Ok that sounds good.. You have just about got me back into trying again to set one up tonly inside the house this time.
I have a man-made Pond, and have used the water from it many times for my plants without problems. I use fish emulsion the fertilized my seedlings because it's gentle. From online: Due to the rich nutrient profile of pond water, it can serve as organic fertilizer for plants. Plant fertilizer will typically contain nitrogen and phosphorus, which are vital for proper plant growth. As pond water has relatively high concentrations of these elements, it is often called “fertile water”.Jun 6, 2021
For my area of the country (Long Island) the experts and just about every book I've read on gardening recommend not planting crops before the frost free date of May 15th. This I felt was good advice for seeds that required a warm soil to germinate, like squash, melon, and cukes. For my tomato seedlings I tried a different approach, I had them in the ground as early as the middle of March as long as the ground was not frozen. Being anxious to do some gardening I Tried a different method on about 8 -10 of my tomato plants every year, I would leave some of my tomato plants for warmer weather at later planting just in case. I would prepare a bed in the fall for the following Season. This meant[ weeding, cultivating so that the soil would be moderately loose for the spring planting. I would start my tomato seedlings a few weeks earlier to have a larger plant for the spring. My goal was to get these plants in between middle of March to the middle of April. The first day in March that the soil was workable I would dig all my plants holes and place a gallon milk or juice container that had the labels removed and the bottom cut out leaving a lip around the bottom Edge. I would put these containers down with a turning action to dig it into the soil, the soil on the lip help secure it. The containers acted like Mini hot houses. I let the containers sit thru a sunny day to warm the soil, then remove the containers and plant my tomatoes, then reinstall the containers. I leave the covers for the containers off at the start, however if the weather got really cold or snowy I placed the covers back on, and remove them when it got a little warmer. My neighbor would say " there not going to grow until it gets warm" it's true there was very little growth but because the root system was established when it did get warm my plants out grew his 3 to1and tomatoes That would be harvested in July I was now harvesting in June. When you pull containers off, the tomato leaves have a different color, that's okay they will go back to their normal color, I believe the color change is because the containers have a Milky color. This method is a lot of work and it's not for everyone just a crazy Gardener like me who likes trying different things. Happy Gardening
Longas it works for you its not crazzy,imo. I use plastic over raised beds with PVC hoops to hold up plastic. and sometimes put a coleman lantern under the plastic. But since if we plant a garden this fall I may try your milk carton thingy for just a few plants. We have so much to do in fall already don't need more work. Thanks for info.
You probably can use hotkaps instead of milk containers. The only problem with hotkaps is if it is early enough in the season to get a little snow, they might collapse.
The milk containers can work well if you remove the caps to prevent incidental overheating, and some folks drive a stake beside and tie the handle toit to prevent the strong wind from blowing them over. Hotkaps and Walls o' Water can be used too. I just start most things inside under lights and plant them outside at the appropriate time, but we have different climate than many people.
I received a tip from a farmer at a farm stand, he said if you grow onions bulbs, plant them close together, after a couple/ few weeks harvest every other onion as spring onions, leave the remainder to grow to maturity.
Where you live is also a factor in aquaponics,imo. We tried it and its just too hot down here in Fl..
With aquaponics you lso have to add iron .I learned so much from guys like YouTube Or just rusty nails like below, blob:https://www.youtube.com/db1b1aad-9f9f-489d-94f4-97cdb663e333