Im building an aquaponic hoophouse

[spuds]

Bed 3 is a water bed.It will have floating rafts with pots in it,roots will be constantly wet,mostly lettuce?


Bed4,another medium bed.All are running their pumps at this time.

[spuds]

Week three update...

Bed 1











Bed 2

[TentHunteR]

I am enjoying seeing the progress & updates as you head into your first full growing season.

[spuds]

Thanks,its going well ,will start lettuce cutting real soon.

[spuds]

Moved celery from bed 1 to bed 4 to give lettuce some room.Celery are from stalks from store,planted the inner core with a few stalks,so thats a winner.





Bok Choy plants from grocery store,should do well,the Napa Cabbage did well.Cute little guys.

[hikerman]

Spuds this sure looks great!  You should be proud of all you have accomplished in this project! A tip of the hat sir!

[spuds]

Thank you,its really coming together now.My BIL is bringing me some car parts Tuesday,he is getting the first salad.Ate a leaf today,its was sweet flavored,wow x wow!

[drholly]

That is way cool. I am printing your pages and taking to a local school to suggest they build something like this to both teach the kids and create a living garden for their food service. I appreciate what you have done and think it will be a big motivator to the schools.

[spuds]

That is way cool. I am printing your pages and taking to a local school to suggest they build something like this to both teach the kids and create a living garden for their food service. I appreciate what you have done and think it will be a big motivator to the schools.

AWESOME!! That would be REALLY NICE! It can be scaled to any size.

[spuds]

Week 4
Got our first salad greens,got waaay more than the 3 of us could eat,amazing!Just trimmed outer leaves,plants still there.Im still a month ahead of others even being able to put out plants here,WOW!

Bed 1 a couple of shots
We were amazed at the flavor from the lettuces,none are bitter,and that one in the center with the narrow spikie leaves is downright sweet.


Kale dont grow as fast but boy are they healthy


See? Way too much for 3,the celery isnt as large as photo portrays,they are about 1/3 size of those you buy.


UncleRicky,as Snooky refers to him,came up and after a year long ordeal with his teeth got to eat his first meal with us in a year.The first salad with a vinaigrette Mrs made and Feta cheese sprinkles ,and PBC BBQ ribs,for him.Yumm!NICE visit!

[spuds]

In bed 2

The bell peppers,tomatoes and strawberries are starting to show babies


The basil growing fast,they were at gravel level,now much above,even took a few leaves off a baby today.




Nothing done with 3 yet,over to bed 4.
The celery are really something,theyve grown fist sized roots,I think 7 may be more than we need.Celery powder?They overwintered too,wonder if they will be perennials in here?Wouldnt THAT be something?!

The cilantro and dill each from bed 2 I divided into 12 plants each.That dill was from the grocery bargain bin and the roots are pretty nice,reckon all will grow,the cilantro,when divided had tiny roots,not sure they will all make it,but learned something,they plant a lot of seeds in a little pot for them,so 1 plant is actually a dozen or more.WOW!

[spuds]

An example of our growing season to give an idea how far ahead we are.These plants were wiped out by the cold last night outside.

[spuds]

Have 8 tomatoes starting to move.Bed 2,radishes on right for seeds hopefully,these may get moved around to get tomatoes on edge of bed


A closeup


Bed 1 toms


Added Purlins,not really structural but for plants to attach to,hang potted plants from.


And planted a 6 pack of snow peas that each had 2 plants,so 1 dozen climbing 6 strings in bed 4

[smokeasaurus]

This gives new meaning to the saying "Home Grown". What a wonderful job you have done.

[SmokinKat]

Holy cow, what an output for the space you've got... way too cool!  Great job on all the hard work you've put into that!