Blogging from A to Z Challenge: Growing Lettuce with a Hydroponics System

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog by J.Q. Rose.
One week of words down. I hope you're having fun and getting a kick out of some of the words I've chosen to share with you.

~hydroponics~

the cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid nutrient solutions rather than in soil; soil-less growth of plants, Dictionary.com

My husband and I were in the floral business for nearly twenty years, so I was familiar with the term, hydroponics. But in the spring of 2017, hydroponics became very real to me when Gardener Ted decided to try growing lettuce and a few other plants using hydroponics. He has grown lots of vegetable and annual plants as well as foliage plants, mums, glads, and Easter lilies in our commercial greenhouses, and he plants a vegetable garden which produces delicious food all summer for our family in Michigan and a small garden in winter in Florida for us. Yes, he gardens twelve months out of the year. A dream come true for him.

Lettuce and other plants growing in a hydroponic system
Photo by J.Q. Rose

He was ready to try something new, so he set out to build his hydroponic system and raise plants. Learning how to grow healthy plants in water is definitely not like raising plants in soil! Figuring out how to move the water through the growing pipes, adding nutrients to the water, and keeping the pH at the right point was a real learning curve. And of course, the weather conditions change everything--warm, cold, windy, humid, etc.affect the demands of the plants to keep healthy.

Delicious speckled lettuce grown using the hydroponics system
Photo by J.Q. Rose

He followed through on producing lots of lettuce grown hydroponically, but the garden lettuce seemed to grow faster. I liked the hydro lettuce because it was clean when he cut it, whereas the garden lettuce had sand and soil on the leaves. So this spring he is planning to make improvements to his system and experiment some more with hydroponics. I'll keep you updated as to his progress this year.

Are you a gardener? Do you have experience with hydroponic growing? 

Dangerous Sanctuary by J.Q. Rose
Pastor Christine Hobbs never imagined
she would be caring for a flock that includes
a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.

Advice?? Thank you.

Click here for the MASTER LIST
of all participants who signed up
for the #AtoZchallenge 2018!

Sunday, April 8--I had fun visiting with Linda Hill on her blog, Linda's Book Bag, Staying in with J.Q. Rose. If you have time, I hope you'll hop on over as we enjoy  a pizza and discussion of my romantic suspense novel, Dangerous Sanctuary. Click here to visit this RNA Industry Award Winning Blog for Blog Star of the Year 217.

Happy Birthday, Signs of Spring, Vegetable Gardening, Growing Lettuce, Romance Readers Want to Know,

Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog.

About thirty plus years ago, I gave birth to a pink bundle of joy we named Lee Ann. She was such a smiley newborn, the nurses asked permission to use Lee Ann to demonstrate how to bathe a baby for the new mothers in the maternity ward. And yes, indeed she was the smiling star. To this day, she is a beautiful, smart young woman who smiles a lot.

Lee Ann and J.Q. at a make-up demo at Merle Norman Cosmetics.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE ANN!

I hope you're finding signs of spring in your corner of the world. Mother Nature sometimes has a difficult time transitioning from harsh winter weather to gentle, warm temperatures in March. Usually it's a mixed bag of cold and warm that month. (Secretly I think she suffers from PMS during March.)

Have you seen spring creeping over your landscape?

We're preparing to head north which means Gardener Ted is getting seeds started for the Michigan garden. The seed flats are a sign of spring for me. Today he brought in some gorgeous lettuce from the Florida garden.

Sitting out on the picnic table in the backyard, are tiny seedlings he has planted for Up North.

Green pepper plants popping up. 
You can barely see some of them, no bigger than a pencil lead.

Teeny tiny lettuce seedlings in foreground. Begonias in background.

These lettuce plants are ready to be planted in our Florida garden, but depending on the weather and how soon we leave, we may not be able to harvest. But he just can't throw them away now, can he? No.

Lettuce ready to be transplanted.

No wonder gardeners are always optimistic when spring comes. They are a part of  the miracle hidden in seeds. From this tiny, seemingly lifeless form, a vegetable or a flower grows. Such mystery. The garden reminds me of the mystery of the Easter resurrection. 

You're a gardener whether you plant a plot of ground, a pot on your deck, or a small bowl filled with lettuce plants sitting by your back door. They're all good and offer the opportunity to play in the dirt. How about you? Do you grow plants, vegetable or flowering? What's your favorite vegetable to grow in the garden? 

If you're interested in starting a garden, Gardener Ted shares many helpful tips in the ebook, Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening: Starting Your Garden. Click the cover below to download a sample and/or purchase a copy for yourself.

Romance Readers Want to Know
Every Thursday on the J.Q. Rose Blog

Come back on Thursday, March 10, when author Shirley Martin answers the questions her readers want to know.

Take some time today to look for spring!