My yard

Spring in my yard

Carolina morning

Irises in bloom

rose bush just started blooming

Peonies getting ready

this smells amazing

My water lilies are blooming too.
Happy springtime in the northern hemisphere!

Kratky Method Chinese cabbage

New Experiment!

More fun with Hydroponics

The Kratky method of hydroponic growing is 

a non circulating system. Developed by B.A. Kratky at the University of Hawaii, the system is basically just a container filled with a nutrient solution. There is no moving water, no air stones, no hassles. I had a few left over and empty coffee containers so, I thought I'd try to use them.

The next step was to cut a hole in the top to put the net cups in. I didn't have net cups, so I used some Christmas cups that my Parents had kicking around and graciously donated in the name of edible science. Next, cut the cups down to size.

I had to drill a bunch of holes in the cup so that water could reach the roots of the plants. The holes had to be small enough so that the pebbles I was using as a grow medium,

didn't fall through the holes.

Not pretty, but it'll do.

Finally I had to remove all the dirt from the root system of each plant, tuck it into the cup and then back fill with the pebbles. Last, I set each Chinese Cabbage filled cup into the solution filled canisters.

The true genius of this system (or non system) is that you do nothing else at all until harvest. The roots of the plant will grow down to reach the water and smaller roots form in the air cavity between plant and water that absorb oxygen.

Pretty cool eh? Now if I did everything correctly I should

have 4 awesome cabbage plants. Apparently its something like a Napa cabbage. Maybe I can try to make my own kimchi or do some yummy stir fry!

DBTomatoes 7

At last!

I finally received the water soluble fertilizer from

Morgan County Seeds. I then immediately went to look for

tomato plants.

From left to right we have 2 Mortgage lifters, 2 Lemon boys, 

in the middle, 2 cucumber plants, followed by my favorite tasting tomato, the German Johnsons and last on the right are 2 Sweet million cherry tomatoes.

I started the watering process yesterday and can't wait 

to see results. 'Mater samiches here we come.

DB day 6

Dutch Bucket Tomatoes 6

The first Iris of the season. Just thought I'd share it with you.

I used some metal strapping, screws and an aluminum 

pole I garbage picked...

and on the other side I used my rain gutter as uprights to run my support lines to.

It doesn't look all that pretty, but I hope its effective.

All I need now is my fertilizer and my tomato plants.

I can't wait!

DB day 5

Dutch Bucket Tomatoes 5

First thing I did Saturday morning, was paint my white buckets. I did this to cut down on any algae growth as the 

white buckets were very transparent and allowed too much sunlight through. I happened to have some olive green spray paint so thats what I used.

I next ran the irrigation lines. I placed these at the back of the set up to keep them as cool and in the shade as possible.Because the lines are black, I'm pretty sure they will heat up any water flowing through them.

I hooked up the irrigation line to the pump. I installed a shut off valve just in case I need to shut the 

flow off quickly.

Installed the drip lines.

Gave the set up a "wet" run to check for leaks

Everything looked good. All the water went where

I wanted it to.

I wrapped the elbow openings that go inside the buckets with some old nylons, just to keep junk from flowing back to the reservoir tub.

Then it was time to put the rocks in.

I was going to wash all the rocks before putting them in the buckets. That lasted for one bag of pebbles.

Instead I just dumped in the rocks and ran water over them until the water running out of the drain pipe ran clear.

A little too late, I figured I should run the dirty water into the yard instead of the tub. 

Tomorrow I need to put up some support for the 

tomato vines. I ordered the Masterblend brand water soluble fertilizer from Morgan County Seeds in Missouri. As soon as it arrives I'll go tomato plant hunting and away we go!

DIY water feature

Rock n Flow

Yesterday after work I helped my lil sis with a b-day gift to her husband. 

Digging the hole is probably the hardest part of this whole thing.

Buy a pot ( no holes in bottom) or a bucket, dig a hole to fit

said pot. Place the pot in the hole making sure it sits fairly level. Then use a circular grill grate (used or new) to cover the top of the container.

Place a small fountain pump in the bottom of the pot.

Run the pump line through the grate. You might have to bend the grate bars a bit to get the line through. If your line is too large you may have to use some bolt cutter to create an opening large enough to get the line through.

Fill with water and "artfully" arrange the stones on the grill grate.

In this feature we used a bell fitting for the fountain head.

Plug in and enjoy the soothing sounds of trickling water.

The birds and butterflies will love it.

Super easy to build and not very expensive either.

Here's what it sounds like.

Enjoy.

Fire in the sky

I looked up the other day while at work, and there it was, a cloud that looked like fire framing this tree.

I captured the image then enhanced the sky color a bit, but even not enhanced it was a pretty cool scene.

D B day 4

 Dutch Bucket Day 4

I got the drain lines done today after I got home from work.

I still need to run the irrigation to the buckets,get more rocks, order the fertilizer and then decide which tomatoes 

I will be planting this year.

I'm not sure yet, but I'm thinking I might plant two plants per bucket. That would give me a total of 10 tomato plants.

GO BIG OR GO HOME !

'Mater samiches here I come!!

D B tomatoes day 3

Dutch Bucket day 3

LET"S DO THIS !

It's raining today so I figured I'd plumb the buckets for my system. I got all my bits n bobs ready and went at it.

It pays handsomely to have the right tool for the job. The PVC cutter paid for itself today.

 I cut the pipes at 6"

Put the 90 º elbows on

Drilled the 1" holes

Popped in the 3/4" grommets 

Carefully pushed in the drain pipes

And this is the final result.

I water tested them in the bathtub to make sure the grommet sealed properly. They did. Now I need to drill holes in the lids, but I'm going to wait till its dry outside to do all that. Measuring is all good, but I'm an eyeball DIY guy and I need to see the set up in position before I do any more hole cutting.