This is the first post I'm doing from the PC as I wanted to load multiple pictures to explain my progress so far. As you can see still a work in progress. The fish tank on the right is still being used as a plant nursery with a thin layer of gravel/old fish tank water that the roots of the plants are sucking up (this means I don't have to water them)
This is just some of the seedlings I have. These ones only Germinated when I put them in the fish tank they had been planted about 2 month ago and I was losing hope they would ever sprout but as soon as I put them here well there you go...
These lights are meant for aquarium plant growth, I'm not sure if they will suit for a whole growing season but the plants in the right fish tank seem to love it. The green frame in the window was last seasons greenhouse I got from Home and bargain for £7.99 (£19.99 in B&Q) I wish I had got more as they no longer sell them.
So this is the tank on the left, I haven't filled it yet so if I need to move it or make changes I still can. I was really keen to get going with this hopefully to have a few plants up and running by the new year so I've filled a bucket, which is an old flower bucket from lidl costing £0.00, (I went in and asked for one I now have about 15 of them!) with water.
This is the growing medium, expanded clay pebbles, again cheap but I will be ordering more from eBay as it is cheap ER. Just waiting until after Christmas and after the bad weather so I can actually receive what I order. The seeds, apparently, will just be placed in the pebbles and will grow from there.
I have attached some clear PVC hose to a small pump (all very cheap and/or free stuff I had lying around) and submerged it in the bucket.
The pots were bought by Mrs C. from Ikea as she thought they may be useful for another Ikea system we have which is an office type thing and the pots would normally house pens. I noticed the holes in the bottom and thought these will be perfect! they have a small hook on the back that hangs perfectly on the fish tank. I have placed a thin sponge on the bottom to catch solids and help filter the water before it falls into the fish tank again.
The light fixing was a cheap one I bought a while ago that I had planned on using in a storage cupboard, I replaced the standard florescent tube with one from a fishery specifically for plant growth.
I have hung the light with cable ties (for now) as I can tighten them to raise the light when plants grow.
Here are some seeds I have had on a damp bit of kitchen roll. I have mixed salad and lettuce that have already started sprouting. When they are a bit bigger ill just put them into the pots and weed out the weaker ones.
This is an optimistic attempt at growing things a bit more exotic. The black seeds are from a passion fruit and have been there for a couple of weeks to no prevail. The light ones are from a cantaloupe!
as you can see they have germinated!
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