Backyard Urban Gardening - Grow Your Own Food: February 2015

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Growing Garlic in the Backyard is Easy

Garlic

We have been growing garlic in our backyard for 3 years. We purchased bulbs once and will never need to purchase them again. We just hold back 5 or 6 bulbs each year for replanting.

This is "Music" garlic. It's a hard neck variety and a very popular seller for growing garlic in colder climates like mine. We plant right after the first frost in the fall, mulch the bed with about 8 inches of mulch and water occasionally. It will begin to sprout when the spring temperatures rise into the 40's.

Amateur Hydroponic Tips for Deep Water Culture

1. Wash your hydroton before using it. I didn't do that in my first project and ended up with a film of clay dust throughout the water chamber in my deep water culture bins.

2. Adjust your lighting before planting. It's very difficult to make adjustments after you've planted when using deep water culture.

3. Use a commercially produced nutrient. DIY is great for most things, but why not take advantage of professional research and development to flatten the initial hydroponic learning curve?

4. Shop around for the best prices. Some hydroponic shops are "friendlier" than others and it follows that some have lower prices than the competition.

5. DIY is cheaper than paying full retail for a "kit" system. You can look around on the Internet and find several examples at inexpensive, but effective hydroponic growing systems you can assemble yourself.

6. Buy a commercial quality air pump for aerating your deep water culture beds.

7. Kick start your basement hydroponics by maintaining temperatures at optimal levels for the vegetables you're growing.