Evelyn’s Twigs, Thyme and Stranger Things Gardens

Welcome!!!

If you stumbled among this site, "Evelyn’s Twigs, Thyme and Stranger Things Garden" is a collection of journal entries that I have kept on my computer for years, and have now decided to post. The journal contains my successes and failures with my favorite selections of plants. I'm talking about more than 50 years of caring for and living with green things. Not everything is here. More of it is learned and store in my head. However, here I will share facts about each plants, my research, as well as my personal and gathered tips on their care. I was not planning to post my houseplant and backyard journals online, so editing them for errors was not a priority to me. This being the case, perhaps, one day I will correct all the spelling and grammar errors in both of them. We would not want people to think I did not know better, when I was only being lazy. Again, no apologizes. It is what it is for now.

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Evelyn’s Twigs, Thyme and Stranger Things Garden Journal Entry 02/09/2025

My adventures in indoor hydroponic gardening are progressing well, regardless of the power surges that occurred, Friday. Nevertheless, below are photos of the latest progress of the newest veggies and fruits I am growing.

They are as follows:

Alpine Red and regular size strawberries - of the four regular size strawberries that I transplanted from soil to a hydroponic system, only one survived and it seems like it will grow to maturity and fruit. The same is true of the remaining two mini Alpine Red strawberries; although one plant is smaller than it sister
The Tangerine Dream Sweet Pepper plants are looking good, and although not all are seen here, they have several peppers on them. They will be mature and be ready for harvest when they turn bright orange.
The two patio baby eggplants have flowered, a lot, and now have little eggplants on them that are about 2/3 the size of chicken eggs. They are also a beautiful glossy purple.
In addition, I heard that tomato plants, especially the mini ones were easy to propagate from stem cuttings, so I tried it and the results are amazing.
The older tomatoes are still producing little Tiny Tim tomatoes and the new seedlings have gained their true leaves. This may appear to be a lot of tomato plants. However, in our house, they go quickly as snacks, cold plate meals of crackers, cold cuts, sliced ham, cheese and fruit (Chardonnay, anyone?), casseroles, stews and in salads. There are also three pods of Swiss Chard seeds, which I may or may not transplants to soil in the spring.

I have also planted some baby cucumbers, wonder bell peppers and mini watermelons. The cucumber seeds were planted earlier and have already sprouted, while the bell pepper and watermelon should sprout within a few days.

These are climbing plants, so the hydroponic systems I am using are designed with attachable trellises that reach 28 inches in height.

It will be interesting to see how well these plants do.

Finally, like the lettuce, I am using one hydroponic system just for herbs. Some of the little sprouts are beginning to show now.

They are:

Thyme
Chive
Dill
Mint
Rosemary
Oregano
Sage,
and of course some catnip for Sam.

Well, this is all for now. When there is more progress, I will add another post.

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Sunday, January 26, 2025

Evelyn’s Twigs, Thyme and Stranger Things Garden journal Entry 01/26/2025

Today, January 26, 2025, I seeded some more ‘Tiny Tim’ tomatoes, so that we would have more this coming spring. The four older plants are still doing well, and although, they took four months to mature and are still putting out more tomatoes, they will not last forever. They look a little ragged, because I trimmed back the heavy leaf growth. We have been eating them with in casseroles and salads. The Parris Island Romaine lettuce is tasty like regular romaine.

Last night, I added four regular strawberry plants to one of the other systems. The expert say it is better to buy them, and then put them in the hydroponic system after removing the soil. They looked a little limped after I did this, but today they have perked up. I also have some hybrid cucumber seeds that I will try. They are the small variety used in most countertop hydroponic systems.

Keep in mind, I clean these hydroponic systems once a month, but filter the water in them more frequently, as the water and the liquid nutrients are the plants only source of food, which gets used up quickly depending on the plants needs. Therefore, and remember this, I know if there are problems.

Finally, if you have been following this journal, you know I rooted my ‘Angel Begonia’ in one of the hydroponic systems, because it had become too leggy. The photo below shows how well it is doing now. I also intend to germinate some flowers for spring as well.

