Hello from Townsville, QLD

[Shortstack]

Hi everyone!

I've recently discovered a love for trying to grow things (in small spaces)! So much so that my husband, in the last few weeks, has had a dabble in vertical hydroponics (and everything is going wonderfully there - better than in the soil garden!).

I'm new to growing things, and am open to learning, tips, tricks, suggestions.

Currently in the soil garden I have (not necessarily growing): cucumber, basil, tomatoes (no flowers), zucchini or squash, not sure yet (that is only producing male flowers), spring onion, lavender, impatiens, iceberg lettuce and red cabbage.

The hydroponic garden has: coriander, beans, red cabbage, capsicum, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes.

I am germinating seeds (some from fruit/veg purchases, others from seeds - bunnings, bigw)
At the moment, it's a lot of trial and error, and I'm having fun (and a little heartbreak) doing it.

I look forward to learning from everyone.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Welcome to the forum @Shortstack and family!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and we'll try to help you out to the best of our abilities!

The variety in plants sound great and it's reminding me that I should perhaps get some lavender myself! Have you started the lavender from seed or bought it as a plant? I'm definitely doing something wrong with starting lavender from seed as they never germinate..

Not having as bad a heartache is realising that it's all part of the learning experience! If only you know what I (or even Mark) has killed in the process of growing... oof. But in learning why something died, you can make your other plants do even better! On top of that you can always try again, now having more knowledge

 

[Shortstack]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Lavender has been planted from small plants (Bunnings for now). After copious amounts of YouTube video watching and reading, I thought that there weren’t any bees to help pollinate my cucumber and zucchini! So in went lavender a few weeks ago…. Since then, I’ve discovered (face palm), that my cucumber doesn’t need to be pollinated.. and that my zucchini only has male flowers. Hahaha.
Even after MORE reading and research (‘is toy for strawberry seeds)have you tried cold stratification with lavender seeds? Could help germination perhaps?

And yes, absolutely, when things start to go wrong, there’s usually some amazing learning in it! Except when my small capsicum plant died last week. One day it was good with 2 small flowers, then it wilted and yellowed very quickly and I couldn’t recover it. never mind, the capsicums in the hydrotowers are doing great!

Thanks again for the warm welcome!