Tomatoes In January

by FrugalBabe on January 20, 2009

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Thought I’d share a picture of the fabulous tomatoes we ate this evening.  Fresh from our hydroponic garden in the crawlspace, they tasted like tomatoes you get in July.  There were many more ready to pick, but I stopped when the bowl started to overflow. 

Local, fresh, and always in-season.  Our hydroponic garden is working out even better than we had hoped.  We harvest greens every day (kale, collards, swiss chard, mustard), along with peppers and tomatoes every few days.  We’re on our second crop of greens, as most of the plants we put in last August ran their course after a few months.  The current crop is still going strong, but we’ve started some new seedlings to replace a few of the plants that are showing signs of bolting.  The tomatoes and peppers are still the original plants.  We’ve read that tomato plants can grow for 18 months, so I think we’ll get plenty more tomatoes from this crop.

Related posts:

  1. A Frugal Supplement For The Hydroponic Garden
  2. The Fruits Of Our Hydroponics
  3. A Hydroponic Garden
  4. Worms And Ladybugs
  5. A Greenhouse
  • Morning Money Memo

    Have you read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, yet? I just finished it and your post reminded of it.

  • http://www.cindybrick.blogspot.com cindy brick

    I have GOT to get me one of these!

    Seriously, this system is amazing. And I thought I was a smart cookie by getting the cold frame ready to plant. How’s your cold frame doing, by the way?

  • http://www.shopliftingwithpermission.com/2009/01/these-cat-deals-will-kill-me.html Carrie

    Wowie wow wow! I can’t believe that!

    How much does the electricity cost to run the lights? Do you worry about the lights being a fire hazard?

  • FrugalBabe

    I have read parts of Animal Vegetable Miracle, but not the whole thing. I love the concept though, and reading the whole book is on my to-do list!

    Our cold frame is doing great. We have a fluorescent light in it that has kept it from freezing, and amazingly enough there is plenty of growth going on in there, even in January. The arugula and mustard greens are doing great! The kale and swiss chard are growing, but slowly. I harvest greens from the cold frame about 1 – 2 times per week.

    We pay an additional $24/month to run the lights (hydroponic garden plus the cold frame outside). That price includes the extra surcharge we pay on our electricity bill for wind energy.
    As far as a fire hazard, we keep the area around the garden clean and free from debris, and keep the plants pruned back away from the lights. Nothing ever comes in contact with the lights, and they are designed for this purpose. So we feel quite safe with them.

  • Kristi

    I’m guessing you are feeling pretty pleased to be contributing to your family’s welfare in this special way. They are gorgeous. Didn’t you release some lady bugs in there a few months ago? Could we get an update about that?

  • FrugalBabe

    Kristi, the ladybugs are awesome! They completely fixed the whitefly problem we were having. The whiteflies are very tiny little bugs (you have to look hard to even see them) but they were really stunting the growth of our greens. Now that the ladybugs have moved in, the plants are growing very quickly again. I’m able to harvest greens nearly every day again :) We also put some of the ladybugs in out cold frame outside, and they’re doing great as well.

  • http://agaishanlife.blogspot.com Revanche

    Those look positively gorgeous! Now I long for a hydroponic garden …

  • FrugalBabe

    Rachel – they’re better than any tomatoes we’ve ever grown outside. They’re juicy, sweet, and wonderful, and we pick a bowl full every few days.

  • rachel

    Are the tomatoes honestly, truly as good as home-grown, summer tomatoes? Like, to-die-for good?

    If so, I seriously need to look into this.

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