Grow Vertically- 5 Gal. Hydroponics Spring 2013
Welcome to our urban effort to expand- like a skyscraper, but better! Ever want to have fresh wild strawberries, greens for you own salads, masses of herbs at your finger tips, or just flower power as a tower? Well this is it! I have been inspired by articles of Chicago's growing efforts to repurpose abandoned buildings & land along with their burgeoning urban farming movement. One such article introduced simple hydroponics towers as a way to enjoy fresh crops-going vertical rather than requiring difficult-to-find square footage. In their honor, I will be assembling 5 Gal. Hydroponic Towers & repurposing remaining supplies into layer boxes & hanging feeders.
Hydroponic Towers will allow you to enjoy plants that traditionally take up square footage that you may not have, plant where there is no or poor soil, relocate to areas with appropriate sunlight, and set up an automatic watering system that requires very little water due to its inherent enclosed moisture system. It also allows for minimal care as it only needs fertilization once/ season, is enclosed and thus does not suffer from many ground level bugs that may eat your roots or hard earned crops, and creates the opportunity for greater ventilation to prevent damaging mold or rotting leaves.
Layer boxes and hanging feeders will trick out your chicken coop while enjoying the knowledge that you have left behind very little waste, maximizing your supplies with useful creativity. Strawberry plants are compliments for Modesto Jr. College Horticulture Department and were truly appreciated!
Hydroponic Towers will allow you to enjoy plants that traditionally take up square footage that you may not have, plant where there is no or poor soil, relocate to areas with appropriate sunlight, and set up an automatic watering system that requires very little water due to its inherent enclosed moisture system. It also allows for minimal care as it only needs fertilization once/ season, is enclosed and thus does not suffer from many ground level bugs that may eat your roots or hard earned crops, and creates the opportunity for greater ventilation to prevent damaging mold or rotting leaves.
Layer boxes and hanging feeders will trick out your chicken coop while enjoying the knowledge that you have left behind very little waste, maximizing your supplies with useful creativity. Strawberry plants are compliments for Modesto Jr. College Horticulture Department and were truly appreciated!
COMING SPRING 2014: Wild Strawberry Plants
Alternative Strawberries (Article from www.growingtastes.com)
"The ordinary wild wood strawberry of Europe, the fraise des bois or vesca, is rarely tasted today except by epicures."
--Henry A. Wallace, "Introduction" to The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology
". . . it appears from the literature that the two chiefest classes of culinary interest are the so-called "Alpine strawberries" and the much-less-known (even in Europe, where the large and--they feel--underflavored American types are looked down on) "musk strawberries".
Those types are not, and almost surely never will be, very popular here because they do not at all lend themselves to commercial production, that Holy Grail of U.S. crop evaluation. But for the home gardener especially interested in the finest available flavor, they have a definite attraction. Owing to their noncommercial character, there is dismayingly little information beyond the basics available--in English, anyway--about either berry species.
Here is what is commonly known about these alternative strawberry types:
Negatives:
- Size -- the berries are small, significantly smaller than common strawberries.
- Productivity -- they bear rather lightly per plant.
Positives:
- Flavor -- adjectives commonly tossed about are "excellent", "superb", and "intense".
- Growth -- they are true perennials, and quite winter-hardy (typically to Zone 3).
- Fruit Set -- they fruit continuously through the warmer months, and are thus true "everbearing" plants.
- Vigor -- they grow easily, needing little attention, little water, and not even necessarily full sun.
- Appearance- they are so nice-looking that they are often used as decorative borders.
The light bearing and small berry size are not critical to the home gardener, who can grow lots of plants, as they need not consume prime garden real estate. And, as a bonus, there are yellow varieties that are invariably reported as virtually bird-proof (apparently the birds think them immature, owing to the color) and so require no netting. Alpines are no longer rare, and can be gotten from several places as both plants and seeds (they can be grown from seed with fair ease, unlike standard strawberries), even in both red and yellow.
At least one source remarks that most Alpine varieties taste much alike. Owing to the bird factor (birds seem to ignore non-red berries), one or another the yellow or white varieties ought to be preferred; names seen in catalogues are Pineapple Crush, Alpine Yellow, Golden Alpine, Yellow Delight,Yellow Wonder, and White Alpine (except the white, some or all of those may be the same cultivar). The White variety is said to put out runners--most Alpine types runner only feebly if at all, though occasional exceptions are reported; the plants are usually multiplied by division every year or two, though they grow readily from seed."