Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 18 Entries. Sunday, February 11 View Page Fall/Winter Amendments for 4,000 sqft patch 15 yards of Garden Soil (1/3 topsoil + 1/3 Compost + 1/6 Manure + 1/6 Sand) 2 yards of “Elm Dirt” spent materials (1/3 Kelp + 1/3 Worms castings + 1/3 Misc) Ripped in with 14” Depth Subsoiler then 2 yards of Alfalfa Hay (8 small bales) used as winter cover Soil Profile is good soil down to 12”, then decent 12” to 18” W/Med rocks and mostly clay, then Clay/Rocks(Limestone)below 18”.   Sunday, February 11 View Page Trying to leverage more bacteria/fungi solutions in the garden this year and worried about Chloramine in my tap water. I use tap water for irrigation(drip/misters) and spent some time testing different chloramine filtering solutions. Still going up the learning curve, but here's some of the data. I also plan to use acid(asorbic, maybe Humic) as a chemical remedy b/c the tap water also has a high pH (~8.5)   Friday, March 1 View Page Trying to get end result of pH of ~6 and 0ppm of Chloramine, starting with my tap water (9.4pH/3ppm). I'm looking around $1.00/100gal at this point...   Wednesday, March 6 View Page Johnny’s Spring Green Manure (Peas/Oats/H Vetch) with Exceed inoculant ~4lbs/1000 sqft planted with push seeder into the lightly/recently tilled. Also broadcast 5lbs/1000sqft of sulfur.   Wednesday, March 13 View Page Haney Soil Health Analysis. Still learning what the variables are/mean. Looks like I need to add a little Zinc, and find a way to increase WEON to get my Haney C:N to drop to ~12. Maybe my cover cop will help with that. The SHC(Soil Health Calc) is above 30...so I'll take that as a win   Friday, March 15 View Page Got the control panel set up for all the sensors and equipment(heaters, fans, valves) Using an IoT integrator called Home Assistant, it allows all the data feeds to go to one place…and all the equipment to be controlled from a common dashboard. It also allows automation/scripting…like when temp drops to 45…kick on the heaters.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page Seed starting mix for this year.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page Going with eight ~1000sqft plots/plants this year. Here’s the line-up.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page Mixed a tsp of the following into a zip-lock bag and coated each seed after soaking for 3hrs.   Sunday, March 31 View Page Didn’t have time to get a weed fabric approach worked out, so it’s time to sharpen the weed weapons.   Thursday, April 4 View Page “Feed the soil, feed the plant” strategy is off to a rough start. Cocktail of fungi/bacteria I caked onto seeds…not the right mix. 1/2 germinated, only 4 of 16 plants came out looking normal. Started backup batch without cocktail, and their ~5 days behind initial batch. Going to remove bacteria from next try at cocktail seed inoculation.   Thursday, April 4 View Page Hail event from last year. Shade cloth did an okay job, and no long term damage   Monday, April 8 View Page 6 plants in last Monday…into 3 mini hoop houses. Next batch (5 more hoop house )will likely get planted this Mon/Tues pending weather. 2239.5 Marintzer, 2424 Casper, 1904 Sperry, 2054 Strickler are the strongest out of the gate.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Still working on the biological approach, brew foamed up after adding some Biomin Zinc. I’ll be using a 4 gal backpack sprayer to apply to garden.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Compost brew at day 4 @ 70F with bubbler, I think the jointed lines are bacteria splitting(?)   Saturday, April 13 View Page Rachio and LinkTap for irrigation, EcoWitt for sensors, Arlo for cameras, Kasa for smart plugs, and Home Assistant for integration. Everything is up and running, but still needs work..ie…fans aren’t moving enough air/etc.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Plants on the top seem to have an initial lead after 10 days. All else being equal, the bigger plants got: 1/2 Promix and 1/2 potting mix/w compost vs just Promix So: So I have it written somewhere: Soil mix noted above + 1 cup of Myco + 1/4 cup of Azos Seed soak(4hr) with rain water diluted Elm Dirt PJ + HuFu Acid + Rootshield+ Piranha…soaking cup liquid poured into 1gal container w/seed Heat Mat at 88 with 9in domes and 4 containers per 1020 tray 300-400 PPFD…lights about 6-8 in above plant Watered lightly w/rain water + 500PPM of 21-7-7   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Latest dashboard…added camera feeds