire and bending the stems a little each day, since pepper stems are quite brittle.

Check out this pepper plant:

I have 3 plants that I am artificially deforming to fit under my lights. All have buds and flowers on them. Hopefully, I'll get some peppers from them! I am also growing "Top Girl" yellow peppers for some variety.

Gardening Keeps the Post Office Busy

The people at the post office know us by name and at least one of them knows our box number by memory after putting so many parcel notices in our box. "I know you", he says, "you've got box xxxx!".

Other than the hot deals on ebay, our box gets some business from the fall gardening-related mail orders. Okay, I guess some of the ebay stuff is garden-related too. I get sucked in by novelty vegetables -- who can't resist an impulse purchase of purple carrots (seed, of course)!

The bulbs and fall plants haven't started arriving yet, but I did just get some red cozy coats and a large capillary mat from Lee Valley. The cozy coats are water-containing plastic frost shields for the tomato plants. I will try these after experiencing year THREE of tomato failure. I have eaten 5 cherry tomatoes from my 3 plants so far! Last year, I ending up picking all the tomatoes green just before frost and ripened them in my kitchen cabinets. You successful tomato growers should feel special! If I only had a greenhouse...

The capillary mat is a new addition to the indoor light garden. I have purchased new trays and plan to make the system self-watering, with a capillary mat wicking water from a reservoir (a shallow bucket or something) into the trays. Plastic pots sitting in the trays can soak up water through their drainage holes. This may make going away for short holidays an easier proposition. I'll try it out and let you know how it works.

Indoor Edibles for the North

The air outside is cooling and I've heard of gardeners observing morning frosts in other parts of the province. My, oh my! Of course, this is good for my little purple violas, which are enjoying the wetter, cooler weather.

Reblooming Campanula carpatica (Carpathian bellflower)

Violas and two kinds of Heuchera (Coral bells)

I am still waiting for mutant micro mini tomato plant seeds, but in the meantime I've started some more greens and herbs in the basement. This is the perfect solution for the gardener itch in the off-season. I dream of serving fabulous meals adorned by the frilly Lolla Rossa Italian red lettuce and tender watercress floating over an artistic splash of balsamic vinegar and virgin olive oil. "Where did you get such lovely greens?", my guests will ask. Oh, the sweet bliss of fresh greens in a place where fresh red peppers cost $10 each in the winter! Think that's bad? I've heard of watermelons going for $40 in the fly-in communities north of us.

I really like these two little propagating trays with domes. There are adjustable openings on the top for ventilation. I put the heating mat under them to aid germination. The shop light heights are easily adjustable and I set them as low as possible, to maximize growth of the seedlings. Thanks to resident-lawnmower-man, the bottom two-thirds of each pot is filled with worm compost.

Patio containers with little watering can ornament given to me by my mom, quite a few years ago.

RLM usually has nothing to do with the worms, but when I wanted to throw the contents of an entire worm box outside on the flowerbed, he protested. "What? You're wasting perfectly good worms? What if my sister wants some?" I had left that box to completely compost, leaving only worms and worm castings. I rationalized that there were plenty of worms in the second box to repopulate the first box. Conclusion of the story: RLM saved all the worms, his sister definitely did NOT want some, the compost went to good use, the box is back in active use.

My Indoor Growing Setup

Being as our growing season is short, I start my annuals, perennials, and some vegetables from seed under grow-lights in the basement. This is my setup:

Heavy-duty metal shelving unit from Costco. The heights of the shelves are determined when you put it together. It is good to have some shorter and taller spaces for plants.

Black rubber floor mats to line each shelf, so that water and soil don't fall into the lights below. We bought the kind that comes from a large bulk roll and we cut it to fit.

Heating mat to provide bottom heat for germination of some seeds and growth of seedlings. These can be purchased in garden centers and online.

Fluorescent "shop light" fixtures. Each can hold two 48-inch fluorescent lights. Can be purchased from many department stores. I put two fixtures on each shelf (4 lights on each shelf). They come with little chains to suspend them and I adjust the chains depending on how close I want the light to be to the plants.

