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Well, this is my third season trying to grow my own vegetables and if I had to depend on the bounty of my garden I would have starved too death long ago. My latest plunder was so stupid on my part that I had to start this embarrassing thread.
SEASON1
In the first year, I looked at the yard and determined that the only place on the property that got enough sun to possibly grow veggies was dead in the middle of the front yard near the street. It was late in the season and I wanted to get it going fast. I purchased untreated 2x4 lumber from the closest source. I could have gotten it for slightly less expense from Lowe's but the fuel to get there would have offset any savings (not to mention the additional thirty minute drive each way). I used spikes to set the first layer of lumber to the ground and built two 4ft x 16ft beds. At the same time I contracted with a local nursery to deliver a truck load of compost. The next day I determined that the "compost" was actually topsoil harvested from a local farm, plenty of organic mater, as in leaves, twiggs, sticks, cow manure, and rocks (from the size of pebbles to boulders). Three afternoons later, armed with a wheel barrel, a section of ¼ inch mesh wire & a shovel I had the "compost" seperated into: a) the beds, b) a pile of stone & c) the stuff that had not been screened yet. And still I was no where near filling my beds with planting medium. Back to the store where I bought my lumber - they had Peat moss in large bales. I cannot tell you how many I purchased, I loaded the Escort on two trips. Ok I may have overloaded it a bit as the tailpipe was dragging the ground.
I spread the peat moss throughout the beds and turned it into the compost as well as I could by hand. By this time my carefully started tomato plants (from purchased seed) had all died from neglect, lack of sun & water. What too do? Buy plants! I bought plants from a local farmer & from Lowe's and when I went to plant them in these "perfect" beds , I found that my wifes cats had decided that I had in fact built them the worlds largest kitty litter box! Back to the store, fence post, rabbit fencing, chicken coop wire.
I actually got a few good tomatoes. They probably cost about 33.00 a pound but they tasted better than what I could buy at the grocery store.
I had planted a few broccoli plants late in the year for a (hopefully) fall crop. As I got home late one afternoon & needed to water stuff (heck I had enough stuff dying left and right). I watered the garden and neglected to close the gate properly, of course the danged hillbilly cats got in there and used the beds for a litter box as was evidenced by the unmistakable digging. The thing that struck me was the fact that the broccoli planted near where they dug sprang up and grew profusely. Ok the beds need more nutrients? right?
SEASON 2
Lowe's has a special on bagged compost! That should take care of the nutrient problem. Bought a bunch of it, never got it down because of a hip replacement operation at the University Of Virginia (another really long story). Then got it into the garden, too late in the season to do anything and I was in no condition to grow anything. Could not get the walker around well enough to get down the front steps. That pretty well covers that season.
This SEASON!
The soil in the beds looks good! I have killed so many seedlings in the last two years that I am not trying much in the "start from seed mode" so go to Lowe's and buy plants, use the electric tiller to turn every thing in and start planting!
I have killed everything - because I was way to smart for myself. I figure that if coffee grounds are so good for both plants and worms then "left over" coffee must be good also so I poured it into the watering jug without realizing that it would raise the PH level to an unacceptable level for my beloved tomato plants.
Note: If you can grow it, I can figure out how to kill it without intending to!
The warning is - talk to your fellow gardeners that have more experience, they can stop you from making expensive mistakes, and were I relying on a crop for food to sustain me?
LOL Dyson! Your gardening lessons are costing you as much as a good college education, aren't they!? But, hopefully, you're having fun doing it. And look at it this way--not only are you starving to death but your getting lots of workout time to burn what few calories you might have had left! Hope you have better luck next year. Put that bionic hip to good use. I have a couple of bionic body parts to help me with my gardening these days too.
What a great thread! Boy have we learned to. We learned that we can't grow tomatoes from seed to save our lives. Our plants are spindly and with no strength so we buy them now. I read an extensive thread on how to grow tomatoes from seed on Dave's here, great wealth of info, but just to much for me to handle right now. With limited time (young kids under foot) the best we can hope for is even planting our own food! And from the store plant it will still taste 100 times better than the grocery store baseballs. :)
I have not had the pleasure of going through an airport metal detector since the operation but I am really looking forward to that ordeal.
