Self-Watering Planter Update

The camera is working again, so I thought I would update on all of the self-watering containers (except for the tomatoes which are still in the basement). All of these containers are listed in the sidebar.

I filled the reservoir in each container when I originally planted it. Otherwise, I have not had to do any watering! Each time it rains the reservoir fills up again and so far that has been sufficient. I'm guessing that later in the summer when plants are bigger and days are hotter and rain is more infrequent I'll have to water more, but so far the containers have been incredibly convenient!

Spinach

The spinach in the self-watering planter has caught up to the spinach in my raised bed even though it was planted a couple of weeks later.

You can see some of the damage from the hail storm last week, but the plants are doing well.

We like baby spinach, so I'll start harvesting the outer leaves from each spinach plant this week.




Radish:

These are a heirloom variety called Plum Purple Radish. They're almost 4 weeks old now, but definitely aren't ready for harvest. I'm a bit worried because when I tried these indoors they never produced and enlarged root.




Arugula:

Just a regular variety. I need to plant a lot of more of this because I would like to make and freeze a bunch of arugula pesto and I also want to be able to use it in salads.





Lettuce:

I started these under a grow light and transplanted them into the outdoor container in mid-April.


We'll be eating these in the next week or two and replanting this bucket with basil.




Potato:

This is a fingerling potato. I only filled the planter up half-way with soil so that I can add more as the plant grows. The stem that gets buried will become part of the root system and will produce more potatoes.

I'm not expecting the potato crop to be cost effective -- potatoes are cheap and I don't think I'll get very many. However, I still remember visiting my uncle's farm and helping to dig up potatoes. It's a very satisfying vegetable to harvest.

Carrots, Garlic and Onion:

On the left are a heirloom variety of carrot called Danver Half-Long.

The bucket in middle has garlic and on the right is a bucket of onion.






Swiss Chard:

This variety is called Bright Lights and has multicoloured stalks. I have two planters of this.










Zucchini:

This was transplanted last week from a sprouted seed. It's a heirloom variety called Cocozelle Zucchini.

I have two buckets of this.

Conventional Veggies

Although I've planted vegetables in self-watering containers this year, I also have vegetables planted in my raised-bed garden. I've done this type of vegetable gardening for a couple of years now.

I started spinach (at the front of the pic), red lettuce, and green lettuce under 3 cloches back in March.

I planted the onion in mid April and I plan to harvest these as green onions (the set I bought had a picture of green onions on the front and was called "multiplier onions") but I'm not sure how/when to harvest them. If anyone knows, please help!

Spring is Back!

Spring is finally back on track! Hurrah!

I checked the cloches this morning to find lettuce and spinach seedlings showing their heads. What a surprise considering the cloches were completely covered in snow only yesterday. I guess they really work.




Here's a picture of the baby lettuce through the plastic:

I'm very excited!