Today my dad and I went out and planted about 20 potatoes. They came from a local friend who owns about 100 acres in Sauqouit. He even gave me a few of those funny blue/purple potatoes. I am excited to try them come harvest time. It was really nice getting outside and working in the garden, especially with my own father. We have a long history of farmers in our genes.

Anyway, the rest of the seeds will be going in the ground soon. The last frost date is around June 1 here.

Earlier today I moved the chicks into the now complete coop. I put an 8×6 piece of laminate flooring down underneath the wood shavings, as I figured this would protect the wood from any spills/moisture and would be a worthwhile investment in the long run. I still have a heat lamp on the chicks as it has been rather chilly here lately and is dipping down into the low 40’s at night.

Down the road I plan on installing a small window in the coop, that way they can catch a nice summer breeze (also prevent ammonia build up, dust, etc) and get some natural sunlight in there. It will also save on electricity costs.

Well, the baby chicks arrived on Tuesday, the 28th of last month. This is a very exciting day, but also very nerveracking. I had a brooder prepared ahead of time, and that is the most important thing of all.

The two golden birds are Buff Orpingtons, and the reddis brown are Rhode Island Red. I ordered them from MyPetChicken.com, and were actually shipped from McMurray Hatchery in Ohio. I had them sexed and vaccinated for Marek’s disease.

I also rented the Toro Dingo again to cultivate the garden. It is such a fantastic machine to use, and does such incredible work. It’s great for small applications such as this, where tractors would simply be too big.

The chicken coop is also finished. I just need to put some laminate down on the floor to protect it from moisture, and put a latch on the door. I also also be adding a little window soon.

Here is how things currently are currently looking inside the Humidity Dome…

The rate at which plants grow is just astonishing to me. It was only five days ago that I planted the vegetable/herb seeds, and already some are sprouting. The first to break soil were the radishes. The Jiffy starter tray is working perfectly, provided I keep an eye on the temps and make sure the seeds are not baking!

A few other seeds have just barely broken the soil, but I have yet to identify them. I’ll post pictures when they are a little more mature and recognizable…

The Jalapeños have finally sprouted. Just like the tomatoes, there are three of them. I think I am going to snip the two that do not yet have leaves, and save the one that matured the fastest.

I am noticing tremendous growth with the tomatoes. It is impressive! I love how easy and low-maintenance the Aerogarden makings growing vegetables. I refill the water when it is low, add nutrients when they need them, and then I can forget about them! (Not that I want to, I just sometimes do!)

Last night I went through the painstaking process of planting 72 seeds in a Jiffy seed starter tray. The seeds included:

• Tomato
• Cherry Tomato
• Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Carrots
• Butter Crunch Lettuce
• “Salad Bowl” Lettuce
• Ruby Lettuce
• Spinach
• Cabbage
• Green Beans
• Beets
• Radish
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Cilatro
• Basil
• Corn

Tomorrow I will plant the second set of seeds (Another 72, for a total of 144). For now they are sitting in the window of our sun porch, but I am contemplating putting them under some CFLs so the light is not as intense. Using artificial lighting is a technique featured on Tiny Farm Blog.

You can be sure there will be photos once they all break the soil!

Roughly 11 days after the seeds were planted in the AeroGarden, the first “real” set of leaves have appeared. The first set of leaves to appear are often considered “starter leaves” that are just to get to plant going.

I also noticed that the Jalapeño is finally opening up, and leaves should sprout in a few days! Exciting.

Also, I added a new page to the site which features a calendar powered by Google. Here you can track the progress of the plants. Here is a link: http://blog.zenpastures.com/aerogarden-schedule/.

Just like the AeroGarden instructions said, the tomatoes were first to sprout. The estimated sprouting time for the tomatoes was 4-7 days and 8-14 for the jalapenos. The jalapenos have yet to sprout.

Each seed pod contains 3 seeds, so the weakest looking sprouts will have to be snipped. I asked the members on AeroGarden Growers (a fantastic community, by the way) what the yellowing of the leaves was from, and one member suggested chlorosis. I don’t think that’s what it is, but regardless, those ones are getting snipped.

My dad gave me his spare AeroGarden that he wasn’t using, so I decided to give it a whirl! I have heard a lot of good things about the AeroGarden units. I picked up the Salsa Garden Mix from the local hydroponics shop, and have had the machine running for a little over a week now.

The “garden” consists of two Red Heirloom tomato plants and one Mini Jalapeño plant. Come harvest time, these will be used to make my own salsa! The lighting consists of two low-wattage CFLs, nothing fancy. The lights are on a 16/8 schedule, no way to control that. Here are some pictures from the initial set up: