tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110Thu, 17 Oct 2024 19:53:49 +0000EarthBoxlettuceLED grow lightscarrotsgarliccubicle farmingmesclunpestshttp://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)Blogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-4449336423568909273Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:37:00 +00002011-01-24T21:37:09.133-05:00I haven't posted much lately because there hasn't been a whole lot of growth to report on. The lettuce in the Earthbox has utterly failed. Nary a sprout. Booooo! (Do I really need to post a picture of nothing? Would you trust me if I just said nothing's growing?) I even tried different seeds, and still nothing. It's possible it's because both of them were old packets of seeds. I honestly have nohttp://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2011/01/failure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-8261690493152954724Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:48:00 +00002011-01-05T21:48:34.378-05:00Give me convenience, or give me death! That's the title of a Dead Kennedys album. It's also what I learned from the last season in the cubicle farm. The old bookcase setup, with boxes under hanging lights, required me to pull the boxes out and kneel on the floor to harvest salad greens. Doesn't sound like all that much labor. But at work, I'm usually stressed and harried enough that even http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-year-new-cubicle-farm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-7486631298755923821Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:36:00 +00002010-06-16T22:36:20.448-04:00Can you freakin' believe it? These things are actually blooming! They're trying to make tomatoes! Here's what they look like with the LEDs off -- under lighting you're more accustomed to. Yep, those are undeniably tomato flowers. So, now what? At the present time, there are no bees at VOA. I haven't brought it up with the General Services Administration yet, but I suspect they'd frown upon a http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/06/flowers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-7226371549658469877Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:16:00 +00002010-06-08T21:18:07.941-04:00Hey, check this out -- the cherry tomatoes are actually putting out the beginnings of flower buds! It's gonna be a long, long time before they're tomatoes. But it's a start! What if this thing actually works? Back in the lettuce patch, I forgot to mention that last week I harvested a 1 1/8 oz. salad from the second box. That's 42 cents not spent on Whole Foods mixed greens. Woo hoo! At this pacehttp://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/06/buds-omg.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-2766924530464978997Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:35:00 +00002010-06-01T23:35:49.319-04:00Every experiment needs controls. A cherry tomato plant that I started at the same time as the two in the cubicle farm currently is basking in the sun outside my apartment, in an Earthbox it shares with a regular tomato. How's it compare to the cubicle-farm tomatoes, you ask? I'd say growth in the cubicle farm is somewhat less vigorous. The cherry tomato is on the right. Trust me. Yes. A bit http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/06/control-plot.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-8558547604574800271Fri, 28 May 2010 03:41:00 +00002010-05-27T23:41:17.339-04:00These guys just don't stop growing. I was out for about a week, and when I came back the plants were...well, they were bigger. A lot bigger. I don't know what I expected, but they're really getting pretty sizeable. You don't need me to point out where they are in the picture anymore. But the bigger they get, the crappier they look. Look at this pathetic specimen. The stem gives practically no http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/05/bigger-limper.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-6272109244876268367Wed, 19 May 2010 01:06:00 +00002010-05-18T21:06:12.788-04:00The cherry tomatoes have continued their remarkable growth. Here they are last Tuesday: And today: They're still leggy, though. Look at how much space there is between branches. (Abid Aslam at the International Food Policy Research Institute pointed out that leggy tomatoes could be a good thing, but only if you're talking about women.) The leaves are pretty limp, too, even though I've got thehttp://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/05/growing-definitely-thriving-well.