July Garden Update: This Year's Successes

Since I didn't get around to updating in June, the garden successes are for July.  And it's a good thing I waited until July so I could see how great some of these things have been.

Hydroponics

I am doing two things differently this year.  Previously I used pea gravel, and it did work fine. However I found it difficult to clean at the end of the season, and new pea gravel has so much sand and silt in it, it is also hard to clean to prepare it the first time.  I decided that I would try larger gravel, so that I wouldn't have to clean it as much on either end.  

Tomato roots growing down into the gravel.  The foil keeps light off the gravel, preventing algae growth and overheating. 

This seems to be working great.  My tomatoes are much better off than they were last year, but I will attribute that to not making some of the same rookie mistakes I made last year which damaged my plants.

Tomatoes getting big, quickly.

Notice the fan in the background.  That is another alteration this year.  It can get very hot in the hoophouse, which in turn can prevent tomatoes from pollinating.  I keep this fan on during hot days to keep air moving across the top.  It can also help to keep dew from settling on the leaves overnight.  
Woodchip Hydro?
I know that a lot of people who grow hydroponically use coco coir, shredded coconut husks, as a grow medium.  It is expensive, but hold water longer and therefore doesn't put you at risk of losing your crop if the electricity goes off one afternoon.  The problem for me is that it is expensive.  I decided to look up why growing in wood chips is not doable.  It turns out, that it is.  So I planted one tomato in wood chips, which I only water once a week.

Wood chips seem to be growing a health tomato plan.  

Woodchips are very often free. You can get them in Larimer County from the dump, or at the transfer station behind Rivendell School.

Wicking Buckets
I am continuing from last year where they seemed to keep up with the hydroponic tomatoes.  However not that I haven't over flooded or dried out the hydro plants a couple of times, I can really see the difference.  The do grow well in the buckets, and likely use less water than plants grown in the ground, but they don't compare to hydroponic tomatoes.  Not yet at least.  I probably need to work on my soil mixture.

A wicking bucket is a great idea for a low water use, container garden. 

The Wicking Bed
Now that it is July, and I have used the buckwheat to condition the soil to correct my mistakes of over amending, I am moving the wicking bed over to the success column.

I only have three plant in it, because I wasn't sure it was going to be ok, but they are doing great and I never have to water them, since the reservoir collects rain water from the top of the hoop house every time it rains.

Wicking bed with two peppers and an eggplant, and the remnants of the buckwheat.  

Coco Coir
"I thought you said you don't buy that?" I don't, but if you happen to live somewhere where medical (or even recreational) cannabis is legal there is likely a huge supply of free, once used coco out there.  Coco can be use many time for hydroponics, but since cannabis is such a high dollar crop, most growers only use it once and then throw it away.  Many don't know what to do with it.

I may use it next year for my tomatoes, but I have already used it as a soil amendment, and mulch.  Here in Northern Colorado we have a lot of clay in our soil, so an amendment like coco is a great way to loosen it up, and add some organic matter.  It rots slowly, so you don't have as much of a concern with nitrogen uptake as you might adding something woodier.  Also, since it has been fed for hydroponic use, you will be adding a great mixture of plant-ready nutrients to your soil.

Yep, they would just throw that out.  Mulch this year, in the soil next year.  

Permaculture
I have put together a couple of areas in my yard that are meant to be "extra sustainable."  These have been fun experiments, and are working pretty well.  Now that it is summer, and it isn't raining every day, one of the areas that was part of a failure earlier has become a success.

The Squash Garden

Super water efficient garden was not great when it rained a record amount, but it's awesome now

I have not had to water this area of the garden yet, but I did once just to empty my new rain barrel...
There are trenches, known as swales between each row, which I have filled with wood mulch.  The rows are covered with black plastic mulch.  When it rains water is held in the swales, and then wicked sideways into the garden beds.  The black plastic keeps moisture from rising vertically from the soil.  I have a soaker hose underneath with which I can passively water using the rain barrel.

It's sort of legal now, in Colorado

I'm sure there are places to get free barrels, but these were $3 each at Hageman's Earth Cycle.  They used to contain the clay-based dyes for their mulch.  You won't likely get all the dye out of the barrel, but it should be fine for watering the garden.  I won't put it into the hydroponic system, however. The spigot was $5, and the flexible downspout was about $8.  Add in a paint net and you are looking at $15-$20 for this 33 gallon barrel.  I hear you can often get 55 gallon drums for free from car washes.

Hugel Kultur

Bury some wood

Hugel Kultur is the practice of building garden beds on big mounds of dead wood.  The idea is that as the wood rots, great soil will be created with a lot of organic matter in it, and a great fungal environment for growing shrubs, bushes, and berries.  It is also supposed to hold moisture longer than dirt, and therefore require less watering. The very obvious problem with this is that the fungus responsible for rotting the wood will use up the available nitrogen while doing so.

While reading up on hugel kultur, I came across several instance of people who had bad "luck" using this method.  Many people try to overcome the nitrogen problem by adding manure. The problem with this idea is that that nitrogen won't be available to the plants until it also rots, and in the meantime they have probably added too much, therefore burning the plants root which are starved  of nitrogen in the first place.

How did I overcome this? Easy: urea.  "Hey, that's not organic." Nope, but point out to me where I said this was organic gardening.  I find it to be not too much of a sin against sustainability because, unlike potassium and phosphorous, nitrogen is not mined.  It s taken straight from the air using the Haber Process.  The sustainability argument against the Haber Process is that natural gas is often used as a catalyst.  I am ok with this.

I did add some chicken poop in with the wood, which will break down over the years and provide a lot of nitrogen, but I added enough this year to feed corn. I used corn so, along with the squash planted under it, partly because its roots will get down in and amongst the rotting wood to help it on its way.  Also it is a high nitrogen use, and so will use much of the nitrogen I added to prevent an over abundance when the nitrogen from the chicken manure becomes available, and subsequently when nitrogen is released by the dying fungus.

Cucumber on a hugel stack

This is a silly little experiment.  Playing of the ideas of hugel kultur and grow bags, I made a hugel stack.  I stacked some logs vertically, wrapped them in reemee, and added some dirt on top.  I water it by filling a juice carton top, and letting it drip.  It seems to be doing ok.  I did this just so I could see what the wood will look like after one growing season.


This post is getting long, so I will stop here.  Hopefully I can get part two out soon.

Also coming soon: It's squash season! Since I'm from New Mexico, that means calabasitas.  When my corn is ready, and some tomatoes, I will show you how to make the best, garden fresh, calabasitas ever.  

Tell me about your favorite summer garden meals.