Garden Fail # 9

Failed attempt 1 – I tried to grow microgreens for our family’s meals by sprouting them on a piece of damp, clean hessian. I thought the hessian might support the roots of the emerging seedlings and that we’d have nutritious sprouts whenever we wanted them. Initially I immersed the hessian in boiled rainwater. Then I lay the hessian on a tray and sprinkled the seeds onto it. I sat the experiment in the middle of the dining table – my vision was for the family to harvest greens directly from the centrepiece without making a mess. We did manage to harvest some sprouted microgreens after about four days. However within a week black mold developed on the hessian and I had to throw the experiment out. I’m not sure why the mold developed. It looked like the mold that sometimes develops on bread, so maybe I should have had the tray covered.
Failed attempt 2 – I tried to grow lettuces and strawberries using a large plastic sistema tub to hold my hydroponic solution, however the lettuces wiltered and I failed to get any strawberries on my plants. Initially. I started the lettuce and strawberry seedlings in some peat pellets – (the type that swell when they contact water.) I used a holesaw to make some holes in the lid, that were about the size of the pellets. Once the seedlings were established I transferred them into the main tub – I pushed the pellet seedlings partly into the holes, so their roots would grow towards the water in the tub below. I had a fish airstone in the water and a dash of hydroponic solution. I also used rainwater. I’m not sure why the seedlings failed to thrive. It might have been because the tub was clear and the water got too warm. When I I noticed the seedlings weren’t growing well, I put alfoil around the sides of the tub to exclude the light, but that didn’t really help. As you can see from my failed attempts, I’m a novice when it comes to hydroponics.