Fluorescent lights. In each fixture, I put one cool white (the regular type fluorescent that you would use in a house) and one grow light (is a little more expensive). The combination of the two provides a spectrum of light that promotes both growth and flowering.

Oscillating fan. I use an ordinary household fan to blow gently on the young plants. This really cuts down on mildew and fungus problems and encourages hardy growth.

Seed-starting mix. I buy bags of sterilized soil-less growing medium at a local store. It is also good to have some vermiculite or perlite. This is sprinkled ontop the seed.

Timer. This can be programmed to turn the lights and heating mat on and off.

Mini-greenhouse propagation kits. I have a wide variety of seed-starting supplies. I like the large trays with fitted clear plastic domes to maintain moisture for seedlings. I start some plants in plastic pots and others in peat pots.

Perennials are generally germinated en masse in a single pot in a sealed clear bag, and pricked out into individual 3 1/2" plastic pots. This ensures that you don't have half of your pots without plants, should germination be difficult. Seeds often need high humidity to germinate.

"No damp" chemical mixed up in a spray bottle to prevent "damping off" (death by fungus) of seedlings.

Yellow sticky traps for fungus gnats and other pesky flies.

Plastic label stakes so you can remember what you planted.

UV resistant permanent ink pen to write on the plastic stakes.

NASA Gardening in my Kitchen

ALTERNATE TITLE: BABY'S FIRST GROW-OP
I'm all for children getting an appreciation for gardening and nature, but hang on...is this really nature or is it "The Jetson's Gardening Kit". I first saw an ad for the "Aerogarden" on the back of a gardening magazine I picked up at the local grocery store. I wasn't too interested, considering that the entire catalog was irrelevant to northern gardening sensibilities.
Now I see a website (www.funplaydates.com) recommending these $150 US units to teach your child about indoor gardening:

"It is basically a self-contained unit with a computer that is automatic - it lets you know when the plants need water or nutrients - and the plants grow in the water, not dirt. When you lift the flap in the front, the roots are clearly visible. Plus there are no bugs! That’s the part I like. And of course, no dirt (that was worth mentioning twice). There’s even an automatic light so you never have to worry if the plants are getting enough sunlight. You really just have to stay on top of when the water level gets low (ours gets pretty thirsty), but there’s a red light that comes on to notify you. No more finger in the ol’ pot trick.

The system has an area on top that allows you to put seed pods in. The seed kits are sold separately and they run about 20 dollars a pop. Each seed kit contains 7 pods and they are sold in different categories or bundles such as italian herbs, petunias, strawberries, etc... "

I suppose this would be good if you were well-off and had to live in an urban apartment with no patio and strict rules banning dirt...or in a SPACESHUTTLE (as advertised on the Aerogarden website) but otherwise:

(1) Recent medical research finds that kids have TOO LITTLE dirt in their lives, leading to things like asthma and allergies.
(2) Why go outside when you can play videogames and work your indoor patch of earth? Oops, I mean, your "artificially regulated pool of nutrients."
(3) Introduce your child to the people with the "giant aerogarden", otherwise known as the neighbourhood marijuana farm. I'm sure they have lots to share about "high yield growing methods".
(4) While I do have grow-lights in my own basement, I wonder about the "green sense" in using electricity to turn on a red warning light telling to water your plants. I see they're expanding into Aerogarden "wall gardens" too. Wow, more eco-friendliness. No, there is no mention of being "carbon-neutral" on their site.
(5) Pushing buttons on your aerogarden and prevention of childhood obesity...no, no relationship here.

MORE GENIUS FROM THE AEROGARDEN:

I especially like this quote from the website:

"Tested by NASA for growing high-yield,
pesticide-free crops for space travel."

Have we not all heard about the scourge of space aphids? Shuttle slugs? Astro-beetles? Fear not, the website explains why they need to avoid pesticides:

"Pesticides and other chemicals are considered too toxic
to introduce into the confined environments of space living."

Wow, so the astronauts just have to suck it up and cohabit with the weightless tomato horn worms! Somebody really thought this one through.