Maybe next time I need to fly somewheres I will just build a set of fake wings and then fake actually getting there.
I am really hoping that the heavy storms that have hit here in the last three days have diluted the soil in the beds enough to bring the PH back down enough that what is still alive remains so. I bought a PH test kit and will use it tomorrow. If my eye sight is still good enough to interpret it I should be able to amend the soil & keep the remaining few plants alive.
At this point I am not even worried about a harvest. I just want to know that I can keep a plant in a semi living state.
Oh, lordy, the things I've learned too! This is my third year with a yard. I've learned that the only tomatoes that will grow well for me are cherry tomatoes. I'll keep trying the bigger ones, but for some reason they just won't produce for me. Asparagus needs more water than you think it does. Mercifully we've recently had some soaking rains and that's how I know. All of a sudden an explosion of growth. Okay, maybe I'll have to stash a sprinkler by the asparagus bed... Basil behaves like a weed. Thankfully I love the stuff, but it self-seeds EVERYWHERE. Rosemary, when in full sun and well-drained soil, will try to take over the world. Leaf lettuce is hardier than you think and will survive a frost if covered with a sheet. Eggplant loves hot weather, bless it's heart! It gets hotter than the hammers of Hades here in Savannah, and I love eggplant. The Dreaded Squash Vine Borer will break your heart. Don't believe them when they tell you peppers are a hot weather crop. Hot weather will stop them in their tracks, at least mine... So far I've had my best success with herbs, but I'll keep on keeping on with veggies... God, how I love digging in the dirt!
My first veggie garden, just a couple of years ago, I planted 7 tomato plants too many. No one told me they would produce so many tomatoes! My neighbors thought I was crazy for growing so many of them.
Dyson, as usual, you are good for a great ROTFLOL kind of laugh. . . and I thought the tomatoes in the grocery store were expensive!!!
Now I don't have any bionic parts but my DH does--he has a mechanical heart valve and we both have pacemakers. You should see the security people look askance at us when we tell them we both have pacemakers and we both have to be "patted down" by hand (now THERE"S an experience!) --can't go through their little magnetic gate or whatever they call it. They say, without fail: "You BOTH have pacemakers?" like we would make up something like that for some weird reason! It would serve them right if we decided to go through their "gate" and just see what happens. The thing is, I don't know if we would "zap" the gate or the gate would "zap" us. Better not try it--I don't want to be electrocuted by my pacemaker! LOL
Better luck with the veggies next year. (I knew there was a reason I don't grow veggies.)
Marilyn
Hubby had his ankle fused and the doc added several large screws. It took a total of nine months for him to completely heal so, needless to say, he got quite bored. I used to take him for an outing at least a couple of times a week. First time we went out it was to our Home Depot. We got him one of those little motorized buggies to ride around in and when he went through the door, he set the alarm off. Two people came to check him out and I said, "Hey, we're going IN, not OUT! We explained about the screws and everyone got a good laugh. HD folks explained that they were aware they needed to have their alarm company come back out and adjust their system. These bionic body parts can be interesting at times, LOL!
Dyson, ROFL at your story and it has happened to us all, inexperienced or not. Love your sense of humor and you hold onto that, comes in handy often. DH has had knee repl. and gets "wanded" anytime we fly. Also, a good resource for questions is your county extension agent.
LOL, funny!!!
Yesterday we discovered a weeping almost dead squash plant Hubby was beside himself. He had babied this one plant. Found a white worm looking thing. I killed that bug but went to inspecting the other plants and yes something has got into the stems, so Hubby tells me go get on your computer and hurry and find out how to get rid of these things. I do cant find the answer so he is on the phone calling his mom, their not home. Then he is calling a friend, they are not home. He is frantic now and calling everyone he can think of. Finally gets someone on the phone and they say hmmmmmmm, Ive never had them before. He is like what do they just like my garden. So now its to the store to buy bug be gone or liquid 7. I didnt want to use any chemicals but I sure dont want them critters eating my plants either.
