Powelly's 2019/2020 Adelaide Grow

Powelly · Aug 17, 2019

I planted everything on Wednesday 14th August
Cucumbers were first to pop! Saw them for the first time yesterday on the 17th. Basil has also popped. So has the Cherry Tomatoes, regular tomatoes and I can see the eggplants starting to appear already

The planter I keep them in is really good, glad I made it this year. During the day it keeps it almost exactly 30 degrees Celsius. At night it gets down to around 15 Celsius in the box which I measured just before the lights came on when I was on night shift.

The peppers in their true form have not popped it. I think 4 days would be a little unreal, I was surprised to see cucumbers and tomatoes so quickly though. Hopefully this next sunday I'll have them

Powelly · Aug 17, 2019

Powelly · Aug 19, 2019

The Jalapenos and bell peppers have popped! They were planted on Wednesday 14th, so seeing them today on the 19th is a nice surprise! 5 days! That has to be a germination record for me. That box does wonders! I'll take pictures when I get back from work tomorrow

Powelly · Aug 20, 2019

Powelly · Aug 22, 2019

From left to right:
Birds eyes starting to pop, three of them there
Persian basil seems to be doing well, hope they get a bit bigger though lol
The strawberries are hard to see, they are there though!
Tomatoes are doing very well, first real leaves coming through now
Jalapenos have popped
Cherry tomatoes are absolutely lit, I think every seed germinated
Cucumbers are doing good also
Capsicums are now all up
And a few more eggplant have appeared

Powelly · Aug 22, 2019

Started to clear out the courtyard area of the new house. Looks like the previous occupants never did ANYTHING with the garden, including raking up leaves. Thankfully, no pesticides or herbicides either.

The leaves had fallen and collected on the courtyard and over the years had actually formed about a half inch of soil, haha. I cleaned it up and to my delight it contained an absolute buttload of worms. I went down to my local Bunnings and got myself 3 rubber tubs. All the leaves didn't even fit into a single 50L bin! For now, the rest of them have been dumped on the compost pile I made in the rear of the house

The soil that had been made on the patio from falling leaves, complete with worms:

New worm home with leaves added:

Adding the worms on top:

Back garden area, potted tree is a persimmon. Compost pile to the far right:

Powelly · Aug 23, 2019

Nice surprise today! In the catnip pot we have some volunteer peppers! I've grown 3 or 4 different pepper varieties in this pot and have never changed the mix so I'm excited to find out what they are!

Mr.joe · Aug 23, 2019

Off to a good start with compost at least. Keep the worms fed and don't let them cook inside that tote. Hopefully those volunteers turn out to be something good.

PaulG · Aug 25, 2019

Have fun working up the garden space
and courtyard into a space to your liking.

Downriver · Aug 26, 2019

Just catching up here. LOVE your germination box. Looks like it works great.
Free rich soil is always nice.
Always thought about worms, but haven't ever done them. Keep us posted on their progress.
Best of luck with the new place!

Powelly · Aug 27, 2019

DownRiver said:
Just catching up here. LOVE your germination box. Looks like it works great.
Free rich soil is always nice.
Always thought about worms, but haven't ever done them. Keep us posted on their progress.
Best of luck with the new place!

Thanks man. Worms are definitely the best thing you can do for your garden when gardening organically. Unfortunately most people make the mistake of just putting food scraps in the worm bin. Food is 95% water and has terrible nutrition compared to other sources. Garbage in = Garbage out.

These worms will be fed any fallen leaves and home made compost which is what they would be eating in nature - not food scraps lol. Food scraps in my house get fermented through bokashi then thermally composted - this will then get fed through the worms.

I'll post some pictures of my compost when I get home later, it's far superior to anything you could buy in a store which is usually dry and sterile. I wouldn't even feed it to my worms lol.

karoo · Aug 28, 2019

Good luck with your new garden and grow.
I grow in raised beds , pots and sub-irrigated planters . All 100% organic homemade compost . I have a big whole in the back yard where everything up to 10mm branches go into , wait 2 years and then dig it up . Works like magic. But there are faster ways to compost , I just have more than enough , so I can wait.

Powelly · Aug 29, 2019

Here is the two week progress, bloody brilliant if you ask me. Definitely sold on the idea of grow lights. Having the plants under light for 18h is a massive advantage. Maybe during winter I'll play around with the idea of grow lights + organic which not many people do.

I put these outside for the first time today (Friday), I'll keep monitoring them make sure they do nothing funny then bring them back in and under the lights around 5pm. If everything goes well I'll plant them all out in the garden on Monday. I just wish my home made compost and vermicompost was ready! I dumped a bin bag full of used coffee grounds from work in the compost pile today, hopefully that gets things heating up in there nice and good

Powelly · Sep 4, 2019

Legacy pepper from last year is getting new growth again, looking a little pale so added some of my home made compost around the top