Vertical garden diary

[Dave Rennie]

Teruel is beautiful.
We went a few times to the dinosaur museum (Dinopolis).
Fantastic museum and exhibits, and that area has the most stunning rivers I've ever seen!

[Dave Rennie]

Quick update from the vertical pockets.
There are some nice leafy greens popping up here and there.
I'm hoping to have some of this on plates within a few more weeks.

[Dave Rennie]

I've set up a shelving system in the conservatory for microgreens and possibly other quick turn around or cut and grow again salads.





If all goes to plan I will set up a system with lights either in the conservatory or garage.

[Dave Rennie]

Here are the results of the experiment with 3 different methods. From left to right.
Left: dry seed sowed on wet soil.
Center: dry seed on wet kitchen tissue (started 24hrs after other 2 tests).
Right: soaked seed (24hrs) on wet soil.

[Yasai]

So... did the one on the left do the best then?

[Dave Rennie]

So... did the one on the left do the best then?

Yes, so far the left is definitely ahead, but we'll see what happens in the next week or so.

I hope tissue performs well, as going soilless with this project has many benefits.

I've got 4 more trays germinating too, with radish, spinach, parsnip and sunflower heart (the white seed).

[Dave Rennie]

The sunflowers that were planted directly onto soil have done best so far.

I realize now that the experiment is flawed in that the seed planted directly on soil has had 24hrs more darkness than the other two trays.





I will test again next round.

The seed sowed on kitchen roll hasn't done well.

We've been nibbling on the peas over the last two days. Packed with flavor!



I've got a few more trays germinating that will go into the top shelf in the next few days.

[Dave Rennie]

The pocket systems are progressing nicely now. Almost 3 weeks in, and most seeds have been successful.





Not sure who the culprit is, but we've got competition on the strawberries!



Is it a bird? Is it a plane????

[Martin H]

Is it a bird? Is it a plane????

I'm betting on a snail. They are great adventurous climbers! He'll be hiding behind the pockets.

[Dave Rennie]

I'm betting on a snail. They are great adventurous climbers! He'll be hiding behind the pockets.

Yes, slugs or snails.
I removed all strawberries last night.
We only managed to salvage 4!

I've looked into solutions, copper tape, 9v battery wire, beer traps...

I need to find a solution before they move onto the leafy greens I'm growing.

[Dave Rennie]

I stopped posting updates a few weeks ago because I became very busy with work.
So I'll give a final update and then wrap this thread up.

We were ambushed by slugs and other pests.
The only strawberries we managed to digest were the ones pictured on the cheese cake.

We've enjoyed a few salads from the vertical pockets, but nothing substantial.

We've kept the microgreens going, and have a steady system going that provides at least 70% of the greens that go into my daily salads.

I'm going to put my focus on turning the conservatory into a year round project that hopefully provides us with 100% of our salad greens, herbs and if possible chillies.

I'll start a new thread for that project and hope to receive some advise and feedback to get us started in the right direction.

Thanks again for all the tips people have shared so far!