We are also living and learning. Hubby wanted to do the garden the traditional way, as his grandpa taught him many moons ago, now I have him convinced into a raised sectioned off bed. He is sick of watching the grass grow better in the garden than in the yard. He says he knows how now to get the grass to grow in the yard, till it and plant veggies.
You can use Bacillus Thuringensis(sp) better known as Bt or Dipel. It's considered organic, and kills caterpillars and such. There are things that can be injected into the stems that will kill off the "worms", or you can slit the stems lengthwise, pull them out, and bury the cut part, which should heal.
Ha!, I noticed while tilling out an old neglected bed how much better the soil seemed to be than in the rest of the yard. I also noticed how much better the rocks seem to grow there. Now, where can I find a market for these rocks?
Thanks I will see if I can get the Bt. We did go out there and flush out the cut part with water and buried the stalk up. They seem to be doing ok now. Lost 2 plants yesterday.
I hear ya about growing rocks. It seems they grow well here also. Along with sticks.
My rocks are mostly sandstone so not good for anything. I do have a gold fish pond If I could just find some usable rocks. Going on vacation this weekend and will pick up some there at the lake house. :)
I have not yet read "The $64 Tomato" but have put it on my list of things to read during the winter.
Now it is off to the store to spend some more money that I do not have on yet more planting materials for the bed that I an trying to refurbish and make into a herb bed.
I was right there too last year. Bought everything on the shelf (and some things probably more than once!) in my anti-ground squirrel attempts. These are obviously south-of-the-border ground squirrels--they actually went for the tomatoes with the pepper spray over the ones without--ditto for the garlic spray. I think they were making salsa...
Did you get a good salsa recipe from them? This year if I get a ripe tomato, I will be amazed at my good fortune. "Squirrel Gravy" comes to mind, & I have thought of trying to get the Hillbilly Cats on the menu at a local restaurant.
They never would share... I think it was a family secret.
I periodically think about something similar with the neighbor's cats who have been frequenting my back yard in search of "the facilities". On the other hand, I don't have ground squirrel problems this year and I"m wondering if there's a connection: predator present, prey goes elsewhere... natural control, works for me! So I guess I'll just get out the pooper scooper I thought I'd retired, and thank my lucky stars that I'm the one eating the tomatoes this year!
The cats came here because I was overrun with mice, but at the rate they multiply I need a few mice to feed them. Somewheres there has to be a happy balance. Anyone got any mice they can spare?
BT is sold under the commercial name of Dipel. It will only work on the larva, so you're going to have to the slit the stem get the critter method, with your squash, I'm afraid. Try planting some radishes to act as a "trap crop" to draw off the squash beetles.
Dyson, I doubt very much the pouring coffee in your bed is the source of your acidic problem, you'd need it by the tractor trailer load, however, peat moss is very acidic and that's probably where that's coming from, some lime worked in the bed should help off set the acidity.
If you can grow cherry tomatoes you CAN grow the big one's as well. You might check with your local extension office for some help with that. Normally there are Master Gardeners who can answer your questions and have a good idea about local "quirks" in the microclimate. :)
Love this thread, ya'll got great senses of humor!
Dyson--lol! Sorry to hear about your losses, but your sense of humor about it is wonderful.
I'm a novice gardener myself, but if there is one book that I would highly recommend for you it would be "The New Organic Grower" by Eliot Coleman. Don't be put off by the title--yes some of it is written with the market gardener in mind but there's a wealth of information for home and market gardener alike. Two autumns ago when I was preparing a new area for my garden for use last spring I used his soil amendment recommendations (along with some additional manure) and my garden was outstanding. His suggestions are very basic and simple--usually lime, phosphate rock and greensand along with compost, etc.
Btw I don't get any reimbursement for my suggestion ;) I'm just a huge fan of his and his wife's work and have found their books invaluable in my gardening endeavors. A friend of mine used his same suggestions for when she got her little tomato patch ready last fall and this year her tomatoes are thriving. Just a suggestion. Good luck!
marsue, I reckon that your salsa recipe calls for tomatoes? I'll take a rain-check on that till I actually have some of them.
