Gardening the Garden

Question:

Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller      N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

Hello, Check out the book "Four Season Gardening" by Eliot Coleman.  He lists all the different kinds of greens you can grow and enjoy year round.  He lives in Maine and harvests garden greens all winter outside, in coldframes covered with a hoop house.  It really is possible.   Liz – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller      N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

One should be prudent about making inquiries concerning grow lights, etc. Asking the wrong person could initiate more hassle than it’s worth.   – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller      N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

How will you run your grow lights.If by generator-do you have sufficient fuel?

Response:

You might consider sprouts as an alternative to lettuce. Most are ready to eat within 3 days and do not require grow lights or inordinate amounts of water which may be in short supply. There are may kinds besides alfalfa. I personally like broccoli, cabbage, radish, wheat and onion sprouts.  Very tasty. Oh and my favorite of all is sunflower seeds sprouted until just the little root tails are growing but before the leaves turn green. Sprouting multiplies the nutrient value many times over but does reduce the number of calories you get from the seed. You can let them grow just a bit longer for a tasty green to use as salad replacement. E. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

Forgive me, but what is the Y2K thing that’s going to hit us so bad that we end up staying home and grow our own veggies? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller  N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

This site gives you free plans for hydroponics, one of which is listed as the method of choice for growing "Bibb" type (loose leaf) lettuce. http://www.simplyhydro.com/free.htm Perhaps this would help? I am still sticking with sprouts I think. This all looks very interesting and I would like to try it out but in crisis situation it would be too hard and too much time and resources to get started in hydroponics. Sprouts on the other hand I can have in 3 days, no equipment, no plans, no expertise, and I spend my time on other crucial things. E. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller  N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

I posted this message on these groups earlyer but I think there is good info here so here you go. The links here are the result of months of research (on the net) for info on growing vegetables using hydroponics.This year I tried it and it works! (check out my page!) It is easy and not expensive (if you build it yourself) and the rewards are…..tasty and very satisfying. Here is a lot of FREE information on how to do this type of gardening. (below) I have a friend, from work, who also tried this method of growing this year. He lives in an apt (upstairs) and he has a tomato plant growing in a 3 1/2 gallon plastic bucket that stretches over ten feet in each of two directions across his porch with the best tasting beef-steak tomatoes you ever have eaten! I’m talking Jersey quality here! (OK, insert your favorite state for Jersey) I don’t want to start a war  … I just want to make a point. He’s got more that he can eat so he gives some of them away at work. You don’t need high tech …indeed you can do the pool garden style in the last link below (that’s the way I’m gonna do it if the poop hit the fan come Y2K) (see ECHO) This is a well written paper on survival gardening technique that natives in the Amazon (among others) have been using. An interesting read. Print it out and save it! Try the simple bucket style described in the first link, Simply Hydro. Its free! I’m not selling anything, I am not affiliated with any of the links here. I post this here to share the results of my research with you. If this interests you…learn more and share back it with us or e-mail me direct. I am going to increase the capacity of my hydro system and build a larger greenhouse. I plan to do a step by step how to page that will be free to anyone interested. Initial plans are to build a system out of 20 ft of 6 inch PVC drain pipe at a total cost of mtrls of no more than $150.00. including the pump. The footprint should be about 10 ft x 3 ft and will have about 30 grow sites. I welcome any questions or comments. I am not an expert in hydroponics and I guess that’s my point…..you don’t have to be. I did it the first time around, had great results, and I have a brown thumb (be nice)   : ) I have been struggling with conventional gardens for years and I was about to give up…I wish I had learned of this technique best regards to all Duncan My Home Page: http://www.home.mpinet.net/dunc/ This post is a sincere attempt to share information. I am not affilliated with any of the links below. These links are the result of the hard work of others and although some of the links here are commercial in nature, I post them here because of the free information they provide. I welcome your comments!  Other sites you have found etc. Links: a great site to learn all about Hydroponic gardening go to Hydro-U and do the tutorial. (it’s free) He has some very basic plans for homemade hydroponics and making cuttings etc. Simply Hydro:  http://www.simplyhydro.com/ a superb site with free plans for building your own home hydroponics flood and drain style system from  1" PVC pipe. This fellow Floridian has a website that is over the top with information and photos of his system! He also has photos of hydroponic gardens created by others. He has parts to build your own or he’ll build one for you. Hydroponics Online:  http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/home.htm really nice free plans to make a hydroponic system at home with common materials cheapest place to buy ready made too! Gro-Tech:  http://www.ns.net/~bennu/ great prices on do it yourself stuff and hydroponic nutrients. Greenfire: http://greenfire.net/hot/ALLH.html I especially like this site! Has great prices on systems and kits or will sell parts only. KCinter: http://www.kcinter.net/~greenc/hydro.html this site has a downloadable book (cost $17.00) with everything you need to build three different kinds of hydroponic gardens and an online store with hard to find parts to help you construct yours. I bought this file and am in the process of putting a larger system together. futuregarden.com/ How To Hydroponics Site:  http://futuregarden.com/ nice site. Sherry’s Greenhouse:  http://www.sherrysgreenhouse.com/GHtomnotes.html here is a site that has information on doing hydroponics without any power! Third world, bad soil, compact gardening, or back to basics, it can be done with no power, pumps or tech so TRY IT!   ECHO:  http://www.xc.org/echo/azillus/azch17ov.htm

