To start a new season we have prepared a nursery indoors and a second one "outdoors" inside of the greenhouse both with many aromatic herbs and leafy plants.
Conditions of the nursery indoors are better than the one inside of the greenhouse. Indoors we can keep an stable temperature higher than 21 degrees Celsius and we are using lamps to light and also to warm the nursery. In the greenhouse the temperature is not yet good enough to germinate the seeds so because of the cold conditions seeds need more days to germinate. In both cases we are using vermiculite to germinate the seeds and we are watering with water from the Aquaponics system to get some nutrients for the new shoots. As a result we have concluded that seeds on vermiculite sprout faster than with soil.
First seeds sprouting on the indoors nursery were Field Peas (Capucijners), Dill and Purple Basil. We have transplanted the Field Peas and Dill this week and next week we will transplant Purple Basil and new Chards sprouting already.
Our experience from previous seasons with the Aquaponics System in the old location told us that leafy plants are growing very well on the substrates we have. We are re-using lava rock and expanded clay pebbles from our last season where we have some perennial plants like Rosemary still alive and very helpful to keep the system running during the preparation of the new season. No doubt, Chard, Spinach and Leaf salads will be the queens of our system this season. We hope to share nice greens to eat in our restaurant very soon.