and this time we were a bit out

Sigh of relief! We finally received some good, soaking, at some points, torrential rain over the last 48 hours. Our tanks are now at peak capacity (so 4,000 litres all up) and we even had to bail out the sump (the grow beds and the sump are open to the elements and took on water during the downpour). The Bureau of Met figures say we had 50–70mm in the last 24 hours.

Sigh of disappointment! We had four lovely iceberg lettuces developing beautifully, and we were just waiting until their hearts firmed up a bit, and this morning, after all of the rain and the rather humid conditions, we have discovered that they all had a slimy rot through them. Damn! I was so looking forward to proudly harvesting these, chopping them in half and admiring their interlocked leafy beauty.

All is not lost, the chickens are now spoilt for choice—lots of green leafy lettuce plus their normal mash and the greater expanse of grass and bugs that are their normal diet. But, lesson learned for us…we will pick earlier next time if we are in for wet weather.

The rest of the garden is going well: we have harvested Pak Choi, chard, Lebanese cucumbers and a small number of tomatoes. The celery is powering along and everything in the NFT channels seems to be chugging along nicely. Chris has recently planted lots of tomatoes into the NFT, so fingers crossed that they get established. The soil garden is also responding to the rain. Chris has just harvested the rest of the corn and removed the stalks from the beds, and is about to remove the green bean structure to make room for new veggies.

What always amazes me is the root growth of the vegetables we harvest in the aquaponics system. This is the Pak Choi we pulled this morning. (Oh, and I do like not having to remove endless dirt from my fingernails as this system is sooooo clean! 🙂 )