What kind of Hydroponic System do you have?

Ask six different hydroponic gardeners what type of hydroponic system they use to grow their plants and you will likely get six different answers. It seems there are countless systems out there, because the world of hydroponics has a lingo of its own. You may hear someone say, “I use an ebb and flow, flood and drain sub-irrigation system.” What the heck is that? You might wonder.

Making sense of it all is not as daunting a task as it seems. Basically, hydroponic gardening can be broken into two main categories; Solution Culture Systems and Medium Culture Systems.

As you might have guessed, a Solution Culture System is one that grows plants in a liquid solution with no solid medium to hold its roots. There are three main subsets of a solution culture system. They are; Static Solution - which grows plants in a liquid solution, usually in a jar or bucket, in which the solution is not aerated. Continuous Flow Solution – in which the roots of the plant are continuously sitting in a flow of liquid solution, where a pump creates the continuous flow. Aeroponics – a system that mists fine droplets of nutrients to the roots in a continuous and discontinuous fashion.

As you may have also guessed, a Medium Culture System is one that grows plants using a solid grow medium for its roots. The subsets of this type of system are usually named for whatever type of medium they are. For example; rockwool, clay, coir, perlite, sand, vermiculite, etc… The water in these types of systems is usually in the form of a sub-irrigation or top irrigation system.
For those of you that haven’t tried growing hydroponically, because making sense of it all seems impossible, give it a try. Hydroponic gardening is an easy, fun and very low maintenance form of gardening.

About the Author
Michele Daniels of Grow Home Organics, distributor of organic nutrient amendment and growth enhancers for plants, is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

Soil Basics

Everyone knows plants need sun and water, but most people overlook the importance of a good soil base. New gardeners assume that they can simply bury seed in soil, water it, and give it plenty of light and it will grow. To a certain point, it is true that seed will grow in any soil. Plants are resilient and they often find a way to adjust to the environment in which they are planted.

It is not even uncommon for bulbs—whether they are flower or onions bulbs—to grow without water sun or soil. Many gardeners can testify to the strange miracle they find when sifting through a box of onion bulbs and stumbling across one that eagerly began to send a tender shoot out into the world without any encouragement.

At the same time, few things are more frustrating than tending to a garden that should be in full stride only to reap no fruits. Without a careful assessment of the situation, new gardeners often overwater their plants, causing further damage. The first culprit to check should always be the soil.

When a tomato bush will not produce fruit or a flower will not bud, it is almost always because the soil they live in lacks important nutrients for their growth. Well-balanced soil has a mixture of primary, secondary and tertiary nutrients (or macro and micronutrients). The most important three are nitrogen phosphorus and potassium.

Sandy soils tend to lack these nutrients and must be fertilized for optimum plant growth conditions. Clay soils tend to be rich in these nutrients, though plants may struggle with nutrition delivery if the soil is too compact. A gardener must determine whether the soil is sandy or compact.

Sandy soil should be mixed with enough firm garden soil to shore it up and give plant roots something to bite into. During this process the gardener can make sure to till a nutrient fortified fertilizer into the mix. Clay requires the opposite treatment.

Clays are more difficult to prop up for the best gardening results. Because they have high levels of primary nutrients and settle compactly, clays are often acidic in nature. Higher acidity is good for growing blueberries and nondeciduous plants, but most garden-variety vegetables need a pH neutral soil.

The benefit to laboring for a well-balanced soil is higher fruit production. There are thirteen important soil nutrients. Most naturally occur in soil as organic matter decomposes and redistributes into the ground, but many gardeners need a boost on one or more of these nutrients based on geographic location. When all three primary nutrients are available for plant growth, gardeners will be pleasantly surprised with the fruit heavy branches their garden plants produce. In a perfectly blended soil, less work by the gardeners hand will still be rewarded with more produce.

About the Author
Jody Sperling is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

We Vegetable Gardeners Know What to do with those Keurig Cups

It seems as if every one of our neighbors and relatives received one of those Keurig individual coffee makers. If you are not familiar with them they are pretty neat, especially if you want to enjoy a quick, fresh cup of coffee.

They give you the flexibility of making an individual cup of coffee in a wide range of flavors (over 200 the last time I checked their website) without having to make a whole pot, measuring the grounds and so on.

