Here is a video walkthrough that will show you some of the growth in the indoor aquaponics garden and discuss which plants have been growing and producing the best in our system. ?
The green peppers are doing exceptionally well.
And so are the beans and lettuce, weve already harvested from those plants. It is so fun when you can walk right downstairs and cut fresh lettuce for your afternoon salads, even in the wintertime!
The current pH is still at 8.2 which is much higher than what most plants are able to thrive in. However, we have had great growth still and will be planting more of what has been growing well. The type of rock we are using is causing the high pH (Vigoro river rock from Home Depot).
The following resources will help you determine the pH requirements for most vegetables:
In the upper-right hand section of the following picture, you can see the tomato plant. The leaves are yellowing. Tomatoes do much better in a lower pH, and although we are seeing tomatoes, our plants are struggling to absorb the nutrients they need. Our solution for the summer is to stick with plants that grow in a higher pH for the summer, and grow the lower pH plants outdoors in our square foot gardens until we find a pH neutral grow media for our beds.
This post was shared at: Simple Saturdays Blog Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop
Every year I see people burning and bagging leaves, are you one of those people? If so check out this easy and basic process for composting that we have found to work very well.
We stopped giving away our free fertilizer a few years ago and we will never turn back. We now do not throw away any organic material from our yard or kitchen unless it is somehow toxic or gone really, really bad. All of our leaves, sticks, sawdust, chicken manure, food scraps, cardboard, compostable paper products, and much more all end up being processed right back into our garden beds. Is there any other way? I cant imagine going out to the store and buying fertilizers and compost that some company is selling back to the same people that left their yard waste at the curb, doesnt that seem silly?
There are many resources out there on what you should compost and how much of each type of item to put in the pile or bin or whatever you have setup. I go with a simple and very general rule of thumb. We add about 75% carbon material (leaves, saw dust, cardboard, paper, wood chips, etc.). This is the base to any good compost and handily this also makes up the majority of most peoples yard waste (remember that giant pile of leaves you had to rack up last year?). The next ingredient is nitrogen materials (chicken manure, vegetables, plant materials, last years jack-o-lanterns, and all of our kitchen waste). Just to be clear you cannot add any leftovers or meat products to your compost, only things that at one time grew from the ground in some way.
Now that you have all those goodies mixed together the only thing left to do is to wait and turn it over as much as you can remember. I mix mine up about once per week. This allows air to get into the pile and for the bacteria to get to work doing their thing. Many people suggest watering the pile as well but up here in Michigan I would not do that unless it was a drought. I might pour a bucket of nitrogen rich aquaponics water on it if that was needed.
We have found the best way to get started and make sure that our lazy genes dont take over is to keep a small container on the counter in your kitchen for scraps and one just outside your door to move them into every day or two. We use an old mixing bowl inside and an old trash can outside. Once per week or so I take the trash can back to the "pile" and dump it and stir it up with a pitchfork.
If things go well and the pile gets cooking you should be cooked down to useable soil in about 60 days or so depending on your weather. This soil has everything that your plants, flowers, vegetables, or anything else needs to grow. If you do this right you should not need to buy soil, compost, manure, or fertilizers for your garden.
I hope this encourages someone to get started and save some food scraps from ending up in a landfill for goodness sakes!
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Where Should You Spot Your Aquaponic System
If you are decided to setup an aquaponic method in which to grow vegetables and fish for you personally and your family members, youll find some items which you should know. The kinds of fish, the seeds which might be propagated and the specifics regarding the acceptable water situations will be the standard notions you have to know before venturing in this activity. After you understand that youll be able to start putting each of the pieces in the puzzle together. Yet, an additional query arises: exactly where should you location your aquaponic mini-garden?
The answer is basic: you are able to put it anyplace you like provided that the location has adequate light to provide the plants. As you almost certainly know, the plants require light to prepare their meals. In the event the spot exactly where they are put has no or couple of light, theyll be unable to prepare their food, which in time will result in their death. This can be one thing you do not want! However, in the event you have a space (no matter if it really is your kitchen, living area or garage) where theres a moderate light, then there is where you need to place your aquaponic garden.
If you reside in an area with extreme temperature or weather conditions, you will find also some other things youll need to take into consideration. Initial, the temperature: your fish like to possess a moderate temperature (generally varies according to the kind of fish you decide on), so you must monitor it to meet your fish
Jerk Fish - Fish for overall health
Jerk Fish Fish for wellness
Inspired by the Jamaican recipes, an ordinary fish fillet could be made into a Jerk Fish. A healthy food thats a lot more applicable to people that loves to eat different dishes that the key ingredient is fish. This really is a Caribbean recipe which let us to know much more about becoming creative and getting our own style of cooking. With all the assist of this, you can now get in touch with yourself as a professional 1 even youre just a simple person. Just a bit time, work, and money, it is possible to do it.
How? Right here it goes.
For the straightforward fried Jamaican Jerk fish, wash the fish and slice it with the desire thickness. Mix the jerk seasoning in a tiny bowl. It composes the oil, the soy sauce, and vinegar. Function the seasoning in to the fish. Place a modest quantity of oil then start off putting the fish into a deep skillet till fried. Just as easy as that, you have now your own personal specialty.
