I feel for you and your son dealing with your nieces. My husband has some family that have a similar delusion. coincidentally, they own nothing to ever worry about it being destroyed by people. If the shoe was on the other foot they would undoubtedly feel much different. I would probably flag their post of his conversation. That's harassment. You should be able to get it removed, but keep copies of their post and the entire post. If they are very malicious you would need it to prove intent on their part. Some people are just out of their minds. Youth have zero idea about consequences of their petulence. It's impossible to have a meaningful conversation with some folks right now.

The garden is doing it's thing here. Weeds getting a little nutty. Too hot to be out pulling them right now. It was 94 degrees yesterday with 70% humidity. Just nasty. Pumpkins growing like crazy. Spaghetti squash coming on along with cucumbers. Watermelons growing but still waiting on actual melons. Was running behind getting those in. Need to get my plastic down for my garden expansion. Need to finish putting the floor in my greenhouse.

Japanese Beetles have arrived. I kept watching my crepe myrtles for them, meanwhile they were apparently eating my grapes. My poor poor grapes.

Oh...poor grapes.

Thanks Jenn, I didn't know you could have something removed for harassment. Just tried. We'll see.

Hot here too. Not quite 94 but 88 is closer enough. Put a trap out for the woodchuck, well see. I found the spot he was getting in through. Chewed the bottom of my plastic fence. That fence was not meant for woodchucks! After I finish my planting, the boat in and the pool in order, I'll run a hot wire at 4". That should take care of him. I've only found the one entrance hole, suspect the other (s) in the the goldenrod. Wish there was an effective way of getting rid of goldenrod. Sigh.

So far, I have a watermelon the size of a tart cherry. A cucumber (or two) a little bigger than a hulled sunflower seed. Maybe an eggplant embryo or two. Two pink Brandywine tomatoes the size of an egg. I've already picked some small immature hot peppers. One I thought was a jalepeno but when I bit into it. Yowser. It was a hot one. It's a mix of hot peppers so I don't know what they are sometimes.

Oops. Writing this i realized I didn't water the cucumbers...

Bye

So I've read a few mixed things on the internet so I'm coming to you guys. We're finally settled in the house and I can focus on trying things that might make me happy. 

I have 2 options for windowsills for my prospective herbs and things. They both are facing kind of WNW but one has a porch on it and doesn't receive much direct sunlight. That one is in the kitchen where I would prefer my herbs but the other is in the office next to it but no porch so it receives the afternoon sun. I'd prefer in the kitchen but if it's not gonna do well I can keep them in the office. My fiance can get over it!

I'm also not sure which planter type I want to do. I'm looking at 2 different options. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AL0F20G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dASoFbHFKZWFN
This one has a hole at the bottom to drain and a tray so I don't think my windowsill. I'm not sure if this is the exact style but it's similar to what I'm looking for.

My other idea is Mason jars with rocks at the bottom for drainage. Any input is appreciated! 


I also only have 2 Mason jars so I'll have to start small if that's what I pick. My boss is gonna give me some clippings so I have a bit to decide once I get those. If there are any other ideas that someone has for a small indoor windowsill garden please let me know!!

No rock necessary for drainage. Water is going to be caught in the bottom of the jar with or without rocks and the roots will go where they want regardless. Putting something at the bottom of a pot only reduces how much potting soil you need to fill the container. Herbs are warm weather creatures and like good drainage so I would lean toward the actual pots for them rather than the jars so that they have good drainage and you can avoid root rot which they will be more susceptible to in jars. They will do better in full sun. They tend to get spindly if too covered.

Certain herbs do quite nicely in hydroponic systems. Depending on what kind of herbs you are going for and how much you use them hydroponics might be a good option.

Thanks Jenn! I'm for sure starting with mint because I know a lot of things I can do with it already. I need to look into what I can do with things like basil and thyme. 

Hydroponic is the just water right? So instead of moving the clippings from water after they've grown roots I just leave it and change the water regularly? Which herbs do well in that? I might be interested in it!

Also a long shot question. Are there any fruits or vegetables that do well on windowsills? It's been so busy I've slacked on my research for gardening!

It's fertilized water. Basil does well in it. Cilantro does well in hydroponics too. The mint should be fine. Most systems have them in little cups filled with rock wool that sit down in the water. You add fertilizer to the water every so often.

If you really want it in the window of the kitchen where there's less light hydroponic kits usually come with a light so the window you choose won't matter.

https://smile.amazon.com/Hydroponics-Growing-System-Support-Small-White/dp/B07R7VJP3S/ref=sr_1_7?crid=COODA9HTYLQW&dchild=1&keywords=windowsill+hydroponic+system&qid=1597694378&sprefix=windowsill+hy%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-7

Radishes and lettuce will do fine on a window. Spinach, green onions, and micro greens. Things that don't get too tall or require a lot of space. Largely depends on the windowsill. You can do strawberries in fairly small pots. Now, if you have a large sliding glass door then your world opens up a bit more in the fruit department.

Windowsill wise i have basil cilantro and chives right now. I have my plants in what would seem large for 1 plant but i wonder if the extra room is why they dont die. I also have a windowsill pot plant but it wont stay there much longer. I plan on getting terragon seeds. And depending on height you may ne able to "dwarf" tomato plants. Same with peppers.

