Busy⟢ bee⟢ saturday⟢

Strawberry hydroponics update ☺ + ⪻ greenhouse update ⪼ + ⪢ how we grow carrots ⪡. ☑☑☑☑

As summer is about to kick into full gear we are experiencing a continuing heat that just seems to be lingering on, keeping things cool in the greenhouse is a struggle all on its own. I found it was much easier with the old hydroponics system in the greenhouse due to the thermal energy stored in the water
( roughly 100 gallons in all the pipes and container).

Our pvc strawberry troff system is humming along just fine, will be upgrading to HDPE soon. One thing I was not expecting was the amount of thievery from local birds or raccoons, still not sure which one yet but Im leaning more towards birds, Never really had an issue with birds until I raised my berries off the ground, now I guess there openly spotted to our local dino's and there having a field day.
Ah well,, We produce enough, and they need to eat to, so what's fair is fair.

We've been growing our Carrots in bins/buckets for a few years now and honestly, its unbelievably convenient. They can be wheeled around and placed wherever you like, there the perfect size for carrots,  just add a few drainage holes and check for what plastic it was made out of and your good to go. We expect to use these buckets for a lifetime, which is the whole purpose of plastics in my opinion.

This is an example of what can be done to save space while still having a nice looking growing system ( minus the plants scattered on the ground, lol ) This setup is strong and will last a for countless generations, is simple to care for, and can be run on hydroponics / aquaponics / or bioponics like systems. To even kick this idea up a notch we might add wild strawberries around the Carrot buckets, you can never have enough food, and if we all did this, IMHO we could end hunger, easily.

Edible Flowers ❀❀❀ ( Pansy's ✿+✿ Johny jump ups ✿+✿ viola ✿+✿ Jumping jack )

Edible flower Black Pansy + gourmet flowers

While most people wont even consider flowers in food, me on the other hand find the consumption logically essential. If dietitians call for eating every colour of fruit and veggie possible then what would consuming a flower with all those phytochemical's do?  I find it humorous to think there is a whole class of food/ nutrients not even being consumed all because the idea of eating a flower seems "silly", when what really is silly is not eating them at all.

I tell ya, there is not a dish that doesn't look better for having them in it, even burgers, it just seems to make everything look like high class cuisine if you ask me. If you really want to impress your friends, when bringing a cake for birthdays/gifts/ or parties, take a few seconds to add some neatly placed flowers around and watch how your cake goes from (nice) to (food network fantastic).

If your are interested in edible flowers here is a few links with lists of edible flowers you might like.

http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blflowers.htm

http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm

Edible flower Pansy 

( Johny jump up blend )

☝These look stunning on a white cake☝.

( Earwig eaten pansy )

 ( Viola - jumping jack - Johnny jump up )

( Edible flowers - Pansy Hybrid )

This tops my list for best looking flower on food, put a couple of these on a burger with some veggie and you've got a $100 dollar burger IMO.

( Salad with edible flowers )

Just remember, when people look at you weird for putting flowers in your food, just look back at them weird like, ......you don't put flowers in your food ? Its all relative.

Strawberry spinach ☼☼☀☀☀☼☼

Strawberry Spinach

When We first planted the strawberry spinach seeds aka ( chenopodium capitatum ) last year it was a little to late, We never got to see it flower/fruit, and to be honest I didn't even realize it would come back ( Im a little to use to my exotics right now ). But as soon as spring rolled around I recognized it right away. Now that june has arrived these beauties are shining in all there glory. When I first tasted the leaves I was stunned, there was something to it I just couldn't figure out, I've heard people say its a nutty flavour, but that didn't seem right, and I've heard others say spinach, but that isn't it either, and then all of a sudden it hit me, WHAAM!!.. 

!≥≤! GRAPE !≥≤!  

To me its like a very light grape minus the sugar, and unlike lettuce there is no bitterness thankfully, even in flowering. Now heres the odd part, when I tasted the berry I expected something strawberry like, or heck.. just some type of berry at least,  

this was not the case. 
I guess I'll be the one to say it, {{DrumRoll}} ❍!❍!❍!❍!❍!❍!❍!❍!❍! 
THEY TASTE LIKE SPINACH!!!! 

Its....Hmmmm.... not as bad as it sounds. 
Its only a light spinach taste, but I really wasnt expecting that. While it has little in berry flavour, they go perfect in salads or yogurts, fruit parties, bragging rights, experiments 
( ice cream, strawberry and rhubarb desert, vinegars, pickles or jarred vegg  ). 
But the fact that these seeds/plants survived our winter and are quick to flower, providing edible leaves and fruit most of the year,  
puts this plant on top of the edible landscapers list for me. 
And just between me and you.... ( looks cautiously from side to side ) 
I think the leaves taste better then lettuce.    

