Detergent Review and Aquaponics Update

I am happy to report that the dishwasher detergent is working just fine.  If you have hard water, you may need to use a vinegar rinse aid.  I even ran the dishwasher without pre-rinsing and put greasy plates from making hamburgers in there.  All came out clean, using just a tablespoon of the detergent.

The drawbacks:  It never thickened.  It's watery, so you need a squeeze bottle to pour it.

I think it could also be used as a dish soap for hand washing dishes also.

A lot has been going on in the greenhut despite cold weather and very few sunshiny days.  I have discovered that celery grows like mad in there!  When I buy celery, I cut the bottom off and put it in the AP growbed.

It doesn't take long for it to look like this:

I harvest the leaves for cooking, the flavor is very intense and clean.

The strawberries are doing well, and we've even had a few blooms!  Have a look at the first berry of 2013!

And this crazy potato has really taken off....not sure what I'm gonna do with it!

This started as a shrivelled up half rotten potato that I just sat in the growbed to see what would happen...

Oh, and we're getting our first aquaponically grown broccoli crowns!

Notice how pale the broccoli leaves are?  We've got an iron defficiency going on in the big system.  The peas are all stunted and pale...

To solve the problem I'm using a powdered chelated iron.  I added a teaspoon to the main system and will be adding another teaspoon each week until I see an improvement.

This has been a neat experiment, and I'm looking forward to see how it does over the warmer months!

Speaking of looking forward to something.  I'm thinking maybe baby for Fiona.  I would LOVE to have a doe from her this year, especially since she bred to Sparta.

Her dam, Faith was bred to Sparta this year as well, and produced a beautiful buckling.  It will be interesting to see the kids from Fiona when bred to the same buck.