If you want to look at some weird grow techniques you could go sideways or sea of green method. Then there is aeroponics.

That looks like a lot of fun to figure out! Sadly no sliding glass door but I do have plans for a full outdoor garden.

It's a decent sized windowsill. I'll take a picture when I get home. I may be too short to reach if anything gets too tall. It's decently wide though.

Just found this picture from the proposal the other day. I think it was around 3pm so it gets a lot of light. Just not direct sunlight.



Fresh tomatoes would not last very long with my family. My grandparents used to have a garden and that was one thing they could never grow enough of. We always wanted fresh tomatoes. Green and red.

Well I've done it! I got an AeroGarden and it is up and running. Two types of basil, parsley, mint, thyme, and dill! I'm super excited! One of the basils is supposed to sprout in 4-7 days. Now all I need is recipes for them. I'm also a beginner cook so we'll see how that goes.

Let me know what you think of the system. Looks neat.

So far it's pretty cool. It has a timer to let you know when to add food and water, an adjustable light height, and an automated light timer with presets for things like herbs, flowers, and vegetables.

I looked it up online. Looks really good other then i would be running alot more light than it has the ability. Right now im running a 50 watt grow light with supplemental sun for one pot plant and one cilantro. When my outside stuff comes back in im going back to the 1200 watt. Really the 600 watt soduim halide is enough but it puts out too much heat.

Ive always wanted to try hydroponics

There's a farm version that can handle 24 pods but it only has dual 60 watt lights. It also comes with free pod kits. So in other words you would just get more plants and light not just light.

Even though nothing has sprouted yet, it makes me want to build my own system and use this one to start them and then transplant them.

Yes it seems like a nice seed starter setup, most of the things i grow wouldn't fit fully grown in that type of setup. Ive been doing alot of experiments on basil with lights and temp and im on the 4th generation on almost 1 year old root systems. One plant i even started treating like a bonsai tree and training using wire.

This is only my second time growing marijuana. Jerry is very unhappy with it, he would rather i just buy it and grow something that doesnt take forever start to finish.

My berries are getting decimated by chipmunks

Yeah, it's not good for tall plants, but I wonder if you could modify it somehow. Like keep it attached to the system so it keeps the timers and such, but extend the light to handle the taller stuff?

I know nothing of marijuana, so I can't offer anything there. I don't remember though, isn't it to help him or you with something??

Oh no! That's one reason I'm glad I started with this system, it stays inside away from critters. We've seen a couple of rabbits on our walks with the dogs but nothing much really. We do have one hummingbird since we put the feeder out a couple weeks ago!

This whole house owning thing is turning out really fun! I can finally do projects and things I've always wanted to do.

Not the best of presentations since it's really only a recap of what they did but ... a friend of mine works with the fellow who supervised these students.  He (the friend) has sent me a group of pictures that sorta show what they did but I'd sure like a lot more detail.






Well srvimg is having a fit with me trying to upload several pic at one time but this gives you an idea of what they're doing. Giving me some ideas, everything I've seen so far is an open water system which here in the desert is a no go - too much loss to evaporation. I like the looks of this one.

So most people here that do hydroponics do a draught/flood system. I have the same issue with an open system because its so dry.

So apparently the Israelis have mastered hydroponics in the desert.

So this is my current light hanging by a chain over what most people would consider the kitchen table or dining room. The timer on the light and here is the bonsai basil and cilantro and hash plant

So me and jerry both use the marijuana but he uses 1:1 thc:cbd oil and i use the mj for pain management because i wont touch opiates unless i really need them. I know it works on Jerry's seizures but im on the fence as to whether it actually works for pain or just makes me not think about being in pain. And i dont think its the harmless miracle drug most people think it is. Cbd has lots of drug interactions. But i dont have the lab and equipment to safely make concentrate and nothing explodes like making thc oil.

My last 3 pot plants i got annoyed with and gave away and this one im just growing because i felt like it. Next spring im gonna try to grow some outside in the ground. Crappy med dispensary has seedy weed and i have tons of seeds

Lighting for indoor growing is complex since there are so many styles of lights and wattage to lumen equivalent is different by light. All mine are LED which are low watt but high output. You do not at any time put them closer than a foot to any plant or they will burn it to a crisp. But not all LEDs are that way. I keep mine on a timer too but that's mostly because I can't be near them any real amount of time without them giving me a headache. But I did have peppers growing in my basement in winter which was nice.

The soduim halide will give you a suntan. Needs to be about 3 feet above the plants. The new 50watt im just learning. Its red/blue led and the 1200 watt is full spectrum led. Now my tomatoes actually prefer the halide lights because it has a farther reach. I cant justify the 1200 light or handle the heat from the halide light for 2 plants. They also get sun in the morning and afternoon. Indoor lights are a huge learning curve

I have little sprouts!! I think almost everything has sprouted but only 2 are big enough to take the cover thingy off. My Thai Basil actually sprouted before my Dill but the dill shot up.

Awesomeness

Sweet. Some stuff just takes longer to get going. Eggplants can be so slow.

Cilantro seems to not like me. That takes forever to sprout also.

Im in shock that all our snow didnt kill my strawberries.