Just as last week, the eggplant is the biggest feature in the garden. It's sprouted tons of little flowers, probably 30-40 at this point. If every one of them turns into an eggplant, I'll be my own farmers' market...
Although I make no claims of being a subject expert on the topic of eggplants, here's what I've been doing. Much like the strawberries from previous batches, I do the pollenation manually. I keep a paint brush near the plants. When I see flowers, I brush the inside of them with the paint brush. Truthfully, I don't know if an eggplant needs this treatment; but I'm doing it anyway. It's always given good results with the strawberries, and I'm not enough of a botanist to question it.
Although the plants seem pretty happy, I do notice some unexpected downward curling in the leaves of the strawberries, tomatoes, and basil. I'm not sure the cause, but I'm suspecting that I haven't been adding enough of the Mag Pro supplement. I have recently changed the water, and I'm thinking that the plants were running low.
Here's this week's overview photo:
Please Note: I will *not* be writing a Hydroponics Tuesday next week. I'm going to be on vacation, and I won't be here to tend the plants. Our pet sitter Danielle will be taking care of the garden for me. I'll resume the normal schedule when I return from our trip to Orlando.
For any of you who happen to be visiting the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo, we'll be there on Saturday the 10th. If you'd like to meet up, send me an email through the site.
| Plant | Type | Status |
|---|
| #01 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 12" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #02 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 12" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #03 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 13" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #04 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 11" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #05 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 11" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #06 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 12" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #07 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 10" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #08 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 12" long (longest leaf). No burning. Looking good. |
| #09 | Alexandria Alpine Strawberries | Roughly 12" long (longest leaf). It's leaves are visibly "reaching" for the light outside the massive "eggplant canopy". It's not getting as much light as it's relatives, but it's healthy. |
| #10 | Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Heirloom Tomato | Approximately 4' long (supported by the lightstand). It's beginning to recover from it's previous rough week.
|
| #11 | Delicious Heirloom Tomato | Previously killed through personal stupidity. |
| #12 | Bambino Baby Eggplant | Monsterously large. It's at least 30 inches tall and 30 inches wide. It's supported by twine anchored to the light stand. At least 30-40 flowers visible. |
| #13 | Monet's Garden Lettuce
| Regrowing.
|
| #14 | Monet's Garden Lettuce | Regrowing. |
| #15 | Monet's Garden Lettuce | This fellow has become a bit of an experiment. Since it was the strongest of the letti, we're attempting to let it go to seed. It's starting to look more like a lettuce "vine" than a "head". |
| #16 | Monet's Garden Lettuce | Tasty. Eaten on 09/29/2007. |
| #17 | Lime Basil
| Roughly 22" tall. Several flowers are visible. Additionally, there seems to be some downward curling in some of the leaves. |
| #18 | Delicious Heirloom Tomato | Still not terribly strong, but looking better than last week. New leaves are beginning to grow.
|