In a food proceesor blend:
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This should only be done with seedlings and young plants at the beginning of the vegetative growth stage. Older plants and plants showing buds should be left in the verdeGarden, so as to not disrupt their growing or fruiting cycle.
To do so, transfer the coco coir and plant into a clean pot with potting soil, then water. Keep the transplant slighly moist to help the roots take to their new environment.
If you want to transplant all the seedlings in a single coco coir puck then you will need to remove all but one seedling, leave the largest one in the coco coir. This is because the plants will need space for their roots to grow and seek out nutrients in soil; whereas, the indoor garden transports nutrients to the roots so they need less room. Loosen the coir by gently rolling the puck between your fingers and thumb, gently pluck out the seedlings, being careful not to damage the roots. If you do not intend to keep the removed seedlings, then you may simply trim them off at the base with clean shears.
The coco coir is great for retaining water and nutrients, which means less frequent watering and healthy plants. You can expand additional coco coir seed pucks for the removed seedlings and place one in each puck, or transfer directly into soil. Bury at a similar depth as they were before.
Each seedling can then be transplanted into its own small pot with potting soil. If you want the plant to grow larger before transplant, then remove the unwanted seedlings, leaving the largest, most viable plant in the coco coir.
a) Remove all but largest seedling and allow it to grow (another 2-3 weeks) before planting in a pot with potting soil, or
b) Loosen the coco coir and carefully remove all but the largest seedling from the coco coir, be careful to not damage the roots. Expand additional coco coir pucks (optional) in warm water, one for each seedling, and then plant each in its own pot with potting soil. Or direct sow seedlings into potting soil without the coir puck.
c) Some seedlings may not need thinning. Follow outdoor garden seed reccomendations for plant spacing.
Leave the transplants indoors for a week while the plants adapt to the soil. Place in a window with some sunlight, but not direct or too intense, while the plant adapts to its new soild environment. Keep soil moist, but do not oversaturate it.
After a week, if the plants are looking healthy you can start to harden them off by moving the pots outside during the day, and bring indoors in the evening. Some sunlight is reccomended, but not too intense as again the plants are adpating to their new outdoor environment. Bring plants indoors, especially if night time temperatures are cool/quite different from day-time temperatures.
If the plant is healthy and showing no signs of shock after hardening off, and you have progressed to it leaving outside for several nights, you can now transfer it into your outdoor veggie garden, or transplant into a larger pot.
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To get the most out of your basil here are some growing tips:
After your basil seeds have germinated select the largest seedlings by supporting them while carefully plucking out the small, less vigorous plants. It is important to do this soon after the seeds have sprouted, before the plants develop roots, so as to not damage the roots of the more viable plants. If you missed the opportunity to pluck the small plants, use clean sharp shears to trim their stem(s) off at the base. The verdeGarden delivers nutrients to your plants' roots, allowing you to have more plants in a smaller space than in a soil garden, allowing for 2-3 basil plants per pot.
Removing the less vigorous seedlings from the coco coir puck.
Basil likes to be pruned and will put on more vigourous growth with occassional trimming. Do not let your basil grow too tall, 6 inches (12cm) in height will suffice and encourages the plant to fill out and create denser growth. Frequent harvesting every 2-3 weeks also prevents flowering, which stops growth. Denser growth will allow for larger harvests, perfect for making pesto, or freezing or drying for storage. Use clean, sharp shears to trim just above a large leaf cluster approximately 6 inches up from the base. If your basil plant has flowered, snip the flowers off to prevent the leaves from turning bitter and harvest soon, or enjoy the flowers and start over with a new plant afterwards.
Harvest the pruned leaves. Smaller amounts can be used in salads, sandwiches, and fresh on pasta or pizza.
Before harvesting your plants, especially for larger quantities, run a fresh water cycle in your reservoir (no nutrients for 3-7 days). This allows the plant to use up stored minerals and improves flavour and sweetness. Some good options for larger quanitities of basil include freezing or dehydrating to store it, making pesto, or try this hummus basil recipe. Keep in mind fresh pesto will have more health benefits than dried. If you are short on time, you can chop the basil leaves into smaller pieces and add to an ice cube tray with water, freeze and use in dishes as needed.
Did you know there are over 60 varieties of basil. We use organic and heirloom seeds that we know work well in the verdeGarden; however, you can also choose to use your own seeds. Check out our seed collections here. Our favourites are:
When should you start adding nutrients to your verdeGarden reservoir? Seeds have their own nutritional reserve, so they require no additional nutrients for the first few weeks. The initial leaves on a seedling are part of the seed, called a cotyledon. Cotyledons supply nutrition to the seed to germinate and establishes the plants ability to photosynthesize.
To germinate seeds the coco coir pucks need to be moist. Fill your reservoir with 4 litres of fresh water. The indoor temperature in your house should be between 18-23 degrees Celsius (65-71 F) for optimal conditions, and a bit cooler at night. The depth of seed is important to provide the right amount of light or darkness, so follow the seed package instructions carefully. Do not add any nutrients at this time. Ensure your pump is running often enough to keep your coco coir pucks moist for the seeds to germinate.
