Just A Water Day

I didn't plant yesterday or the day before. The radish sprouted well. There was a small area that got some fungus and didn't do too well. I thought it was root hairs at first. I didn't carefully inspect but it only took a small portion. Since it's a fungus or mold and I don't have any proper training on identifying molds or fungi I will probably not eat this round.

I am going to cut the whole batch down and recycle it. I am going to put it through the worm bins, the whole pot of soil. Anything under five gallons needs to be recycled after every crop. If it's a tree that's different. I don't have many trees. I don't know how to handle or read them very well yet. That means I need to go out and plant some more micro greens. I am going to work out a system to grow my worms my soil and my plants.

I have a 65 gallon smart pot with all kinds of manure from chickens and horses. It's mostly horse now but I also have two worm factory, 4 tray stackable systems, full of worms and different stages of decay. I need to streamline things a little and start making money. I have plenty of room and plenty of local fertilizer near my house. I don't have any working systems to utilize those resources profitably.

I could rent space to landscapers to grow what they need or I could grow what they need and sell to them. I could even start my own landscaping business. I just need a plan and some focus. I need to factor all costs and all profits and what I need to do to get those profits. I need a plan.

I have a pound of radish and broccoli seed, each. One pound each. I like to plant things and harvest things but the daily chores, doing the same thing everyday gets to me quickly. That means I need to automate the watering, or only plant what doesn't require daily watering. I need a goal, something that I am aiming for today, like plant one pot of microgreens.

Next, I need a plan on using those greens. Salad? Sell it? Eat some and plant some for more seed? That leads to what comes next, the next round. I am going to run out of seed, pots and soil and I don't have any money flowing in to replace what I use. How can I sell profitably? Do I need to sterilize everything for market?

This is getting overwhelming already and I've only planted two pots of microgreens. I need to focus. First of all, my first crop grew mold. I can't have that on my food and definitely not on marketable food. That means I need to grow more and figure out how to eliminate the problem. Was it from the seed, pot or soil? Does it matter? Can I create better soil and eliminate the problem?

I need a system. What can I consistently do to get consistently healthy results? I believe my worms are healthy. I believe that the fungus is part of a healthy soil. Maybe, the pot had some fungus, or maybe I wet the soil too much or maybe the seed was a little weak. Back to a system. What do I do to get it going right?

Different seed is going to take different amounts of time to grow. Since I am growing microgreens I plan on a two week or less turn around on my pots. So, if I plant one new pot everyday I need at least 14 pots. Then I am going to need to have a constant supply of new soil for those pots. That means setting up my worm bins to cycle through 14 containers of soil every 2 weeks.

For now, I am going to focus on my planting. One pot per day. I am using pots that have at least 12" of diameter. If I use my 15 gallon cloth pots I may be able to get away with not recycling the soil. I will just top dress with worm castings. That takes me back to systematizing my worm bins. I need to do something to keep everything flowing nicely.

I need to start right now. Updates will follow.