ON the dining table, or next to the dining table? Looking at the trays, you'd have to have one huge dining table! LOL

What all are you growing there?

Wow! You really exceeded expectations with that. I think I'm going to have to build a new house with a sun room or greenhouse one of these days. I miss having my own fruit and vegetables.

What a fabulous idea :).

Beautiful and healthy plants!

I think you may be referring to this post...HERE

I'd rather be more encouraging than show boating a massive grow light or large greenhouse/sunroom.

The 'concrete jungle' you refer to in the WallStreet area has many herb, salad, and dwarf tomato growers. (I have many friends in the area and all over NYC in tiny apartments growing salads, herbs and tomatoes)

Impressive indeed! But not in that abundance for even two people. Our choice is meaty greens 7-10 days to the table. Cheap 15dollar Ikea LED. Small pantry shelf. Two shelves if I need to grow more for a holiday.

Daily salads for the two of us, deck party cut-your own for a party.

(I do have a large growing room downstairs. Five shelf light banks. No need most of the year). My micro tomatoes will move down there soon.

One way I find gratifying happiness is to get my fingers dirty growing my own food when and where possible.

that'd be me also - years ago. I'd still like to grow things - but most everything I plant dies. my water isn't good here and it'd probably contaminate the food product anyway. maybe that's why trees and bushes have died.

Beautiful! I've been thinking about doing the same, but haven't acted on it. I just seem to let too many other things get in the way.

Madonna

Thank you everyone for your great comments.

nancyjane_gardener

ON the dining table, or next to the dining table? Looking at the trays, you'd have to have one huge dining table! LOL

I do have a long dinning table, long enough for ten to 12. But mostly I also have a 4- tier wire shelving which I put next to the dinning table for additional space for the planters.

"beesneeds What all are you growing there?"

Arugula, many kinds of lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, bok choy, mustard green, ------.

adellabedella_usaWow! You really exceeded expectations with that. I think I'm going to have to build a new house with a sun room or greenhouse one of these days.

Or you can do what I do, use LED lights.

desertsteph

that'd be me also - years ago. I'd still like to grow things - but most everything I plant dies. my water isn't good here ---

I like using rain water in the summer. I have 12 barrels. Things seems to grow much better without chlorine.

bcskye

Beautiful! I've been thinking about doing the same, but haven't acted on it. I just seem to let too many other things get in the way.

Madonna

I used to grow microgreens, but that turned out to be too much work for me. So, lazy me just grow vegetables for salads and cooking. Seed, water, and eat.

sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)

I'd rather be more encouraging than show boating a massive grow light or large greenhouse/sunroom.

To grow what I grow 10w, 20w Ikea LED is not going to work. I also want to let people know COB high power LED is very good for growing. COB LEDs can be connected direct to 110vac, no more need for sophisticated driver electronics. They are very cheap. One 150W LED can be had for $10. If you can do very simple soldering, you can make high power grow lights. I have four 300W COB LED lights. It’s like I have my own sun.

The 'concrete jungle' you refer to in the WallStreet area has many herb, salad, and dwarf tomato growers. (I have many friends in the area and all over NYC in tiny apartments growing salads, herbs and tomatoes)

I am sure you are right. I just haven’t come across many. I don’t even see any plants on people’s balconies. I was in a friend’s waterfront apartment, at the United Nations Plaza, where Johnny Carson had an apartment also. Large picture windows, nothing growing there.

----- Daily salads for the two of us, deck party cut-your own for a party.

(I do have a large growing room downstairs. Five shelf light banks. No need most of the year). My micro tomatoes will move down there soon. ----

You have the most impressive growing system, and you have the most beautiful harvest to justify you efforts. Thanks for sharing.

dcarch

Never forget that a plant is only as healthy as the soil it is grown in. Your planters are very nice.

I tried that last year. I have a huge house, tons of windows and natural light. I ended up with tons of gnats. How do you keep the gnats down without adding chemicals? Help!

jemdandy - Never forget that a plant is only as healthy as the soil it is grown in. Your planters are very nice.

So true. It takes a few years to have good soil. My soil is basically compost.

nicole___ ----. How do you keep the gnats down without adding chemicals? Help!

Two things I do. I actually microwave my soil before planting to kill off any insect eggs. If gnats happen, I use neem oil (organic).

Jasdip, Thank you. Yes, I feel lucky to have this option. What is this nonsense about "Farm-to-table"? Not good enough for me. I want "Farm-To-Mouth!" LOL!

I'm available for dinner :-) - You are lucky I am not Hannibal Lecter, LOL!

dcarch

I really should try growing some microgreens in the winter. I have 18 plants of 5 varieties of indoor lettuce growing under my lights but it will be a couple more weeks before they will be ready for the first harvest. After that I can get a few salads a week from them for a couple months.

This site has a variety of seeds by the pound at very good prices:

https://toddsseeds.com/

^Great prices though shipping is steep.

And hey, I want my own sun!...I do have a decent set-up downstairs and lots of room. I could always use some more light power. Micro tomatoes are just 3 inches now. I'll look into your LEDs.

My point was...I really don't need that much greenery. Fast growers, 7-10 days, take up much less space for city growers or those without much time/space. Most salads take 3-6 weeks as well as herbs.