Having four true leaves on all your plants is the minimal requirement of when to start the nutrient feed schedule. Because seeds do not germinate at the same rate, some plants may be ready, while others are not. Waiting an extra week, or two, for the slow pokes to catch up is actually a good thing for the fast sprouters. Holding off on feeding forces plants to send out roots to look for nutrients, so when the nutrients does come, they will grow that much quicker because they can uptake more effectively.
The red dots on the Genovese Basil plant above indicate the cotyledons, and the blue dots are the plants first four true leaves. At this stage, the plant is ready for nutrients. The small cotyledon circled in red should be thinned out, by carefully pulling it out, while allowing the two robust basil plants to remain.
The nutrient feed schedule provides a "weekly" guideline; however, nutrients should not be added until the reservoir is at least 3/4 empty. This will ensure the nutrients from the previous week has been absorbed by the plants before more nutrients is added. If your verdeGarden is full of seedlings it will likely take longer before your reservoir needs to be refilled, somewhere in range 9 - 14 day range, depending on indoor temperature, humidity, type and size of plants. As the plants mature, they will require more water and feed more often, so now you will be topping up your reservoir and adding nutrients about every 7 days.
A common problem inexperienced indoor growers have is the leaves on their plants browning, curling and drying up around the edges. It is important to catch nutrient burn and stop further damage because plants do not have a mechanism to stop overfeeding. Trying to force growth by over-fertilizing can cause irreparable damage. Nutrient burn on lettuce and basil. It is not too late to save these plants by reducing nutrients.
To avoid nutrient burn, ensure the reservoir is at least 3/4 empty before moving on to the next "weekly" feed schedule. You can check the level of water in the reservoir by looking in the poor spout. The pump will also get louder when there is less water, which is a good indication it is time to refill.
Yes. When you have a variety of plants at different stages, follow the nutrient requirements for the youngest plants. The more mature plants should be flushed with fresh water from time to time to ensure there is not an excess build up of pH. To improve the growth of the new plants, harvest the mature plants down in size so the seedlings have more access to light and room to grow. You can also move plants around in your verdeGarden. To do so, you may need to gently pull the roots out of the reservoir or off the back of the garden. If the roots are really long you can trim the bottom 1/3 off and compost.
Left: New seedlings with mature plants, Right: 5 Weeks Later
For more tips on growing check out the Support Tab on our home page and subscribe to our step-by-step weekly youtube videos
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We sometimes were short on food growing up, so growing a garden was a necessity. For better flavour and nutrients a gardener may spend several hundred dollars on compost, soil, and fertilizers each season. Back then we just removed the grass and sewed seeds because that's all we had and it was still far better then anything that could be bought!
Fall is a wonderful time for harvesting so much of your summer crop and the effort pays off, but there is nothing worse, for me, then having to go back to the grocery store to buy rotting, overripe, or under ripe, fruits and vegetables from far off places. Not only do they lack the flavour of my garden fresh produce, we are always left wondering about pesticides and safety, such as the numerous e.Coli outbreaks and recalls.
Once you have followed the easy to follow wall mounting template, or placed your VerdeGarden on its stand, there's not much more to do.
The self-watering garden sends nutrient water from the reservoir to your plant's roots and cascades back to the reservoir creating a recirculating system. Once you have added 4 liters of water to your reservoir you can plug your VerdeGarden in and set the water settings with your phone.
Once you have plugged in your VerdeGarden you will also set the LED grow light schedule from your phone. The energy efficient grow system uses $0.03 per day for the Nibble and $0.06 per day for the larger Graze.
Reusable net pots hold your plants and allow the nutrient water to flow through the roots. Wash in hot water and reuse for your next harvest.
The Nibble and Graze indoor gardens come with organic and heirloom seeds specifically slected for growing indoors in our system
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In your VerdeGarden you can plant 3 basil seeds per coco puck, a ½” deep. You can leave all seeds that sprout grow in a single pot for more production.
When you add new seeds to your VerdeGarden stop feeding with nutrients and just cycle fresh water on the pumps regular watering schedule. Seeds have stored energy so they do not require nutrients. If you have a mix of new seeds and mature plants, it is OK for your mature plants to go without nutrients for a few weeks. It will slow down their growth, but will not jeopardize them in any way. Running a fresh water cycle once every 8 weeks also help flush out any unused nutrients and minerals, keeping the inside of your garden clean.
Start your nutrient feeding cycle when there are at least 4 leave on your new seedling. Follow the nutrient feeding chart. Using more nutrients than recommended will not make them grow faster and will burn your plants. If you have plants in a variety of life stages use the nutrient recommendations for your youngest plants in your VerdeGarden.
Pictured below are basil seedlings in one coco puck. The smallest one circled in red, is an example of a seedling that is not ready for nutrients, the leaves marked in red are called cotyledons. The largest seedling has 4 true leaves, marked in blue, and is ready for nutrients as per the chart recommendations. One with a plant that just needs water. The larger plants are ready for nutrients. In this case you can just pluck out the small seedling and go with the two larger plants.