Response:

Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller  N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Ray Check out my page. I have built a homemade greenhouse and I started hydroponics this year with great results. I have pointers on my page to a lot of free information on how to do the hydro-thing. Also take note of this site: http://www.xc.org/echo/azillus/azch17ov.htm It is on of the best low tech ways I have seen to build survival gardens….no pumps ….no power …just food for the table without planting in the ground. It’s a long article so print it out and save it! Best of Luck Duncan

Response:

How will you run your grow lights.If by generator-do you have sufficient fuel?

Grow Lights??? I used hydroponics to grow vegetable plants without any grow lights. The set up was outside (here in FL.) but could have been in a greenhouse and a pot belly stove to heat it. Hydroponics do not have to be under grow lights inside. The sun works just fine, unless of course it goes out because of one of its computers locks up Big Dave

Response:

I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Start by contacting your county cooperative extension office for information. To my knowledge, you need good light for hydroponic gardening.  If your set up is in the basement – and there is no power (except what you can produce on your own) – you will not have enough light. And the success of this project will depend greatly on where you live, If power is a problem, it will not only be light but also heat to be supplied. JonquilJan

Response:

I have a info file in my archive. E-mail and remind me and I will send it to you in a reply. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello All! I have nearly all the preperations needed for the possibility of Y2K. My family and I wish to live though, not just exist. Each human being has certain foods they crave. My better half is a lover of salads. We have most bases covered except lettuce. I came up with the idea of a hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned plant the seed in the ground type. I would like to solicit the assistance of any and all who are in the know on this subject. If the Y2K thing hits, families are going to be spending a lot of time together and happy bellys go a long way towards making all that togetherness much more harmonious. Best wishes and thanks in advance, Ray Miller      N2NJK (Amateur Radio)

Response:

says… hydroponic lettuce garden in the basement. Of course the one catch is that I know less about this form of gardening than the old fashioned

Here you go. This is where I got started. Have fun! http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/ —      ICQ 44360431 Public PGP Key upon request

Response:

Hi all:  We use 3 1000 watt lamps in our Hydroponics garden and have built our own power plant to supply the lamps,  we run the power plant on Hydrogen. to see what were doing check out our MORE ABOUT POWER page at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/1216/index.html Henry Independent Urban Dwellers http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/1216/gate3.html

Response:

Hi all,  I have some good Hydroponics info at my site,  just check out my MORE ABOUT FOOD page and my SPECIAL LINKS page, you can find them at the home of The Independent Urban Dwellers http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/1216/index.html Henry Independent Urban Dwellers http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/1216/gate3.html

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