I haven't even looked at the garden today. It is getting too depressing. Anyone got the number for the gardeners version of the suicide prevention hot line? Maybe I will just sit out there and expire with my plants, It maybe interesting to see which of us goes first.
Greensand, also known as Glauconite, is a mineral mined from natural deposits of glauconite located in the Southern part of New Jersey. These deposits are of marine origin and are composed primarily of iron-potassium silicate, which gives it its bluish green color.
Benefits of Greensand:
* All natural source of potassium
Espoma® Greensand contains 6% total potash, an essential nutrient required by plants that contributes to overall hardiness and good health. This potash solubilizes very slowly and therefore is available to plants at relatively small amounts at any one time.
* Loosens clay soils
The sand-like particle size and rounded shape of greensand helps prevent the interlocking of soil particles and thereby loosens the soil.
Marsue--I'll just take this straight from E.C.'s book, page 95:
"Greensand Marl (Glauconite): An ancient seabed deposit containing some potassium, but principally included as a broad-spectrum source of micronutrients."
Dyson--the growing season is not over, and your's is a heck of a lot longer than mine! If your plants are a lost cause, you may want to consider pulling them. I'd also get a soil test on your beds so you know exactly where you stand soil-wise. If that's not an option for any reason I would agree with doccat5 that adding some lime to your soil would really help with the acidity. If you wanted to, you could start over and the next few weeks would be the ideal time for putting in fall crops. You could still have time to put in broccoli (the broccoli I intend to grow is still in the seed packet, will start it soon) beets, spinach and the like.
This year I plan on doing some "four-season gardening" which means I hope to have some greens available under my coldframes come this winter. I'm sure I'll screw it up ;) but that's how I'll learn to do it better next year. :)
Dyson, don't give up. You actually have time to start over, if you want. I had a pretty disappointing garden so far, but I'm ging to keep trying, I think. Today I'm going to replant green beans, summer squash and start my pumpkins and winter squash. Plant some 'mater seeds for August plant out. Just put in more corn and okra. Maybe I'm tilting at windmills, but I haven't given up _quite_ yet.
Could be I'll join you soon enough if we don't get any rain, tho. I remeber rain, I think. Isn't that when water falls from the sky in little drops?
Thanks for the info on greensand, Darius and Niere. If it loosens clay soils then I really need to get some. About all we have down here is clay soil! :o((
Thank you everyone for the words of encouragement. I finished refurbishing the old flower bed and will post pics of the process on this thread soon. The Hillbilly cats are already using it for a litter box and I can find neither that roll of chicken coop wire nor the 12guage.
I found the chicken coop wire - but lost a hard drive with the recent pics (I back up often, but not that often). I do not think that the chicken coop wire will help with data recovery, and neither the 12 gauge (which I still have not found). Did find some shells, but they look older than I am. I know it was in one of those closets at some time in the last 5 or was that 7 years?
Dyson, have you tried uploading your photos to the web? Picasa (free photo software) has a website (also free) where you can upload as many as 4000 photos to your own private website. Only those who are invited by you can see your photos. No danger of losing your pictures to a crashing computer.
Dyson, if this was football and I was the coach, I would be looking for a new job. I have had three losing seasons in a row. My kids and neighbors are asking why is it that the tomato plants are so tall with so many leaves and there are no tomatoes. And why is it that the squash plants are turning brown. My wife wants to know if she should be looking for something fresh from the store, how much money was spent on the new raised beds, and on and on.
I am thinking there is nothing wrong with our methods. It seems to me that this is nothing more than a generation problem, and you and I just might be in the wrong generation for gardening. When I was at home, my parents raised a garden each year and got their seeds and plants at the local feed store. As I recall, they just threw them onto the ground and stood back and watched them grow. Other than plowing, they never did anything special to the soil, never had a crop failure, and never had to answer 21 questions.
Marsue - I barley have time to download the pics from the camera to the computer - more time on the net?
fiddle - I will not give up, on anything I have decided to do - ever. And one day, Probably soon, that attatude will put me in the ground. But at least there I will become compost instead of trying to make it.
Finally got this machine back up & on line, now I have a lot of software to load.
