A new grow bed!

Hi all,

Between rain I am still battling the grass in the front garden but the last few days I have been working on the hydroponics.  Before we can go to aquaponics we have to have grow beds up and running to help filter the water so yesterday I got started with the boxes and bell siphons. Then was stupid and put pearlite in... which was full of teeny tiny particles that messed everything up!  So today I cleaned it alllll  out, glued the siphons together and put expanded clay into one of the boxes (the last of my expanded clay).

So watercress has now been added!  A very nutritious addition to our diet and it will filter out solids from our system with its roots as a bonus.  My NFT plants are growing great guns... I can hardly believe that they have only been in just over a week!

Above were at planting... on the 14th of May.  Below are the same plants today!

 Today I think it is safe to say the Rainbow Chard (left) has doubled in size along with the Kale (Middle Red cups)!  The chives have definitely lengthened - hopefully they will the pots a bit too (Middle Blue).  The Rocket for Chris is going well like a rocket! (right)

 The Thyme is growing... it will benefits from some sun so it isn't quite so leggy!  The Oregano is bushing out.. hard to believe it has only been a week and a half!  The strawberries I am going to need a ladder to get to lol but at least Miss Balla Balla (our resident strawberry thief) wont be able to get to them first - the neighbours might though! ;-)

The basil has definitely doubled in size!  Before we went away the basil we had growing in this system was giving us a whole colander full every week and we could have still harvested more!  The chives will be a lovely addition to my salads some time soon :-)

Thanks for visiting!

*hugs* Sarah