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-2384773660787446888Tue, 04 May 2010 02:18:00 +00002010-05-03T22:18:19.208-04:00The cherry tomatoes are growing pretty remarkably. You couldn't even really see them in the picture taken last Thursday: But now...well...if you squint, you can kinda see them...they're those things in the corners. See? Alright, they're not huge. But it's still pretty impressive, for a long weekend's worth of growth, don'tcha think? I was pretty amazed when I came in this morning. I'm a bit http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/05/leggy-good-for-blondes-not-tomatoes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-6495715296663990056Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:15:00 +00002010-04-29T00:15:41.286-04:00Don't want to waste those precious photons that the American taxpayer is so graciously providing. (Can't thank you enough, America). So I put up some reflectors. Basically just taped some aluminum foil to some cardboard. Some indoor growers use mylar for this. But mylar costs money. I'm sure there's a reason why aluminum foil is the wrong thing to use for this. But it's cheap. And I'm into cheaphttp://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/04/pimpin-cubicle-farm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-4377827018904130129Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:50:00 +00002010-04-26T23:50:05.262-04:00Back in business! With the regular, outside-type garden in full swing and no gnat sightings in the office in recent memory, I thought it was time to take another crack at the cubicle farm. This time, I'll try growing some fancy mesclun salad greens in containers in a retrofitted government-issue bookshelf. Your tax dollars at work. Thank you, America. I sowed the first crop today, Monday, April http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/04/episode-v-cubicle-farm-strikes-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-7209885507331841595Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:19:00 +00002010-01-04T23:19:44.233-05:00EarthBoxpests The farm has been overrun by gnats! My houseplants had a few, but they really love the cubicle farm. They're harmless but annoying. And they've spread to my neighbors' cubes. My co-workers don't appreciate that. Gnats have even been sighted across the hall in my boss's office. That pretty much puts the kibosh on the cubicle farm. So this weekend I went in and shut it down. I brought the http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2010/01/mission-aborted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-4678376423451457520Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:02:00 +00002009-12-29T14:02:43.638-05:00carrotsIt's official. You can't grow carrots from carrot tops. Although the greens grew prolifically...  ...under the ground, there's nary a carrot. Here's what the best one looked like: ...and here's what the worst one looked like. Not pretty. So, kids, what have we learned? You don't grow carrots from carrot tops. Also, I think we've learned that the lights are not powerful enough, at least http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/carrots-are-bust.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-7795835788155175503Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:31:00 +00002009-12-23T22:39:19.155-05:00EarthBoxlettuceThe lettuce grew back nicely after the first harvest. And the middle patch is growing pretty well, and the third bit's not too bad...  So, out come the scissors again. This time, I actually got a pretty decent salad. 2 oz. worth, in fact. Whole Foods spring mix goes for $5.99/lb, so that's about 75 cents worth of salad greens there. So, deduct that from the total bill for the setup, whichhttp://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/second-more-bountiful-harvest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-3913513440059224562Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:42:00 +00002009-12-17T21:48:53.350-05:00carrotsThe lettuce is working out OK, so I figured it was time to check on the carrots at home. The tops are growing pretty well. (The garlic, too -- note where I've had to bend the stems down so they don't flatten themselves against the lights.)But it's impossible to tell whether, down under the dirt, they're actually making any carrots. In a previous post, I mentioned that Nancy Kreith with the http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/bummer-no-carrots.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-6376965491382122927Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:06:00 +00002009-12-16T00:10:05.349-05:00EarthBoxLED grow lightslettuceAfter the endless days of toil, working the fields in the pelting rain, the howling wind, the biting cold -- harvest season has come at last!As you can see, the lettuce has been growing fairly nicely. It's been under the lights 24-7 for what, about 4 weeks now? The leaves are big enough to make fairly respectable salad greens.So I went at them with a pair of scissors.OK, fine, I didn't get a http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/first-harvest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-7418386463581606849Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:07:00 +00002009-12-09T12:07:00.601-05:00carrotsgarlicThe carrots at home are definitely growing. They're getting taller and putting out more shoots. But some are bushier (left) and some are spindlier (right). Not sure what to make of it yet. Worst case: they're not getting enough light from the LEDs. I bought the cheapest one, which puts out the least power. A company rep recommends a brighter, and more expensive, light. But he would, wouldn't he?http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/carrots-progress.