Im building an aquaponic hoophouse

[spuds]

Week 23....Tomatoes plugging along.Wanted more blossoms but hearing its just been a poor tomato year here,so Im OK I guess.Only 2 tomatillos,one plant died and needs two to pollinate,bummer.Beans growing well but wrong time of year for them.Must have 6 different peppers and all doing great,as are the bell peppers now making full sized fruits.Basil is tremendous.Put in a couple tomato cuttings,so far so good.Fish growing like gang busters.

A couple heirloom purples and a tomatillo

[spuds]

Week 25,a couple random shots and lots and lots of peppers.

[drholly]

Looking good - you've got a real pepper factory going there! I love the purple heirloom tomatoes.

[CDN Smoker]

Looking great, how are the fish doing? Do they get bigger?

[spuds]

yes doc,the purples rock. Yes drew,they are really growing fast,Im feeding them pellets now,even the goldfish can get the pellets down,I will get some pics.On the peppers know next year will concentrate on Bells,the sweet sweet Jimmy nardellos are long skinny one,more of those,and those cherry ones you get in the jars,those are real expensive,we could can those

[spuds]

Been concentrating on seed saving and see what grows.Hope I can germinate these pepper seeds next year.Will still do some hots but will concentrate on the milds...love pickled peppers and they arent cheap,and so easy to do from what Im reading.Nice little haul today.As Ive said before Im no expert on gardening,heard to keep picking peppers if you want more,and remove early flowers to make plants larger,so as always,Im LEARNING constantly,much fun though,what a nice hobby.

Nice little pepper haul...



So bought seeds for greek peppers to make peppericinos,cherry reds for small pickled peppers to go along with the Jimmy Nardellos and Shashitos that are also mild for pickling....next year. 

[spuds]

The fish,plays best on 720
tank 3/4


tank 1/2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ztHFGsnYOs4

bed 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Eze7o6bkU2E

Beds 2 and 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Os46NVZyqkw

A visit with the animals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xuLZlRngHS8

[spuds]

Latest issue....we imported slugs,YUCK.Add in our homegrown earwigs.So a new issue.BUT....have a new next door neighbor who of all things like FROGS....who you guessed it,eat both,how cool is that??!! Plus,we have flies,or as my bud Pharmer Phil calls em,fries,because inside greenhouses get hot.
So he is installing a pond,and frogs are what he is making it for.So soon will have froggies hopping around inside,is that toooo major provident or what?Did I hit the jackpot with Matthew the new neighbor,sure did! 

[spuds]

The latest...had an ammonia problem,my fault,in tank 3/4.It is only supported by bed 4.I pulled a lot of plants and figured,may as well flush bed to add more water.What I did was flush ammonia into tank.Mrs went out at night and a KOI was trying to jump out.YIKES!

So I upped the pump cycles double to run thru night,and planted a bunch of plants that night immediately into bed 4.Took care of problem.Also stopped feeding them so they dont add more ammonia.All is well now,close call,good thing Mrs saw fish freaking out in the darkness.

Biggest news is how the tomatoes are growing,and beans and especially tomatillos.

Toms are now 6-7 feet tall and almost all the way to the ridgepole.LOTS of flowers,but mighty late into season.Met another person up here who told me their tomatoes failed,so doing good all considered,just VERY late.
So may blooms,looks like green tomatoes this year.







Next pic is from stepladder,gives a perspective on the height of those toms



Tomatillos did great,just one plant with tons of blooms but needs 2 plants to fruit.Beans also good,seed saving to really do more next year,the 2 are happy together





Also almost to the ridgepole



Squash and cukes so far no powdery mildew,some romas in buckets





Cuttings very successful,left to right in foreground is basil,tomatillo and a tomato



And finally some very happy fish growing strongly in tank 1/2

[Smokin Don]

You are growing some great green and food Spud!!! I wish I had the energy. Show us some cooking with that stuff!!! Don

[spuds]

The story around here Don goes like this.....Carl,I need basil.Carl,I need lettuce....and thats pretty much what was eaten.Only a few tomatoes so far.Celery powder was a winner.Mrs is talking making Cowboy Candy from peppers,if she does I will follow it for here.

This has been the first year of both greenhouse and aquaponics,so Im just figuring out what will even grow,then save seeds from those,and get planting times straight so next season we have some workable ideas.I had a lot of hiccups getting the water properly fertilized and mineralized,got that solved.

Sooooo....next season I plant lots more strawberries.A lot of peppers with varieties we will eat.More beans,that seven pod bean I THINK is Provider Bean,it is a real producer so a lot more plants on that.Snow peas also.Need to research when they should be planted,timing seems real important on those.

The tomatillos,great bloomer,so 6 maybe of them in the beans should be wowzers.

Seems like heirloom purple tomatoes,cherry,and romas,maybe betterboys next year.Basil,oregano,thyme and rosemary should be right.Celery again,does well.Dill and parsley.

Squash,cukes and romas for sure in buckets.

The assorted lettuces for sure.Marygolds,some cosmo and maybe black eyed susans.Will experiment more on the flowers.

So next year push for production volume.

[spuds]

OK,I think these are Provider Beans,someone correct me if Im wrong.See if I can dry them in time for a fall crop.

[spuds]

Putting it to bed for the winter.Getting into 40's has really been knocking out plants like the peppers and spices.

Pretty much stopped feeding the fish for their health as feeding in cold is bad for them.Need to add some celery and napa cabbages and such to keep the water healthy over winter.So thats about it for now,maybe a few rare updates for the winter setups.

Been working on the seed saving,I think we did real well with that.

I would call the first full season a 7 at least out of 10.Got a huge learning curve worked on,know what mistakes to avoid on a lot of it next year,but will still have a learning curve on doing our own seedlings,and especially want to make a lot of my own mild peppers.

[hikerman]

Beautiful job each and every step of the way Carl! My hat is off to you! What an accomplishment! 

[spuds]

Thanks Gene,sure was a fun project this season.Oh,and the fish sure grew,I must get a good set of pics of them.