Hydroponic Garden - UPDATE 29JUL20

Those roots are very impressive, Bill. :thumb: It'll be fun watching the progress of this experiment through the spring and summer.
 
So how goes your garden?
Just wondering if you swap out for new plants often?
Are their any that you have been able to cut from multiple times? If so, on average how many cuttings?
How often do you have to clean and replace the water/nutrients?
 
So how goes your garden?
Just wondering if you swap out for new plants often?
Are their any that you have been able to cut from multiple times? If so, on average how many cuttings?
How often do you have to clean and replace the water/nutrients?
mee too

How does your garden grow Bill?

Your timing is interesting, guys! I was getting ready to do an update after much trial and tribulation.

For many weeks after I set up this garden, it was producing nicely. We got a lot of bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes and jalapenos. THEN, Summer began to set in!!! Things changed drastically.

Without boring you with all the details, it appears to have been a mistake to place the tubes against the brick wall. That area gets nice morning sun, then is shaded by early afternoon. Regardless, everything started drying up, even with the steady supply of water. I put up a piece of screening material to cut the sun a little, but it did little to help. The brick wall reflects the sunlight to the plants, then retains the heat far better than expected. We're preparing to move the system to an adjacent wall that only gets early morning sun to see how it performs there. More on that as it develops.
 
I set up my "traditional" garden this year after not planting it for at least 5-6 years. I expected it to be poor but instead it is doing OK. Except for the excessive heat and intense sun. The sun and heat have been taking a toll on the plants. Fortunately it gets shaded starting about 3 o'clock and I can water it when the shade covers it.

Hydroponics sounds like a cool idea. Good to know about the hot sun thing. I may try something like that next year.

Soooo - did it die out completely or did you get some produce from it?
 
Depending on what you plant, that first spot against the wall can be a perfect location for herbs. I have a similar location we are instead of the hydroponics I have a bunch of hanging terra-cotta pots against a brick wall. I’ve got a drip irrigation system on a timer that waters them morning and evening, and the herbs just love it. Things that have done well in that environment are basils, oreganos, rosemary, sages, chives, lemon balm, dill and fennel, lavender, etc.. That may not be what you were hoping to grow there, but there are plants that can do well with that kind of heat (and a lot less water).
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Depending on what you plant, that first spot against the wall can be a perfect location for herbs. ...

The only herb we planted was basil, which held up pretty good overall. I have rosemary in the ground as a small shrub.

We wanted to plant tomatoes and bell peppers with a scattering of other things like jalapenos to try.

Another difference from here to your location is elevation. We're at about 250'amsl and you're above 2,000'amsl.
 
Depending on what you plant, that first spot against the wall can be a perfect location for herbs

It's hot enough here mid summer that our basil at least has been much happier in the shadier section of the yard (I have it in some larger pots and moving it around over the years.. have finally found a spot it seems to mostly like). The rosemary and thyme can't seem to get to much sun and heat though.

That's some nice looking dill :headbang: (y)
 
The rosemary and thyme can't seem to get to much sun and heat though.

That's some nice looking dill :headbang: (y)

Yeah, most of the Mediterranean herbs will take all the heat you can throw at them. I used to grow them surrounded by a gravel mulch in full sun and they ate it up.

Thanks. The dill is actually in the pot on the right of the picture. The really big stuff to the left and center is bronze fennel.


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Oh fennel wow, that's really taken off.

We had a dill and fennel cross naturalize at one garden. We called it dennel, it sort of had the worst characteristics of both, but man the beneficial insects loved it. So we kind of let it grow in places it wasn't too much bother.
 
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