swiss chard - David Mathre Photography

Tuesday (05-July-2022) — New Jersey

Fairgrown Farm CSA Weekly Delivery Box #10.

This week the box contained the following:

Basil (Fairgrown Farm, Hopewell Township)
Fresh Garlic (Fairgrown Farm, Hopewell Township)
Swiss Chard (Fairgrown Farm, Hopewell Township)
Collard Greens (Fairgrown Farm, Hopewell Township)
Cucumbers (Cassaday Farms, Monroeville)
Sweet Corn (Cassaday Farms, Monroeville)
Green Beens (Cassaday Farms, Monroeville)

Add on of eggs, fruit and mushrooms:

Eggs (Polnasek Farm, Hillsborough)
Blueberries and Blackberries (Rosedale Farms)
Golden Oyster Mushrooms, Blue Oyster Mushrooms, Chestnut Mushrooms, and Lion’s Mane Mushrooms (Zell’s Farm)

CSA Delivery Box (Week 10). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Tuesday (15-February-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed in the backyard, at the birdfeeder and on the patio: Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, House Finch, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal. First Chipping Sparrow this year.

Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Indoor Hydroponic Update. AeroGarden Bounty 01 (Day 30): Bok Choi doing well. Harvesting leaves almost every day. Drinks a lot of water, and needs extra liquid fertilizer. AeroGarden Bounty 02 (Day 30): Rouge d’Hiver, Black-seeded Simpson lettuce, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil, and Dill doing well. Harvesting leaves from the lettuce so not to block light from the basil plants. AeroGarden Bounty Elite 03 (Day 22 and 30): Genovese Basil and Dill doing well. Two of the Parsley and one Thyme sprouted. The 2nd Thyme and Chives have not sprouted. AeroGarden Bounty Elite Seed Starter 04 (Day 7) Heirloom Red Cherry Tomatoes (4/5) sprouted. Golden Harvest Tomatoes (2/4) sprouted.

AeroGarden Bounty. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

AeroGarden Farm 01L (Day28): California Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Laurin’s Grape Poppy. Farm 01R (Day 28): Hungarian Bread Seed Poppy, Red Poppy, Turkish Tulip Poppy. Farm 02L (Day 28): Somniferum Mix, Red Poppy, Red Poppy Mix. Farm 02R (Day 28): Oriental Poppy, Hungarian Bread Seed Poppy, Turkish Tulip Poppy, Red Poppy, Somniferum Mix Poppy.

AeroGarden Farms 01 and 02. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

AeroGarden Farm 03L/03R (Day 22): Swiss Chard, Kale, Collard Greens, Spinach, Mustard Greens. After taking the images, harvested some of the larger Kale and Collard Greens leaves that were blocking the smaller plants. May have to re-think the number of plants per farm. AeroGarden Farm 04L/04R (Day 22): Oregano, Rosemary, Tarragon, Thyme. The larger plants in row D are supposed to be Sage, but I think they are something else???

AeroGarden Farms 03 and 04. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

AeroGarden Farm 08L (Day28): California Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Laurin’s Grape Poppy. Farm 08R (Day 28): Hungarian Bread Seed Poppy, Red Poppy, Turkish Tulip Poppy. Farm 09L (Day 28): Somniferum Mix, Red Poppy, Red Poppy Mix. The poppy plants were pruned to leave only 1-2 plants per position. Farm 09R Seed Sprouting Tray (Day 23): Row A: Snapdragon, Max Orange Wonder, Outside Pride (5/8); Row B: Chrysanthemum, Robinson’s Mix, Outside Pride (7/10); Row C: Iceland Poppy, American Meadows (8/11); Row D: Calendula Mix, Outside Pride, (5/10); Row E: Sweet William Mix, Outside Pride (5/8); Row F: Columbine, Multicolor, PopCool Seeds (1/10); Row G: Osteospermum, Ecklonis Mix, PopCool Seeds (6/11); Row H: Osteospermum,, Whirligs, PopCool Seeds (0/9); Row I: Blue Eyed Daisy, PopCool Seeds (1/8). I will start transplanting the larger seedlings to a regular farm. I have also included a time-lapse video of the Farm O9R seedlings.

AeroGarden Farms 08 and 09. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (121.8 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (27.6kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Solar Panels mostly clear of snow, but the temperature dropped below 10°F so supplemental resistance heating was required. Deficit of 92.4 kWh.

Monday (24-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco.

Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Herb and Green seeds planted in an AeroGarden Elite Bounty with a seed starter tray. Rainbow Swiss Chard, Broadleaf Sage, Winter Bloomsdale Spinach, Rosemary, Thyme, Tarragon, Greek Oregano, Tatsoi Mustard Greens, Siberian Kale, Champion Collard Greens. Images of the seeds taken with a Leica SL2s camera with a Laowa 24 mm f/14 macro probe lens. For reference, the diameter of the circle is 35 mm.

Seeds. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (97.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (36.5 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Cold outside. Whenever the external temperature drops below 10°F, the resistance heaters kick in to assist the Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 60.5 kWh.