Sorry for the lost pics, but at least I found the chicken wire (and some shells for the shotgun). Don't know if I would trust them though. Maybe they should be a part of history.
fiddle - I distinctly remember my stepfathers garden in Gloucester Va., He had a 5 acre plot, with the back 4 acres devoted to garden. I picked green beans forever, the compost pile was made of railroad timbers.
The first time I turned the garden with the Case tractor I ran it through the fence. That is a painful memory.
wanna get rid of moles? Sprinkle fertilizer with iron in it. Moles HATE it. We did that to control moss in our north facing front yard in Seattle (I myself liked the moss but DH who insisted on walking on it & slipping on his keister down the yard) did not. We had a concomitant mile problem that was rapidly solved for the next four years with just 1 application.
edit : mile should actually be "mole" - makes more sense
I have never grown tomatoes before this year. I was sucessful with the plants and they did not have any bugs or problems. Now I want to grow some for the fall and winter months but don't know how to do that. Can anyone give me some advise. I have a heated greenhouse.
If you have a temperature controlled place to grow them, I would think you can do things exactly the same way-I don't think shorter days will keep them from responding to heat and sunshine.
Good luck
marsue - you know that mole is acting like a little underground rototiller, right? Aerating your heavy soil, doing good things? Felt I just had to add that after dreaming about miles rubbing their little moley eyes - woke me up in fact.
Kamikid, how are your plants? Mine are still going strong, and I expect them to produce until frost, they did last year. They did quit setting fruit during the hottest time (like now:)) but started again in the fall. If you want to grow new varieties, it's may be a bit late to start new plants, but you could try suckers from the plants you have. Then again, if you have the seed, why not try some in a 15-20 gallon containers, so you could protect it if need be?
Stormy: our mole seems to have disappeared without any help from us. I don't know where he/she went but it doesn't appear to be making any more "trails" in the lawn or flowerbeds.
I wish I could grow tomatoes successfully. I seem to have a black thumb when it comes to growing tomatoes. :o((
Dyson I probably resemble that resemblance of the frustrated project manager lol. I have spent far to much growing tomatoes but at least now I have it and it;s been automatic since I got mad and went to war against the cool elaments of the maritime Pacific NorthWest with it's fog ,rain and 40 degree nights
Stormy, more info on the fertilizer, please? Moles are running rampant on at least 4 acreas of our place. Yes, they are mini-rototillers and I do appreciate all their hard work, but it's time for them to move on.
Fiddle no thanks it was hot hot hot here in high 70s thats hot enough for me. I would die at 100 and surely would at 107. Yep I am doing the big M again this year and they are spanking Big Beef and Big Boy and mortgauge lifter and brandywine red and yellow and and and and even Prudens purple.Most are just over a pound and an ounce. Just look up Fiddle there they are. Here is a different plant or plants.
We planted late, so ours are just starting to come in. I've got Big Boys, German Johnsons, and several heritage types that are getting there, but slowly. I also bought another dozen plants from the local farmers market and we got those in Sunday. They are all acclimated for my area and all heritage types. The gal that saves the seed is a true tomato freak and asks you share your opinion on the taste and their growing habits.
I have cukes and squash coming out my ears. They taste soooooooo good!
Msrobin - there are fertilizers with added iron (prominent on front of packaging not just fine print) & simply bags of iron - my fav garden center (Zone * Gardens in Wilmington, NC) has 5# bags of it. Spread no heavier than packaging recs - byebye moles. Probably burns their little moley eyes or messes up their little moley sense of smell.
Oh Dyson, I didn't want to laugh, but you tell a good story. We would have starved if we depended on my garden this year too. I start my own plants in the spring, and only ended up with 2 tomato plants. One doesn't even have tomatoes yet. I container planted kohlrobi, radish and turnip. Nothing grew well and it's all in the compost pile. I only planted 16 hills of potatoes. Not enough for winter, and we decided we don't care that much for swiss chard. I don't think I have enough green beans to can. The cabbage is good, but my brussels sprout leaves look like swiss cheese. The peppers are just setting on and the eggplant has one blossom.
LOL I am so glad I found this thread..
