There was no luck with the mushrooms (though I did purchase fertilizer to give it another shot soon) but here is what I did discover:
1. Celery, onion and pepper stumps are successful for flourishing veggies just by planting in dirt and watering regularly. They even fair decently well in lots of rain and some cold weather.
2. Garlic wants to grow. Peel a clove, the sections of herb you are left with will sprout on your windowsill, in a cabinet or on top of a refrigerator. Plant it in dirt and it shoots up pretty quick.
3. Berries are difficult to extract from the source. I am going to try organic seeds but I am going to also try organic produce, thorough rinsing of fruit flesh and more soil. Birds ate what I put in egg carton planters.
4. It is possible to over do it with too many seeds in a small planter. These tend to be popular with birds but not sprouting veggies.
5. Plants like to come in from the cold at night (until it gets warmer is my hypothesis).
6. Pepper stumps produce a lot of sprouts very slowly and depending on how deep you plant it, a lot of the initial growth takes place below soil.
7. You can buy decent gardening supplied for cheap at the dollar store, but a bag of dollar potting soil will hardly fill a medium sized pot so buy a lot or try bulk at, say, Big Lots or even better: a local specialty store.
The aquaponic system continues to await materials and still a bit of research, but it is definitely on my list of things to do. I will update here and there as I add to the garden, but for now it is an ultimately slow process.
For frequent tips on your urban garden check out over 100 pins on my favorite pin board on Pinterest: Sustainability; Home & Garden. My newest project is awaiting debut still as my deterrents are finally filing away! Congratulate me on my involvement with the American Secular Census/Mainstream. I will be covering the presidential candidates with unbiased information to help you make your decision on voting day!