A nine inch deep 3ft bookshelf with an inexpensive LED or a sunny south window will do. Fits 8 small trays, (lots of variety and crunch/flavor), excellent food value. And enough room to have a stack of 6-10 trays germinating...even more varieties...waiting on the side. We prefer to snip fresh but even in such small square footage I do often get ahead of myself and need to bag it for the fridge. I can sow 3-6 trays in ten minutes next to my kitchen sink with a morning cup of coffee...once a week.

I just like to encourage co-workers, friends, family, all ages, that not much is needed for fresh greens 365 days. Your success is impressive as I said, but intimidating to most.

Fungus gnats and aphids are inevitable. Some years no problem but they get inside many ways. I know what to look for as infestation happens fast. So we have to act fast. White oil, neem, a spray of water in the sink gets most of the aphids...then JMS stylet oil,(organic)...dilute peroxide soil drench... lots of choices. I do bake my soil. Even so called 'clean' seed starting mix can come with issues.

What Sleeve said just reminded me........stay away from Miracle Gro. That brand is often loaded with gnats and eggs.

When I said "grazing" actually literally it's true. The planters with such tender lush green lettuce, everyone passing by just can't resist snacking whenever they walk by.

A few random thoughts for those of you who are interested:

1. the planters I use measure 15" x 23" plastic clear storage bins. Make sure the cover is also clear. This makes it great to keep moisture for seed starting. This size is heavy when filled with soil, but manageable for moving around even up and down stairs. Make sure the bins you use would not be too heavy.

2. Because I try to use less soil to keep weight down, so I do have to use fertilizer. I use a funnel to water fertilizer to the soil. Fertilizers are good for the plants, but I am not sure they are good for people to ingest. I don't want fertilizer on leaves.

3. The very powerful LED light spills into living area. I don't care if you have S.A.D. condition or not, good lighting indoors in winter is always good for health for plants as well as for humans.

Happy Holidays!

dcarch

sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA) ------ I just like to encourage co-workers, friends, family, all ages, that not much is needed for fresh greens 365 days. Your success is impressive as I said, but intimidating to most.

Just want to comment on that.

Very true that what I post can be too technical and not very interesting for many here.

Many of you here remember, I start posting about sous vide cooking on this Forum way before any sous vide cooking appliance were being made. Not all the responses were positive about my posts on DIY sous vide cooking.

I believe that the time for indoor growing is almost here, whether you are growing salad greens or more recreational stuff. The legalization of recreational vegetation will be common place, and that will drive LED technology even more advanced and economical.

As I said, $10 for a 150W COB LED chip is not beyond everyone's means, and the chip can be powered directly by 110VAC can be dealt with without an engineer's training.

I like sushi. Just had Sushi for dinner. Sushi is incomplete nutritionally, Just starch and protein. But having sushi while grazing on fresh salad greens right on the table is something else.

Happy Holidays to all.

dcarch

What I said. You are not 'weird' or innovative. Your methods are not new...you learned from others as I did.

All of this existed many years ago. We now have what we want/need easily. LED, cheaper, SousVide less than massive DIY...good stuff. Available simple and cheap.

Teach. Share. We all want that.

Oh everybody let’s be kind!

D’arch - as always your ingenuity and knowledge are impressive. My favorite part of vegetable gardening is grazing. I would go right to town at your dinner table.

I currently have 5 little bowls of Microgreens coming along and a jar of sprouts. I ordered some 5 by 5 trays. I will try some more mature plants after I try a few rounds of Microgreens.

I have two windows boxes of kale and arugula on my (currently frigid) unheated porch. I grazed them all summer and fall. I intend to bring them in at some point to see what happens inside. I have at least one window sill where the ornamental plants are struggling enough to be sacrificed - perhaps. I winter over a fair number of plants so I can propagate them for my summer containers. They aren’t always the happiest houseguests.

Happy Holidays to all! And much thanks to everyone who shares their knowledge so generously.

agmss15 , thank you!

My next year's project is to use LED automobile head lights. Here is why:

LED Headlights are 12VDC, and they don't require heat sinks, very compact and bright. I will be powering them up with my solar panels charging 12v used car batteries. They would be great for your small planters and sleevendog's micro tomato project because you can highly focus them. To power them indoors, all you need is a 12vDC supply which is not expensive.

dcarch

Interesting! I miss growing things at the moment... I have grow lights and a 4 shelf set up... I never thought about growing salad greens, I've always just used them to start seeds in the spring.

I'm inspired to look into growing some salad now, seeing as I have salad for lunch almost every day, I definitely need to give this a try!

Thank you dcarch!

I potted up my 18 indoor lettuce plants to 4" pots yesterday. They are 3 weeks old now. Then I started looking through the Johnny's catalog that came Friday. Next thing I knew I was clicking 'place order' on 3 of Johnny's microgreen mixes :-) I ordered 1/4 lb. each of the Spicey mix (musterds). Rainbox Sprinkles mix (beet and chard), and Confetti mix (radishes).

I figure it will be a great addition to the lettuce. Hopefully I'll receive the order before next weekend so I can start some that will be at the true leaf stage when the lettuce is ready for the first harvest.

share_oh , LoneJack,

Being able to pick fresh salad greens right on your dinner table is an enjoyment that billionaires can’t have. As I said, “Farm-to-mouth”

dcarch