This is my first garden, and well I wish it had gone better.. Rabbits got all the corn, so I re planted, they got them too and the third planting well the story remains the same. Dont know how they got in there, but I gave up on the corn and green beans. Then some kind of yucky worm got my jalapenos and yellow peppers and green bell peppers and yellow bell peppers. So squash was growing good, all three kinds, went on vacation and the person who was watering was not watering enough. The lemon cukes all two plants have taken over with no fruit showing. I have a pumpkin plant that is holding on, I hope so Billy can have a pumpkin this Halloween. Dont get me started on the tomato's, out of 8 plants I bought at 4 bucks a plant, only two are still growing.
Today I harvested a lemon cuke so small it would fit in Billys hand..
But I am not giving up, and there is always next year..
Thanks for the laughter and I know that I am not the only one with garden issues.
Personally, I'm far from a "beginner gardener" - I began when my mother moved into the house she still lives in waaay back when I was eight years old - I'll be 65 this month. We used to do experiments - she would plant something, and I would plant the same variety next to hers - mine would live, hers would die! She proclaimed one day that I could make dead sticks grow, and from then on left me to do all the planting!
I had tears in my eyes, ROTFLOL, your story was so funny I read it out loud to my DH, who said he thought you may be making it up, but after reading the rest of the post to your thread we both know that you have a true, but very funny sense of humor about your garden. We're in our 2nd year of gardening and I'm" proud" to say I'm getting "very little" from the garden as far as vegetables I planted, but I am getting a few of this and a few of that. Example: 8 tomatoe plants, so far I have had 3 little tomatoes, to eat, green bean bushes, I have 8 total, I think I picked 2 handfuls of beans, not enough to even boil the water to cook any, I chopped them fresh into a salad, the different types of peppers, I had little ones mature too soon, so i had a handful to chop into salads, yes, I even grew my own lettuce too, and between the itty bit of stuff I got out of the garden, we were able to have a nice salad each nite for dinner, without the tomatoes, but here again, I'm lucky I guess, I at least got something out of my plantings. And I'm going to try even harder on the fall garden, and get an early start, as soon as I feel the temps going back down I'll be out there, either planting by seed, or else doing the HD thing and putting already rooted plantings in, I want a garden, and fresh vegetables. I will keep trying till I have no more in me, and yes, I have a titanium plate in my cervical spine,( c-3 through c7, with 8 screws) so doing what I love to do can be painful, I still get enjoyment out of it. And you've made my day after reading your story. Keep up the good work, and keep us all posted, you'll get it right sooner or later, the fun is in trying!! And it keeps us doing things, that if you quit now, you'll never do it again :) see my pics of the bounty LOL
here's another pic of a different batch from an earlier time, talk about little fruits, I didn't even get a picture of the tomatoes I picked, I was in such a hurry to eat them , I forgot to take the pictures LOL
oh, BTW, I've traveled and never had a problem with my cervical spine plate, even went to the Dominic Republic and no problem, they say new body parts aren't picked up by the x-ray machines and I guess there correct?? anyone else have an experience??
I think I was fortunate there is a field that has been idle for more than 20 years next to our house.I smiled to myself when I could see the dirt was fine, it did not keep standing water anytime of year and was soft and easy to shovel and didn`t need much done to it. Someone years ago must have gardened here already! I was given permission to lay down strips of plastic mulch that is breathable allowing moisture and nutrients in yet it kills weeds to make about a 12 by 60 foot garden. That was about 70 dollars worth of plastic and stakes to pin it to the ground but it is supposed to last it said 20 years and I have extra material for spot repairs. At first I worried the wind would blow the plastic into the lake and it would be done with before it got started but in time it settled down and it took a lot of garden stakes to pin down places that kept coming lose. I waited a while until the grass died underneath and cut holes in the plastic and planted stuff. Now the plants are growing like there is no tomorrow. I did work in a small amount of vegetable fertilizer in each spot where I planted. So far for bugs I have used pyrethrin spray which comes from the pyrethrin daisy and is a natural insecticide not harmful to mammals and also soap spray every 7 days and it is working. I don`t use a lot and concentrate on getting the spray under leaves more than anything else. This years garden has been a blessing after years of just growing flowers! I said I was cutting back on some of the flowers and my husband said,"Yeah!!" :)
What started out the perfect year for growing has produced nothing, for a lot of people. Everyone I ask in my area is in the same boat.