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-1050529542863919838Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:38:00 +00002009-12-08T09:38:41.501-05:00EarthBoxlettuceWell, OK, I didn't exactly break it. But it turns out I'm not using the EarthBox in the way it was intended. Remember the black plastic covering from my first EarthBox post? Of course you do. Just in case, here it is again, in the photo to the right. You're supposed to cut holes in it and plant your seedlings through them.Well, I didn't do that. Because I'm growing baby greens, I figured I'd http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-broke-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-6807444881269958445Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:54:00 +00002009-12-07T20:17:37.698-05:00carrotsgarliclettuceThe first crop has developed signs of lettuce! So far, all the green you've seen has been seed leaves, or cotyledons. Remember sophomore biology? Monocots and dicots? No? OK, never mind. The point is, the cotyledons are just the first stage of development. The real leaves look different. At left you can see a recognizable lettuce leaf poking out from the sea of cotyledons.Meanwhile, on the home http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/signs-of-lettuce.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-4807287592457750768Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:15:00 +00002009-12-06T13:18:06.325-05:00EarthBoxLED grow lightslettuceWith the first crop of cubicle lettuce up and running, it was time to start the second. Keep in mind, the goal here is to have a revolving stock of lettuce. I'll harvest and eat the first crop, then the second, then the third, and hopefully by the time the third crop is eaten the first will be ready to harvest again.The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I sprinkled the same mix of seeds -- mesclun, http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/12/lettuce-act-ii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-4471242068048707232Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:25:00 +00002009-11-30T21:35:22.434-05:00carrotsgarlicLED grow lightsI wasn't sure what to do with the third LED grow light I bought. But I was making some soup a couple weeks ago and a project presented itself. I had a bag of carrots that had gone native in my crisper drawer. They had grown roots and were all tangled up with each other. There were a few stringy, sad-looking, pale orange sprouts coming off the tops, too. I wish I'd taken a picture. It was pretty http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/at-home-carrots-and-garlic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-3642821428701987853Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:38:00 +00002009-11-27T20:13:29.838-05:00EarthBoxlettucemesclunWow, that was fast. It only took three days for the first crop to get going.I got some mesclun, mustard, and Japanese mustard seeds from Arlington County (for free -- a pretty nice perk that I didn't know my taxpayer dollars were funding). I put the system together on a Monday night and sprinkled on some seeds. Not much to see on Tuesday. I was out of the office Wednesday. But on Thursday -- hey!http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/stuff-is-growing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-6606870964394722331Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:43:00 +00002009-11-24T11:33:54.363-05:00EarthBoxI'll be growing my lettuce in an EarthBox. It seemed like a good fit for this experiment because it's a compact, all-inclusive system; but also because there's some kind of tie-in with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, an organization I deal with frequently at work. The boxes are aimed at people in all sorts of situations that aren't conducive to growing nutritious food -- from city http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/earthbox.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-8582330334150406581Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +00002009-11-23T11:47:51.837-05:00LED grow lightsI found an LED system that looks promising as a cubicle grow light. LEDs use very little power. The unit I bought, the GlowPanel, takes 14 watts. So they're eco-friendly and won't be a huge burden on my employer when I leave them on 24/7. The unit is about a foot square and, according to the manufacturer, will illuminate 1.5 sq. ft., more than enough for my skinny cubicle setup.An interesting http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/grow-lights.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2929487946145338110.post-3625226181309001451Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:10:00 +00002009-11-22T15:08:57.453-05:00cubicle farmingEarthBoxLED grow lightslettuceOK, I'm returning to this blog to document an experiment: I'm going to attempt to grow vegetables in the confines of my cubicle. Every blog should have a purpose (shouldn't it?), so let's say the goal here is to be self-sufficient in salad greens in...oh, I dunno, let's say 6 months.Why am I doing this? Well, for one thing, I'm food and agriculture reporter for Voice of America, so it seems http://farmingthecubicle.blogspot.com/2009/11/cubicle-farming.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Steve Baragona)0