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Evelyn’s Twigs, Thyme and Stranger Things Garden journal entry 01/11/2025

No entries were written in December 2024, because I wanted the plants to grow more before posting a new entry online. I would say that my experience with Hydroponic indoor gardening to date is successful with very little hiccups.

The plants are as listed below, not in order:

Patio Baby Eggplant

Alpine Red Strawberry

Tiny Tim Tomato

Lemon Thyme

Spearmint, Salad Bowl leaf lettuce on 2nd row

Tangerine Dream Sweet Pepper

Young Parris island romaine lettuce

Green onions/scallions

SsSee the video.

UPDATE: As some of you may have discovered there is an embedding error between Google and YouTube that prevents viewers from watching YouTube without sign in or some cases viewing video at all Firefox. Therefore, I have added a share link for the above, However if you are using Firefox, you will probably need to sign in to your YouTube personal account. Let's hope that this embedding error is fix soon.

Video share link

In addition, there are various herbs seeds planted. However they just beginning to spouted and are to see of camera. The store green onions were bought on October 30, 2024 and are still growing. One the leaves is budding; however, I will remove, so that it will not flower.

The lettuce in the larger planter is ragged, because we eat regularly for salad and BLTs sandwiches. While the Spearmint plants are regular trimmed and made into tea and my favorite summer evening drink, mint julep to keep the plant in control.

All in all my experience is successful.

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Hydroponics Progress November 24, 2024

Evelyn’s Twigs, Thyme and Stranger Things Garden journal entry 11.24.2024

To my amazement most of the plants I want to grow in my hydroponic systems are now rooted and growing well. There is one drawback in my three tier system, and that is it has also grown some algae. The experts say: To remove algae from a hydroponic system, the most effective method is to add a diluted solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide (around 1 teaspoon per gallon of water) to the nutrient solution, as this kills algae without significantly harming the plants; ensure to monitor your plants closely and avoid overdosing; additionally, preventing excessive light exposure to the reservoir and regularly cleaning the system are crucial for algae control.

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Key points about using hydrogen peroxide for algae removal:

• Dilution is key:

Always dilute 3% hydrogen peroxide with water before adding it to your hydroponic system.

• Application frequency:

You can add a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to your system every few days, or as needed, depending on the algae growth.

• Monitoring is important:

Keep an eye on your plants after adding hydrogen peroxide to ensure no negative effects on root development

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I have a one gallon plastic container with a pour spout and a lid that I want to use. To do so, I bought some slotted grow pots to fit it. I bought the container for another reason that didn’t work out, so I am going to try the method of putting water in the container with a aerator to circulate the water, some nutrients to feed the plant, and, of course my second Patio Baby Eggplant seedling. Then place it under regular grow lights.

Because these baby eggplants grow to become 18-22 inches wide, 16-20 inches tall with fruit up to three inches in size, separating them will insure better growth. The remaining baby eggplant will stay and grow in the small hydroponic system.

During the short time I have owned my systems I noticed that not all hydroponic systems are equal. Meaning, the grow rate and size of three out of the four tiny Tim tomatoes, which were all seeded on 10/26/2024 in my medium size systems have grown strong and taller, than the fourth one that I transferred to the three tier system. Although all of the plants are strong and have healthy roots, the rate of growth of the tomato plant in the bigger three tier hydroponic system is slower and its height shorter than its brethren.

The same is true of the germination rate of the mini sweet peppers. I first seeded them on the 12th in the three tier system, but they sprouted last Friday, the 22th. While the additional seeds I planted on 18th had sprouted within five days (Friday, the 22th) of being in the medium hydroponic systems. That is a five day difference in the germination rate of the two systems. This is why when the time come I will germinate some seeds in the medium hydroponic systems for indoor and outdoor use next spring.

On a more positive note. Some of my lettuce seeds have sprouted, as well as my alpine red strawberry seeds and Spearmint seeds.

Here is a list of plants growing and thriving in my hydroponic systems:

Patio Baby Eggplant
Alpine Red Strawberry
Tiny Tim Tomato
Lemon Thyme
Common Thyme
Spearmint
Tangerine Dream Sweet Pepper
Salad Bowl leaf lettuce

I have other seeds planted; however they have not sprouted yet. The photos below are of the Angel Wing Begonia that I successfully propagated in one of the medium hydroponic systems.