One more simple dish youll be able to make will be the Jamaican Jerk Tilapia recipe, let me teach you how. Heat grills into a medium heat and place a piece of tilapia in every foil. Meanwhile, within a tiny bowl, mix olive oil, garlic, cilantro, lemon juice and jerk seasonings. Apply these mixtures within the distinct side of the fish. Place an equal amount of bell pepper, onion, and poblano in each and every piece of the chicken. Then season it with salt and pepper. You should crimp the side from the foil and sealed with packets. Spot it in the grill and cook for about 10mis. When the vegetables became tender along with the fish gets opaque, eliminate it from the heat and set a side for about 5mins. Then serve. The cooking time only requires about 15 to 20mins. Youll be able to add some toppings as well as other seasoning to attract the individuals who will consume the dish. Just so simple to do and it can lessen the time that youll spend in cooking.
Caribbean Jerk food is one of the easiest recipes to accomplish. In just a couple of minutes, you can serve it. You dont need to commit a good deal of funds to create it far more specific. Healthier, greater and very good sufficient to supply the nutrients youll need. A simple fish turns into a unique Jerk fish. Be very good sufficient. Be practical. Be sensible. That is the fish for well being. Each day will probably be a good day!
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When should I start composting? What do I add to the pile? How long does it take? Can I add.....? I get composting questions all the time from friends and family; my answer is always the same - Start with leaves! In this video I talk about our method of starting our compost pile each fall. We usually get enough to let it cook down twice per year which equals a lot of fresh homemade compost for our gardens.
I have talked about this before in my fall composting with a string trimmer post and also in last years easy composting method video. Good compost starts with leaves! they are all around us in the fall time and unless you live in the deep south, the jungle, or a desert you have plenty of leaves to use. Even if you dont want to rake up your own leaves there are probably plenty of your neighbors who are bagging up theirs and leaving them at the curb for the city to pick-up (if your city does that kind of thing). The bottom line is this, get as many leaves as you can because they are going to be the base of the compost you will use throughout the entire year.
Once I have all of our leaves raked up I start carting them to the compost pile in the back corner of our lot. It is nothing special, just a few cheap metal posts, some garden wire fencing, and a pile of leaves and food scraps in the middle. As I am carting the leaves to the pile I also take care of cleaning up the garden beds of all dead and dying vegetable plants from the summer and layer those on the pile in-between loads of the leaves. This creates a layers of alternating carbon material (leaves) and nitrogen material (green plants and food scraps). Once I have all of the leaves in I top it off with our food scraps from the last couple of months that have been saved as the compost from the summer finished up.
This is all that needs to be done for the fall. Just let the pile site and you can add your food scraps to it all winter long. If you prefer you can also cover the pile as many like to do but I have found that to be largely unnecessary.
In the spring time you need to start turning the pile with a pitch fork every couple of weeks and get it cooking down. As the temps rise it will start to reduce in size and after about 60 days you will be ready to add this fresh homemade compost to amend your gardens.
There should be no need to ever, and I mean ever, buy fertilizer for an everyday garden. Compost can provide all of the macro and micro nutrients that any plants need. Give it a try, youll be happily surprised!
Using up all those tomatoes from the garden can be quite a task! Why not make some homemade salsa and can it for long term storage?
Here is one of the best homemade salsa recipes that I have tried. It is easy, requires little equipment, and can be eaten fresh or canned.
Homemade Salsa Recipe -
3 Cups fresh tomatoes 1/2 cup Green bell peppers 1 cup onion 1/4 cup cilantro 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon kosher or course salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1. Process the tomatoes by washing, cutting in half or quarters, and removing as much of the seeds as possible. I just keep a bowl handy and scoop then out with my finger. 2. Cut up the onions, bell peppers, and cilantro and place in food processor with tomatoes.
3. Add salt, lemon or lime juice, cumin, and black pepper. 4. Process in blender or food processor to desired thickness 5. At this point you can eat it fresh or can it for long term storage.
For a thicker salsa just chop all of the ingredients finer and do not use the food processor the salsa will be awesome either way. As the salsa sits either in fridge or canned the flavor melds together and it becomes even better!
All of these products and more recommended items from the SSL Family are available at the Simple Suburban Living General Store
We added chickens to our little homestead this year and couldnt be happier with our decision! In this video, I share with you tips and best practices for raising chickens in a small backyard. We are so excited about the things we did to make the coop as maintenance-free as possible.
We have setup and designed our chicken coop in ways that make it possible for us to go away for a long weekend without asking someone to feed the chickens. We know you will want to implement these same ideas in your chicken coop as well.
To learn more about how we built the automatic feeder for under $20, click HERE.
To learn more about how the watering system was constructed, click HERE.
Dont hesitate to let me know if you have any questions!
Thanks for stopping by!
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This post was shared at: Homestead Barn Hop, The Backyard Farming Connection Hop, HomeAcre Hop, Simple Lives Thursday
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