My Latest "Cockamamie Scheme/Idea"...

So...I know I want to grow "stuff" again this Summer.  I also know I won't have as much time to devote to my plants this year (baby and all, you know).  But, I got to wandering around on Instructables...because I wanted to see if I could easily set up a growing situation in my garage to use year-round.  I'd really love it if I could grow tomatoes, Sweet potatoes, peppers, strawberries, etc... all the time, especially with starting up Gabriel on "real" food (we're doing baby-led weaning).

A Ginger Plant growing.  Not mine...found here.

The first thing I found that I want to try (well the first thing I think I can actually pull off without spending an arm and a leg) is growing my own Ginger!  We use this a ton during the Summer mostly!  We love it on Barbequed Shrimp! The instructions were based off someone else reading this post and doing it himself (or herself).  I need to clean a little space off of my Kitchen windowsill before I can start this one though...right now I have a Celery stalk that is "re-growing", 3 bunches of Green Onion (also re-growing), and 5 Avocado Seeds trying to sprout (the sixth one died).  Also, I have my Stevia plant (a Sugar Bush) happily growing away up there, that means I have no "windowsill real estate" right now!

Something like this...maybe.

Some things I need to look into before even truly considering growing in the garage though...cost of grow lights (these can be very expensive) and fish (or other nutrient source).  I could use trout, but then I'd need a huge set up and I'd have to learn to catch/kill/eat them too because otherwise they'd just get ginormous (I guess I could give away or sell them as they got too big too).  I don't like trout, so that's going to take some thinking...also, where does one purchase live trout from?  If I find a "homemade" setup I like and think I can do relatively easily (I did see someone growing lettuce above a Beta Fish tank (they didn't have to eat the Beta)...I could do that, fairly cheaply too), I may  give this a small-scale go before going to the full-scale "farm in the garage" approach.  Also, I'm horrible at growing anything from seed, so I'll need to look for plant starts I can get locally (love the herbs/veggies/fruits at Fred Meyer in the Spring....huge variety)!

Things I need to look at...

• fish (yes/no? Type (goldfish, Beta, Trout...)?)
• getting air in there (pumps, bubblers, etc...)
• light source (grow lights or only use during the spring/summer outside)
• nutrient source (either for the fish or for the plants directly)

For now, it's just a thought...we aren't passed the overnight freezes just yet, so I still have time before I really want to get anything going...and growing in the garage would probably be something to start now, but not get anything planted in until next Spring anyway (giving me time to gather all materials, run a small-scale "test", and do further research...and listen to Garrick complain about "yet another thing that he doesn't give a flying flip about").

I'm off to add Ginger Root to next weekend's shopping list!