The first time you walk into a hydroponic store there can be a little sticker shock. At first it doesn’t look too bad, $14 for this bottle…oh wait I have to buy these three as well and you leave the store paying $80 to grow some basil and lettuce. Being cheap I like to know how much I will be spending on a hobby before I start out so…
With the exception of some of my acid loving plants and flowers I normally do not have to worry much about the pH of my soil. This is because I have amended my gardens with nutrient rich soils in raised beds over my alkaline clay I get naturally in my area. This and the fact that due to natural and manmade causes the rainfall is slightly acidic and given…
Maybe not the most hygienic solution but definitely cheap, innovative, and low maintenance. I’ll stick to my ebb and flow design, but thought I would share for those feeling adventurous.
As you may be able to tell I have been doing a little work on the site. I finally got around to moving from Blogger to WordPress, I never had any real problems with Blogger, I just have a few things I want to do with the site that requires me to self-host and WordPress was the way to go. I am still doing some clean up so please…
Though not my first hydroponic system this is is definitely a little more complicated than my last attempt of an fogger system created last year. This time I decided to go with an Ebb and Flow system, where the concept it pretty simple, flood the planting area with water nutrients and let it drain, wait a defined amount of time and then repeat. For this build I had a…
Just a friendly reminder to pick up some discounted LED or non-LED Christmas lights for some of my previous projects Christmas LED Grow Box Basically take a old Rubbermaid container and drill some holes and insert lights and you have your own Christmas light LED grow box. This worked great last year to hold my seedlings until they were ready to move into the bigger grow box in the…
Cilantro (at least that is what we call the plant in the United States) and the seed coriander as it is know to the rest of the world is the first plant I ever collected seeds from. What I like about cilantro/coriander is that its flowers actually grow great and the bees seem to like them. As an added bonus the collection of seeds really couldn’t be easier. Like…
Harvesting radish seeds is a little more labor intensive than some other seeds but still pretty easy to accumulate a decent number of seeds in a short period of time. If you let your radishes be they will grow little flowers and pods like you see below. I like to let mother nature take care of this process as long as possible pulling them only after temperatures start to…
Ok there is a little catch, you have to plant the seeds and grow the produce yourself and have perfect weather and unlimited space to do it. Over the past season I have intentionally harvested more seeds than I needed just for the purpose of sharing them so here is your first chance to get some of CVG’s seed stash. This should be a good addition to your current…
Using the “CVG’s Contest Winner Pickorama” it has determined that =*N*= is the winner of their choice of an earth friendly product from EcoSmart. Please contact my using the link in the header with the product you want and you contact information and I will pass the info to EcoSmart. Thanks for everyone that entered and for those who didn’t win check in the next couple hours for another…
I believe Plato was credited with the quote, “Necessity, who is the mother of invention.” As the Cheap Vegetable Gardener I prefer, “Laziness, who is the mother of invention.” With laziness and some boredom on the bus while riding to work with my laptop this motivated me to create “CVG’s Contest Winner Pickorama.” Basically I pass in the comment RSS feed and it extracts any duplicates (or my name…
One of the major disadvantages to growing plants indoors is the lack of beneficial insects. In a larger environment like a greenhouse you could release some ladybugs to initiate an aphid slaughter though the thought of 1500+ ladybugs investing my garage where my grow box resides does not seem like a good idea. I am always open to trying out new products so when EcoSmart contacted me if I…