Water but do not add nutrients until there are at least 4 leaves per plant. Follow nutrient feeding chart and do not over feed.
Sow 2-3 seeds per
Once stock is 6” tall pinch off the tops to encourage bushy growth. Pinch off purple flower buds to encourage more harvest. Pick young shoots regularly, frequent picking will promote further growth.
To preserve the flavour when cooking with fresh basil, tear the leaves instead of chopping. Basil can be stored by either dehydrating the leaves or chopping into small pieces and freezing with water in ice cube trays - an easy way to add basil to your cooked meals.
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YIELD: Makes 4 servings
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
Succession planting is simply staggering crops so you are not harvesting all at the same time, but instead have a continuous yield. This can help with going from having too many tomatoes to none at all, and having to wait a month or more for the next plant to yield its fruits.
The maturity date is the approximate number of days it takes for a plant to grow from seed to harvest, this can vary due to climate, quality of seed and proper nutrients, but it's a good starting point. For example, you may have some varieties of lettuce with a maturity date of 45 days, and others as long as 65 days. With hydroponic growing, the maturity date is shortened due to the plant not needing to establish complex roots that can source out nutrients in soil.
If you are using Green Thumb Technology's organic and heirloom seeds, simply follow the maturity date provided on the seed packaging. If you are using your own seeds, subtract 2 weeks from the maturity date provided.
Plant your first crop by placing seeds in the coco coir seeds sprouters, and then place in the pot with recycled glass. Place the pot in your VerdeGarden and mark the date on your calendar to refer back to later. For example, plant your first cilantro seeds, and save some for later.
Wait 2-3 weeks before planting your next crop. Now plant your next crop of cilantro and mark again on the calendar. You can continue this process for as many crops as you would like, 2, 3, 4, 5...
Start harvesting your first crop once it is ready, and again mark the date you started harvesting. Many herbs and greens will continue to produce a yield if you only harvest 1/3 of the plant at a time.
As above, and perhaps now you have fully harvested your first crop and are planting more seeds.
Now you can check you calendar and see if you need to make any adjustments to your succession crop. Did you have a gap in between your first and second crop? Then reduce the time in between planting your first and second seeds. Not enough of a gap between crops? Increase the time between planting.
There are some things you should keep in mind when succession planting. Different varieties of tomatoes, for example, will grow at different rates, so be sure to check each varieties specific maturity date.
Some seeds will just out preform others, so may grow faster or bigger than your other plant of the same variety. That's ok, it's just good to know. Gardening is a blend of an art and a science, it does not always produce the exact same outcome, but that is part of the fun!
Your succession planting and maturity dates may vary with the seasons. Is your home hotter in the summer than the winter? Expect plants to mature quicker in a warm house vs. a cold house... unless they are cold-loving plants of course. Humidity levels in your house will also affect the maturity date.
We would love to hear from you and what worked well for you. Please feel to reach out and share your story with us. Or get in touch if you have further questions Contact Us
]]>It was important to us to have a indoor garden that adds to the ambiance of your home, does not take up valuable space, and actually grows enough food so you can recoup your costs, so we invented a new, patented, hydroponic system.
We invented the Vertical Nutrient Cascade Technology
To learn more about verdeGardens go to Indoor Vertical Gardens
Thank you for reading.
-Jen & Matt
]]>Personally for me, I have many reasons. I can break them into 3 categories: my health, it's better for the environment, and social contribution.
I have experienced 2 close family members pass away from cancer. My Dad battled cancer for 7 years, in that time he changed his diet and experienced a quality 6 years before succumbing to the disease. I know a lot of you can relate. Eating healthy reduces our risk of diseases. Yes, of course, we are all going to go sometime... BUT, I am not just eating well to prevent disease, it goes well beyond that for me! It's more about the present. I truly believe in, and feel blessed about, being active, being in nature, and living a full life! Nourishing my body with good food allows me to have the mental, emotional and physical outlook to experience the best of life.
The BEST food, is food you GROW YOURSELF. Why? Plants like, leafy greens, loose their nutrients once they have been picked. For example, leafy greens can loose 50-90% of their vitamin C in 24-48 hours. The longer plants have to be shipped (I'm thinking boxed lettuce from California to BC), sit in the grocery store and in your fridge, the less nutritious value you get from them. We think we are doing something good, by eating a salad, but we are only getting a fraction of its benefits.
Growing fresh means I can pick it and use it the same day, maintaining 100% of the foods essential vitamins and minerals! And WOW! Does it ever taste better!
Of course there are other health reasons that are important to me, namely when I grow my own food, I know what's in it. This is often the same reason I buy from local farmers. The organic industry does allow for certain pesticides to be used on "organic" vegetables. Did you know there are pesticides that are banned in Europe that are used in the US?
Lastly, growing your own food opens a whole new world of varieties of produce you can't find anywhere in the grocery stores. The heirloom and organic varieties that are available when you grow from seed are outstanding in flavour, look, and nutritious benefits.
Next blog, I will talk about the benefits to the environment in growing your own food. Until then, eat something fresh & get outside! Thank you for reading.
-Jen
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