RE: Growing the Perfect Salad & Making the Best Dressing
wow u have an impressive grow, i only have a humble balcony grow its about all i can manage, but salad is there, so easy but unfortunately i have a problem with fungus gnats, i just brought some fine mesh pop up covers, im going to harvest everything and change the soil and start a fresh. do u have any tips for conditioning the soil because im only using regular potting mix and small part of organic mix. I dont have a compost system yet, but im looking into how i can make that work in a small flat (i was also thinking about a wormary but as a vegan im feeling its a bit cruel to have worms confined inside a box, my roomie is worried its going to stink) I was looking into growing alfalfa to put some nitrogen in the soil do u think thats a solution. i literally only at beginners learning stage of growing and a bit baffled about the chemistry behind it all.
Glad to hear you have a place to grow something! I don't have experience with fungal gnats but can offer a few tips from my little knowledge.
First I would ask if you Grow sprouts or microgreens. That would be my choice if I were you. Within 2 weeks you can eat greens.
Worms are my choice for small Composting and WONT smell if done right. I respect your cruelty concerns, not sure how to address that. I was vegan 8.5 years and kept worms. They seemed happy to me (they were often procreating) and had good food to eat and got plenty of exercise ;)
As for soil, consider actively aerated compost tea AACT (its like farming bacteria, not sure if thats vegan though...). You could try Diatomaceous earth for gnats. Alfalfa is good N. also for NPK 10:1 diluted urine is a great DIY option (it's not vegan, but you can use your own).
Hope that helps
thank you for your extensive response. Ive looked online that if u are giving the worms a nice environment safe from predators it shouldnt be a vegan problem to have a wormary, but my main concern is that we rent our apartment to holiday makers in the summer approx 2-3 months ( i have to plan all my growing before and after this period- for this micro greens are a good option but i have loads of other seeds i need to use and want to experiment with)
potentially the wormary won’t smell because I can do it right by putting the right foods on it but I can’t expect my holiday guests to continue to look after the worms. I could ask the cleaner to take care of them once a week. Do they need food provided regularly? Like everyday or could once a week be ok?
Also where to put the wormary is an issue i read that the wormary should be away from direct sunlight and heat, it would need to be inside either under my sink as the kitchen tends to be quite cool even on sunny days as no direct sun gets in there, this is again my worry if it starts stinking. Do u have any advice on this matter? Because atm I feel like it isn’t going to work, is urine really the only other option? I think my partner might freak out if he knew I was watering them with urine but I guess its nature ><
thanks again