Thursday (23-January-2020) — New Jersey

Wintertime Indoor Hydroponic Gardening.

Flowers (first Coreopsis, Zinnia, and Dianthus), a Strawberry, and several seedlings (Bok Choi, Mustard, Broccoli Raab, Swiss Chard, Romaine Lettuce, Bunching Onions, and Peas) at 10 days.

Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.

AeroGarden Farm 07-Right. Strawberry. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 200, 80 mm, f/11, 1/60 sec) (DAVID J MATHRE)

Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (88.7 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (30.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny Day. A deficit of 58.3 kWh.

Current Weather Conditions

Sunday (27-October-2019) — New Jersey

Indoor Hydroponic AeroGarden Farms Update

I noticed that the 1 gallon water bottles that supply the trays for the Romaine Lettuce, Broccoli, Swiss Chard, Cauliflower, and Kale that are in robust growth mode were all empty. I refilled the water bottles, and then measured the pH and dissolved solids (DS). Based on the results, I added more plant food for two of the trays before their scheduled feeding. I also harvested some Swiss Chard, Kale, and Arugula since the leaves were blocking the smaller plants in the trays.

AeroGarden Farm 02, Right Tray, Day 38. Romaine Lettuce (seed pods from AeroGarden). All plants are growing robustly. A second batch of leaves harvested yesterday (used for Caesar Salad). I noticed that the tops of some leaves were turning black. Research said to check pH (4.34) and dissolved solids (381 ppm). The pH should be between 5.5 and 6.5, and the dissolved solids between 500-700 ppm. So I added plant food before the next scheduled feeding in 4 days. The pH is now 5.7.

AeroGarden Farm 02 Right Tray at 38 days. R01-R09 Romain; Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/11, 1/40 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 03, Left Tray, Day 38. Broccoli, Swiss Chard, and Arugula (seeds from Botanical Interests). All Broccoli plants sprouted, but growth for two are being crowded by the Swiss Chard plant. Only one of the Swiss Chard plants sprouted, and is growing robustly. It was moved to position L10. Positions L03-L06 were plugged. The Arugula in position L11 an L12 came from a different Farm tray. After the picture was taken, harvested leaves from the Swiss Chard and Arugula plants. Measured the pH (6.16) and dissolved solids (312 ppm). The pH was OK (should be between 5.5 and 6.5), but the dissolved solids were low (should be between 500 and 700). So added plant food before the next scheduled feeding in 4 days.

AeroGarden Farm 03, Right Tray, Day 38. Cauliflower, Kale, and Cilantro (seeds from Botanical Interests). All Cauliflower plants sprouted, and are growing robustly. Two of the three Kale plants sprouted, and are growing. All Cilantro plants sprouted but are growing slowly. The Kale was moved to positions R07-R08 and will try to start another Kale plant for position R09. The Cilantro was moved to the front three positions R10-R12. Positions R04-R06 were plugged to allow more space for the Cauliflower and Kale. Measured the pH (6.50) and dissolved solids (562 ppm). The pH and dissolved solids were OK, so will wait until the next scheduled feeding. The cauliflower plant at R02 leaves were turning brown, so it was removed. The Cilantro plants are growing slowly and were being crowded by the larger Kale plants so were moved to a different Farm tray.

AeroGarden Farm 03 Right Tray at 28 days. R01-R03 Cauliflower; R07-R09 Kale; R10-R12 Cilantro; Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/11, 1/40 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Harvest - Swiss Chard, Kale, Arugula. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/5,6, 1/40 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE) — Harvest – Swiss Chard, Kale, Arugula. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/5,6, 1/40 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Tomato and Bean Soup with Swiss Chard, Kale, Arugula. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 320, 35 mm, f/5,6, 1/25 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

AeroGarden Farm 04, Right Tray, Day 14. The Basil at position R01 is doing well. The other Basil, Chives, Dill, Parsley, and Thyme plants are much smaller. The Oregano and Rosemary plants did not sprout. Measured the pH (4.89) and dissolved solids (747 ppm). The bowl was drained and refilled with 8.7 L rain water and 16 mL plant food. Measured the pH (5.89) and dissolved solids (525 ppm).

AeroGarden Farm 04 Right Tray at 14 days. R01-R03 Basil; R04 Genovese Basil; R05 Chives; R06 Dill; R07 Dill; R08-R09 Parsley; R10 Oregno; R11 Rosemary; R12 Thyme. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/11, 1/40 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE) — AeroGarden Farm 04 Right Tray at 14 days. R01-R03 Basil; R04 Genovese Basil; R05 Chives; R06 Dill; R07 Dill; R08-R09 Parsley; R10 Oregano; R11 Rosemary; R12 Thyme. Image taken with a Leica TL-2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 640, 35 mm, f/11, 1/40 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (63.2 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (7.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Clouds and rain most of the morning. At this time of the year the sun is lower, and the Sycamore tree leaves shadow the solar panels in the afternoon. Overall a net deficit of 56.1 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (427 kWh) from Sense and Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (176 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Overall a net deficit of 251 kWh. Of that 158 kWh is due to the new hydroponic systems.