With the convenience of making your own cup of specialized coffee though comes the added waste of the cup itself. They are made out of a thin plastic, that can be recycled if you live in a part of the world that accepts <1> or <2> grade plastics, but us vegetable gardeners can put them to better use and better yet they can serve us two fold as I will show you in a moment.









First let us diagnose the evidence in question, in this case the cup. There are a number of cup manufacturers, however the cup is made from the same material and are all the same size. The top will be either foil or a thick paper. The top is strong enough to keep the contents of the cup in (i.e. the grounds), but pliable enough so the machine can puncture a hole into it.


Inside the cup, the contents if you will, are coffee grinds and a filter. The machine punctures a hole into the top and one in the bottom of the cup. Water is then sent through the top hole where it is mixed with the grounds of the cup and eventually comes out of the bottom hole and into your waiting coffee cup.








Now that you have the basics of how it operates, how can it actually help vegetable gardeners? Well very simply, let’s start with the obvious and that is the coffee grinds and filter sitting inside the cup. Both make for a great addition to any compost pile. To get the grinds and filter out, first remove the top foil or paper covering on the cup. Then dump the coffee grinds into a separate bowl (or whatever you use to collect your kitchen waste).



The next step is to remove the filter. It is attached fairly well to the cup so I used a knife and simply cut it and then put the filter into the same bowl with the grinds. We have the grinds and filter ready to go into our compost pile but we still have the cup. Do not throw that cup away!









You now have in your hands the makings of a great seed starter. And although the cup is small, it works perfect for starting such things indoors as celery or oregano and thyme, the small seeded variety vegetable and herb plants.







What makes the cup a perfect fit as a seed starter is your coffee machine has done a portion of the work for you already; it punctured the drainage hole on the bottom, so all the cup needs now is some soil and seeds!








There you have it. Using your Keurig coffee make as a means to add to the compost pile and create seed starters all while you get to enjoy a nice cup of hot joe!

Enjoy!

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

Seed Starting isn’t As Hard As You Think It Is

You are likely bombarded by gardening magazines and catalogs that tell you oh, if you are going to start from seed, you need all of these supplies, and the price tag alone is enough to put you into shock!

Peppers and tomatoes, among all of them, are the worst culprits by far. If you have done your research, you know that tomatoes and peppers need an average germination temp of 75-90 degrees, preferably from bottom heat (best results are achieved by bottom heat IMO). The catalogs tell you to buy seed heating mats. Well, if you've ever priced these out, they can cost a pretty penny! They usually average $30+ for one of a decent size. Now before you stroke out at the price tag, there is a much easier solution!

I personally use heating pads. Yes, the ones made for people! They work just as well, and come in every shape and size imaginable, and they are often 1/2 price or less! However, if this is the way you want to try, make sure you do your tests first! Rule number one above all, NEVER leave them on when you are not at home where you can check on them once in a while. I can't stress that enough; I never leave ANYTHING that produces heat on when I leave the house, it is not worth the risk!

Second of all, always do a test run. Get your seedling tray, fill the cells with your choice of soil, but do not plant the seeds just yet. Put it on top of the heating pad, and before putting a dome lid on, put a small thermometer (or even two if you want to be extra careful and want to average out the difference). Let it run for an hour or so, and check the temp. This will allow you to know what kind of temp you are going to be looking at, so you can adjust accordingly without damaging your seeds.

I find that about 85 degrees does wonders for tomatoes and peppers. My tomato seeds all sprout between 3 and 5 days, and the peppers take about 5 to 8 days. A much faster time frame then most seed packets tell you! Something else I have found extremely helpful, is to add a few sprinkles of cinnamon to the top of the soil every week. Cinnamon has natural antifungal/antibacterial properties, which means it easily prevents damp off if applied regularly. Bye bye No Damp!

About the Author
Megan McDonald is a garden blog writer for Heirloom Garden Girl. Megan’s garden specialties are tomatoes, peppers, heirlooms and organics. She is a contributing writer for Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who operates the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook and the widely popular Seeds of the Month Club.

The Man Who is Afraid of Plants

If you have not seen this video yet, you absolutely must. I could not stop laughing.