A Few Minor Changes

2022-06-24 01:20 (Revisions, 2022-06-26, in Red)

The first change was to the power supplies to the Smart Garden-3s. I'm not going to put up an old photo to contrast and compare. There were two outlet extenders with three plugs and some USB slots. The transformers didn't fit side by side and I used 9" Extension cord to get all five plugged in. Since I had to use an extension cord anyway, I thought...

The power strip works every bit as well. Better. It's the same power on the outlet - 8 watts each, for 40 watts - and is not a significant load, and looks less unattractive than the fiasco in the other photos.

Ranch One is busting out in blossoms that I have to pollinate by hand. I love when that happens.

Remember Sheba? I had planted a single Heirloom Cherry Tomato seed pod in the center, dedicating Sheba to tomatoes. When that pod was slow to germinate, I planted a second pod, a Golden Harvest Tomato pod. That pod has germinated, and I moved it to the center. The Heirloom Cherry Tomato pod is still cowering under its grow dome, off to the side. I hope Golden Harvest tomatoes aren't full-size. I need to investigate.

I had turned off all the gardens earlier. At 01:45, I turned them all on at once. If they all stay on for 16 hours (they won't, but that's part of my experiment), then they'll wink off at or about 17:45. (5:45 PM for non-followers of Universal Time.) I will note the actual times. Seriously, I want them all to come on together. 06:00 (6 AM) would be perfect, but I'm not getting up then to set them.

2022-06-24 - I moved a non-germinating Romaine Lettuce from Seble to Harvey. Harvey has two Red Fire Pepper plants and four (now three) empty pod bays. In its place in Seble, I planted my first-ever spinach seed pod. I also added water to ensure the level was right. Seble is still the only AG Harvest without an AeroVoir. It's almost time to refill Anny.

2022-06-26 - The Ranches needed tending. Adding water to some. a little pruning for others. Removed two domes because the new plants have germinated. I don't remember what those plants are. The Purple Chili plant in Ranch Five was, if not dying, terminally ill. I yanked it and substituted a Romaine Lettuce, the first I've planted in a Smart Garden. I'll be able to compare it to the crop in Seble and Teresa.

The flowering chili plant in the picture above has busted out in dozens of peppers. I swear the chili plants I've started all came from identical sets from Click & Grow, but none of them are the same. I'll eat them all, regardless, but I wonder about their quality control.

I suspect it is past time to clean the Smart Gardens, but I'll need a supply of distilled water first. I have syphons and sump pumps and I can empty the container into an empty jug to recover the water... but I think it better to start fresh and hopefully uncontaminated.

AeroGarden, per their germination guarantee, sent me replacement jalapenos and purple super hots. Strangely enough, a germinated Click & Grow Purple Chili is doing bloody marvelous in an iDOO (Ethel) with MiracleGro Plant Food, while the AG Purple Super Hots won't germi... there's one in Ethel, still in the AeroGarden seed pod. It's an inch tall. I can't wait to compare it to the Purple Chili to see if they are the same plant.

2022-07-02

Last night I broke out the hydrogen peroxide and removed algae from Sheba. Then, noting that there were four stalks growing from the Golden Harvest Seed Pod, I pruned without any ruth at all, removing three stalks to the trash bin. The lives of millions of stomach bacteria are depending on the lone remaining stalk to grow and bear forth tomatoes.