GARDENING BY CUISINE
With Patti Moreno
The Garden Girl
Welcome to my science laboratory where I started all of my seedlings from my main garden, my kitchen garden and also my farm stand. In this system, I can start 700 seedlings at a time, which equals $1400.00 worth of sales of my farm stand. Let me give you just a whole overview of the system. It looks like it could be pretty daunting but everything is available at your local hardware store or garden center.
I have just a basic out of the box metal shelving unit. I have got fluorescent light pictures here. The flow tubes I have in here are balanced for daylight. Now, this is very important. If you are going to start your own seed system like this, you want to make sure that the flow tubes are balanced for daylight. I have this plastic bins that I got at the container store. Yehey me, I have a reason to go to the container store. I love that place! I have got packs tubing, clear packs tubing and also these clumps. I also have an inch of pea gravel on the bottom of these plastic bins for drainage. And then, I have my fish tank here which is a 55 gallon fish tank.
Now, in this fish tank, I have got a pump and that pump is attached to a tea quick connect system and then the packs tubing comes out of that and goes all the way up to the top bin here. And let me also show you one more thing, it has a valve attached to it and this valve allows to me to control the flow of the water and whether I want it to flow or not so it got an on and off switch to it. And I have customized each of these plastic bins and drilled holes in it and I have the packs tubing going all the way across to the end of the bin. Now, I am putting it all the way across to the end of the bin because I want an even disbursement of water throughout my seedlings.
If you have never tried packs tubing, let me show you what it is. It is really simple. You think you have to be a plumber to know this stuff but you really do not. It is called the quick connect for a reason. Now, this is that valve that I had just showed you and I have the packs tubing here and you want to make sure that when you cut it, it is cut flash so that there are no jagged edges and that makes it water tight and then guess what you do. That is it! That is all you do. It is very simple. You do not need any other tools and this is pretty much water tight. Now, if it does start to release water, what you want to do is you want to use some silicone clear goop. That is what it is called. It is actually called goop.
Whole system I have here is completely automated and I have got the lighting on a timer and the timer comes on at 7:00 in the morning and it turns off at 7:00 at night because I want the lights to be on for 12 hours throughout the whole day. The water is also on a timer and that comes on at 7:00 AM and shuts off at 8:00 AM. I only have it running for one hour. With the 55-gallon tank, what that means is the water in the tank will circulate through the system twice in that one hour. I hear it bubbling and gurgling and doing its thing.
Now, once you set up this system, yes, it is automated but you want to make sure that you are checking it periodically. You want to check it for leaks. You want to make sure that the lights, the timers are functioning, and your electrical is still functioning. And I have this here in an area that has a concrete floor. So if there are any leaks, there is no problem. This is a perfect system for a garage or a basement or somewhere where if water does get on the floor, it is okay. You do not want to put this in an area that has carpeting that you care about because it might be ruined pretty quickly. So, I have just gone giving you an overview of this awesome automated system. Now, I am going to start some seeds.
The first thing I am going to start with is lemon grass. Next thing I am going to start are sweet peppers. Next seed I am going to start is Straita de Italia, which is a summer squash black Aztec form is actually black.
Do you guys out there like zucchini? It has been about a week since I started those seedlings with you and look at them. They are thriving. They have sprouted. My corn over here is doing really well and it is pretty much basically ready to go in the garden. Unfortunately, it is raining today so it is going to have to stay in here for a little bit longer. Now, as for the rest of my seedlings, they have not sprouted yet but I am going to give them a little bit more time and check back in with them later.
I am Patti Moreno the Garden Girl. Thanks for watching!
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2008
www.gardengirltv.com
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