Expanding the Farmstand

This post is almost a month behind the times, but back at the start of January I expanded my Farmstand  with another two levels (out of a possible total of six). I always meant to expand it over time as I figured out how much food it produced and how much I could eat, but there was a promotion in December that resulted in me getting a free level, so I sped up the timeline a little.

Freshly (re)planted.

I also took the opportunity to harvest six of the original plants, leaving just the celery, dill, oregano, thyme, garlic chives, and scarlet cherry tomato from the first planting, which is why it looks so bare again in the above photo. (Thyme, by the way, is like a hydra; it's got dozens of stocks, and every time I cut one off two more sprout from the stump.) Adding two levels to the Farmstand actually had an interesting psychological effect. Before, it came up barely to my waist, and any tending to it required bending over. Now, the top of the highest tier comes up to about the level of my shoulders, making it much more of a peer in height and allowing me to tend to plants in the top levels while standing straight. (The extra grow light levels also light up the living room noticeably more, allowing it to stand double-duty as a floor lamp!) It's quite the change, and I'm curious to see how it'll go with the full six layers, although I'm not in a huge hurry to install them; the amount of food from four layers is pretty impressive compared to just two.

After three weeks' growth.

I took this photo last week, about three weeks since planting. While it's still slow enough to barely notice between days, I remain impressed at the speed plants grow in a hydroponic system. Double the number of plants has increased the weekly water consumption too; whereas before I only needed one trip with the 1.75 gallon watering can, this past week took two and a little bit extra!

With the extra space, I replenished a few plants that are fast becoming favorites (classic butter lettuce, lolla rossa lettuce) while taking the opportunity to try some new things. Lettuce Grow has a huge variety of seedlings available (something like 200 total, although it varies seasonally), so among other things I added a strawberry, some cauliflower and broccoli, and sage. I've discovered I quite like komatsuna for salads, which grow fast and have absolutely gigantic leaves—you can see it in the photo above in the third level, the plant directly facing the camera. (Some of those leaves are bigger than my hand!) I've also discovered I'm not a fan of arugula—unfortunate, since I planted two varieties of it (astro arugula and sylvette arugula), but that's what experimentation is for. Over time I'll figure out the plants I like and want to grow.

I probably won't expand to the final two levels for at least a few months, but come March it'll be three months since I started farming. Lettuce Grow recommends taking the Farmstand apart for a good cleaning about that often to prevent algae build-up, so it might also be a good time to harvest some plants and introduce some new seedlings. They apparently do two seasonal seedlings each month, so we'll just have to wait and see what comes out. A hui hou!