Strawberry spinach fruit

Strawberry spinach + strawberry spinach leaves + fruit 

Native plants + North american plants +Strawberry spinach 

Jeruk limau AKA ■ Citrus Amblycarpa ■ or Nasnaran Mandarin ❂ { grown from seed ✌ }

Jeruk limau AKA Nasnaran Mandarin

Our new citrus seeds arrived!, the variety is called - { jeruk limau }
and I tell ya, I love the name.
As you can see from the pictures, the seeds were very fresh, nearly every one sprouted, they seem to have a tendency to push there first leaves to the side and from inspection are polyembryonic. While they appear tiny, there root structure is quick and strong, probably the most aggressive roots of the varieties we've grown so far. Even at the size in this picture I still had to really pry them apart. ( was not expecting that at such a young age ) As stated around the web, these might have a good possibility for rootstock after production trials.

Far right is a visible sign of the second plant sprouting from one seed + polyembryonic + citrus amblycarpa

Jeruk Limau seedling + citrus amblycarpa

Apple rust ◊ and colloidal silver / gold ◊

We just noticed rust on our apple tree the other day, since we've heard of using colloidal products as a form of disease control we decided to give it a shot, so far it does not look like its working, but sometimes in life, it gets worse before it gets better. The one issue I was not happy with was how a local ant colony seemed to be feeding off these rust lesions, I tried (orange guard) which was suppose to work on ants + the aphids they were hoarding, it did not work. I tried hot pepper spray, they went away and then came back in ten fold. Frustrated, I tried many different ways until I came up with an idea to try a product I had all but given up on ( at least for bug prevention )
Diatomaceous earth - I figured I had enough lying around I would give it a shot, as soon as I dusted the tree I could see the exodus. By the next day it was empty of ants and only a few aphids remained. By the third day, I noticed a few determined ants had somehow made there way to the very top where the Dia earth had mostly dispersed from wind gusts. There determination is impressive to say the least, but necessary intervention is paramount in order to save the health of the tree and the production of its fruit. I grow many other plants for them to gorge on, so they should have plenty of options for dining, just not on the fruit trees.

Chitin ☜ the all natural pesticide + disease correction in plants. ●●●●☺

We have been very interested in chitin as of recently, we've always used worm castings in our grows, even hydroponics,  but never knew of its amazing qualities in bug prevention and disease correction, we just thought it was our special touch, lol, how naive the human brain can be.
But just recently thanks to john from growing your greens.com
( http://www.youtube.com/user/growingyourgreens )
gave a wonderful talk about the benefits of chitin and where you can get it. This got me to researching and found its one of the most abundant sources of natural polymers, has healing benefits, treats disease on trees, and repels insects just to name a few. I found an article online with an extensive list of ideas on how to use it, create it, and where to pick some up. HERE YA GO
http://idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51481

and if your into worm composting this is a great site to help you along with making teas and such.
http://www.organicrosecare.org/articles/worm_castings.php

We were also lucky to have stopped by the local hydroponics expo recently
( homegrown Hydroponics expo)
Not only are we very excited over there snap together piping but, they had a product there that was fertilizer from insects, this seems like a great idea, we will doing a controlled experiment very soon with this product, Will keep ppl updated on the progress and results.

Masked Hunter nymph, 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_hunter

all if a sudden Im seeing bugs I've never seen in Canada before, 

what in the world is that????? a bug covered in dust? 

YUP!! Meet the masked hunter nymph, for some reason he thought my studio/office was a good place to roam. wish I could have got a better shot for ya but he was a quick little bugger.

Bug covered in dust

masked hunter covered in dust

⚘Companion ❀ planting⚘ = ϟ

WOW,  I just stumbled across a very comprehensive list of companion planting ideas and I In no way intend to fill the internet up with more junk or steal someone else's hard work, so all I am doing in this post is linking to there site, ENJOY!.

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html


We personally practice companion planting here at Simpson Eco farms, and while sometimes we get the opposite reaction of what's suppose to happen, there are some that work flawlessly, We grow mint around our haskap ( blue honeysuckle ), basil, dill, and rue with our tomatoes/peppers/tomatillos/ground cherries,  pansies and johnny jump ups around lettuce, hot peppers under our citrus, as well as peppermint and mint rose geranium.
This year we will be experimenting with our fruit trees to see what we notice, We will update how its going in the future and let everyone know of our results.


Will☔ post ☔ some ☔ pics ☔ when ☔ it ☔ stops ☔raining ☔☔☔☔☔☁☁☁☁☁☁