34\u00a0 bar rises 29.50 3mph NNW dewpoint 31\u00a0 Spring<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First Quarter Moon of Growing<\/p>\n
The calendar says spring; the snow says not yet.\u00a0 It’s all moisture, though, and if it doesn’t run away to rivers and streams, some of this goes to recharge ground water and aquifers.\u00a0 A good thing whether it comes chilled or just wet.<\/p>\n
Last night it looked the drive in to the MIA this morning would be a nightmare.\u00a0 Predictions of 1 foot snow depths and high winds could have lead to blizzard conditions.\u00a0 The temperatures never dropped far enough.\u00a0 So, instead of a foot of snow we got about 3 inches of slush, suitable for snow cones if not so oil impregnated.\u00a0 The drive in was uneventful.<\/p>\n
Sachei Makabe brought her kids from Robbinsdale.\u00a0 Marilyn Smith and I divided them up and took them through Weber.\u00a0 Each one of the Japanese language classes I’ve taken through have been attentive, observant and interested.\u00a0 Can’t ask for more than that.\u00a0 The diversity in the classes surprise me.\u00a0 There seem to be far more Asian, Latino and African American students than Caucasian.\u00a0 This speaks well for the schools and the students but only reinforces the dismal record us white folks have with learning a second language.\u00a0 I’m one of those who never learned.\u00a0 Shame on me.<\/p>\n
Came home.\u00a0 Kate had a great lunch made with fish, green beans and acorn squash.\u00a0 I added a salad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the nap I got out the books and handouts for the hydroponics and got started.\u00a0 The meter I got a couple of weeks ago I handed over to Kate because it required precision and a chemistry background, neither one of which characterizes me.\u00a0 It will help us quickly diagnose problems and repair them.\u00a0 It measures ph, temperature and conductivity.\u00a0 All of these measures have to do with the uptake of nutrients, though I don’t understand the relationships by any means at this point.<\/p>\n
The lettuce seedlings that I started a few weeks ago have started to push roots through the rock wool medium.\u00a0 This signals the time to transplant them to the hydroponics.\u00a0 Each planter in the smaller hydroponic system (We have two.) has round lava rocks which hold moisture, but do not interfere with the plants root system reaching the nutrient bath in the reservoir below the planters.\u00a0 It took 3 gallons of nutrient solution to fill the reservoir to the 2 1\/2″ depth recommended.<\/p>\n
The nutrient goes into the reservoir through the planters.\u00a0 This charges the lava rocks.\u00a0 Then I got a pair of forceps (Adson’s, Kate says.) and plucked the rock well medium out of the seedling beds one at a time.\u00a0 With a soup ladel I scooped lava rocks out and let them sit in the left over nutrient solution while I positioned the small cube of rock wool and its single lettuce plant.\u00a0 When I had it where I wanted, one per planter, I scooped the lava rocks around the cube.\u00a0 Planted.\u00a0 It’s a strange process compared to gardening directly in mother earth, but it’s fun, too.<\/p>\n
After the nutrient solution was in the reservoir, a plastic tub in essence, I plugged the pump into the black tubing that leads inside the reservoir to a plastic tube with two airstones.\u00a0 Airstones are permeable and the bubbling of oxygen through them creates a nutrient rich mist that reaches the bottom of the planters.\u00a0 The roots of the lettuce seedlings will head down, through the lava rock to the mist.<\/p>\n
With the small pump sighing the only thing left was to switch on the Halide light.\u00a0 It’s a big thing, 250 watts, with a ballast that feels like a large rock \u00a0in weight.\u00a0 It now glows about 22 inches above the seedlings.\u00a0\u00a0 The distance is necessary while the seedlings are still\u00a0 young and fragile.\u00a0 After they become well rooted and mature, I’ll move the lamp down to 6 to 12 inches above them.\u00a0 It will be on roughly 16 hours a day.<\/p>\n
We’ve begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
34\u00a0 bar rises 29.50 3mph NNW dewpoint 31\u00a0 Spring \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First Quarter Moon of Growing The calendar says spring; the snow says not yet.\u00a0 It’s all moisture, though, and if it doesn’t run away to rivers and streams, some of this goes to recharge ground water and aquifers.\u00a0 A good thing whether it comes chilled … Continue reading The Hydroponics Are On<\/span>