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.

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.