Salads!

My herbs (some of them)

I am getting a ridiculous amount of pleasure playing with my indoor plants, especially the hydroponic salad garden. I started up in early December, and I've got lettuce enough to keep me in a daily salad. In about a month, I'm going to have a deluge of cherry tomatoes (god willing and the creek don't rise). I don't know that a million cherry tomatoes is ever needed, but I can always cook them down into a quick sauce, since I also am drowning in basil (with sides of oregano, thyme and dill). 

They do require tending, however, it's not just set and forget. The plants in the countertop units need water and liquid nutrients, and the lights on the front of the units helpfully signal when to take care of that. The lights and the water pumps are on automatic timers, and once you've told it when to turn on in the morning (I have them come on at about sunrise) then they are set. But the roots get tangled in the filter and pumps, and regular harvesting is necessary once they get to a certain size.

Seven tomato plants, blooming under my own lights.
That's an old car windshield-screen, reflecting back

The jars need refilling with nutrient-rich mixture, every few days. It's kind of a production, getting my used jugs (picked from the neighbors' recycling boxes) and measuring and mixing the solution, checking each jar, and taking off the lids and topping them off properly. And I had to set the place up, with adjustable shelves to keep the jars the right distance from the lights, and putting my own grow lights on a (simple mechanical) timer.

The big basement unit is smarter than the countertop units and talks to an app on my phone to remind me to top off the water and nutrients. But it also requires maintenance, and I've run into a couple of problems with roots jamming the sensors. 

Blooms and babies!

But spending time tending my salad gardens makes me happy!

Today's lunch
No slugs or bugs!

 

Mostly lettuce in one half of the basement farm
Different colors and shapes and tastes