February #18.1: So it begins
It’s me again. And we are so back! Again. And there is nothing wrong with the name. I want to try this new posting format: shorter, more frequent, and with semantic versioning. This way, I can keep context across multiple posts in one month, and you immediately know that the post numbered #18.2 will share context with #18.1. For example! And that’s it. That’s the whole explanation. Let’s move on.
Stuff happened in the past couple of months, and I will be a little bit personal here. I am currently in the process of acquiring private property. At least I am trying to, but this time it’s in a very advanced state. In recent years, I have been trying to buy a house. A small house with enough square meters of garden to do my stuff. I failed miserably multiple times, and it’s entirely my fault. I should have started investing in technology stocks approximately 33 years ago, in the second trimester.
Jokes aside, it’s not a house, it’s a flat. But with one very important detail. This flat is about twenty meters away from my garden. And the building itself has a large garden that’s mostly unused, and I sure have some plans for my neighbors in mind.
Speaking of plans in mind, time to get cooking!
the winter situation 2
In the last update, I described the upgrades and modifications I made to the HydroBROR. A growbox built from the IKEA BROR shelving unit. You can read more about this here:
Jakub Dušek
Jakub Dušek
Besides the HydroBROR, I also set up the LIXHULT with bell peppers, and I threw in some leftover tomatoes because why not. And do I have some results!
First of all, let me tell you that the upgrades I did to the HydroBROR worked. The temperature and humidity were much more stable, and the plants loved it. Because of the even air exchange, the humid and hot spots disappeared, and the growth of all plants was consistent.
The tomatoes were sown in early October, and on the 13th of December, I had my first ripe tomato. By Christmas, I was harvesting handfuls of tomatoes every other day.
But it wasn’t all perfect. I discovered pretty early that mixing Micro-Tom and Venus in one pot is not a very optimal setup. The Micro-Tom is a lab rat of a tomato. It’s resilient and hungry. I always run these at a higher EC, around 1.8. But Venus is a regular dwarf tomato for your balcony. And it doesn’t like high EC. It prefers to run at 1.3–1.6. So I had to make a choice. Run it high in favor of Micro-Tom, or run it low, have great yellow Venuses and subpar Micro-Tom. I chose the latter.
Harvest from one bucket
I had my last harvest in mid-January, but at that time, I already had seedlings for a second run, this time, Venuses only. I figured there might be just enough days for them to produce without colliding with the pepper season.
Speaking of peppers, the bell peppers loved it in the LIXHULT. It’s fair to say I had more success with my bell peppers in the LIXHULT than with bell peppers in my greenhouse. One of the plants turned out to be a jalapeño, actually.
Despite the peppers doing great the whole time, I can’t recommend them for such a small system, and I won’t be growing them in a space like this again. And the only reason is the price-to-performance ratio. While my tomatoes produced a lot of fruit, both peppers produced four at best. And that’s simply not good enough.
the preparation
One of the goals for this year is to finally conclude the “incident” and fix the soil. I added dolomitic lime to my greenhouse last year, and it’s time to check it. To measure the pH of the soil, I followed a simple protocol:
- Collect samples from multiple spots and mix well
- Adjust the water to pH 6.8
- Mix 100 ml of water with 250 g of soil
- Strain the liquid
- Measure pH
Simple. It should give me some space for error. And I measured 7.3 in my greenhouse. Not going to lie, I was kind of expecting this. I didn’t mix the soil properly in November, and it was sitting all winter, almost dry. The dolomitic lime needs moisture and bacterial life to properly buffer and sink deeper. The results tell me that I have to mix the soil and moisten it properly.
Snow is a great way how to get water into greenhouse | Burning sulfur wicks to disinfect the hell out of the air and glass.
Until that’s fully sorted out, I can at least put some radishes in there. And spinach. And some brassicas. The greenhouse would otherwise sit mostly empty until May. And that’s like 70 days away. Planting some early crops will also help identify soil issues early.
the hot stuff
I love seed packs. I like to organize my seed packs, collect new varieties, and grow them. In the past, I was trying to grow as few hybrids as possible. Don’t get me wrong, everyone should grow non-hybrid varieties, but often growing non-hybrids is like hard mode, and for once, I don’t want to play hard mode with every single plant I grow. I ordered a bunch of seeds from the SEMO supplier, a large name here in the Czech Republic.
I ordered mostly cucumbers, carrots, and kohlrabi because it’s really hard to collect seeds from all of them. From my favorite tomato seed supplier, permaseminka.cz, I ordered a few packs of Sunviva, and that’s it. I actually got an excessive amount of tomato seeds from my lovely girlfriend for my birthday. She was probably saying something nice, too, but I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of sixteen different varieties. Sixteen! So I don’t need more tomato seeds this year.
What I do need, though, are peppers. I decided that this year I will grow mostly Capsicum annuum. The only exception is the Habanero Orange, which I sowed at the end of January.
I plan to grow three varieties of bell peppers, cayenne, and some jalapeños. These I plan to sow around now, mid-February, as they grow a little faster, and I think they don’t like being inside as long as the habaneros do.
And that’s it! I hope it’s more digestible in this compact form and it doesn’t feel “off.” I have some big plans for this season. I want to replace the shed's facade with fresh decking, finally fix the leaking roof, grow most of my cucumbers hydroponically, and rotate as many crops as possible. I have high hopes for the weather this year. So let’s see how it’s going to end up once again!
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