I picked 5 of my drying tomatoes last night and set them on the table by the door. It's the only tomatos getting ripe. Next thing I know my grandkids had a mouthful and ate them all up!
I just discovered this thread. It is sooo funny because it is so true. The amount of money I have sunk into my veggie garden this year (screened topsoil/lumber/fencing/mulch/compost/organic fertilizer/etc) could have bought me a small island.
Drooling over those seed catalogs like a crack addict and buying every possible vegetable seed under the sun in the hope that 'I must be able to fit it all in SOMEWHERE' is definitely not the way to go.
33.00 per pound for tomatoes is cheap. Mine are probably closer to 50.00. In the end, I tossed about 20 or so perfectly good tomato plants in my composter as I'd grown them from seed and had nowhere to put them. And whoever invented tomato cages obviously has never grown any, as they still take over the world regardless.
where or where have my tomatoes goin, hubby went for a ride today and brought home 5 big maters from a road side stand, and I had a great time slicing one up, and salt and peppering it, and than putting mayo on it, than eating it, wondering what happen to my own maters in the back yard garden!! Nothing happening back there, 8 plants, with 2 new ones added make 10, and not one tomato! I'm disgusted but am hoping that after the heat, they'll produce, God willing! help me survive this, I want my own tomatoes!! And I'm jealous of the pictures on here.
Jamibad, having gardened in FL for many years, this is probably not your time for 'maters. I grew them in Lauderdale and Loxahatchee, and you want to be planting them in the fall and early (like January) spring. I never had much luck with them producing after the summer, but occasionally I did get a few tomatoes in the fall. Those were plants that had been growing for many months before the heat, so they may have just been tired.
When were your 8 (the earliest ones) planted? The "new" ones should do fine after it cools down (which is a relative term, for FL *G*)
Your best bet is to head over to the Tomato Forum, and look for the FL bunch. Haven't been there for a while, I'll see if they're posting now, and let you know.
thanks catmad, I planted in early May and than after only 1 plant produced 2 tomatoes, little ones, it stopped, I used my homemade compost, egg shells, coffee grinds, and fertilizer to no avail. I went out and bought 2 plants that were very bushy, and actually put them into their own big buckets, I planted them according to the directions I read on here, and am hoping they produce something before the snow falls, lol, so far no flowers are blossoming on them, and as for the other 8 their standing tall, but here again, nothing going on. So I wait and buy when I want a good tomato to eat, I can say 1 thing that is growing in my garden, jalapeno's, they are popping out so quick, I can't do enough to get them picked and either stuffing them with cheese, or making relish with them, I planted 8 of them and I wish my tomatoes produced like them, lol and i have basil, and mint, and rose mary, all growing fine, squash and cucumbers are yuck too, I got 1 cucumber out of 4 plants, lot's of blossoms, and yes, I went out and tried to hand pollinate but no luck. I picked 1 acorn squash and have 2 still growing, and the cucumber plants look healthy, but nothing growing. This is my first time growing a garden here, I hope it's just a fluke, but I'm going to keep trying. I'm hard headed and I want fresh vegetables !!So feel free to give me advise, I think I'm going to go to Ace and buy there soil tester, maybe to much salt in the ground, since I live 3 blocks off the ocean ? I have the garden on the west side of my shed so it keeps the winds off the plants, but yet everything looks healthy, just no fruit on the vines?? Crying:( OK, give me some advice, thanks
if you want to see more pictures go to facebook, and type in my name, jami badala, and see the garden pics,, I keep a lot of pictures posted there so family and friends can view my wonderful hobbies, lol
Those are Cupplant - Silphium perfolatum, and they reseed like crazy. The leaves clasp completely around it and hold water for small insects and hummingbirds.They are tough as nails to dig, so they stay by the compost pile now till I find a better place for them. We had so much rain they are over 10' tall. When I, ahem, dug them from where I dug them, they were only 4' tall ;o)
