Recent Articles
My Tomato Planting Adventures
12 years ago guest post, pests, tomato 1 Comment
Tomato Plants are not known for being forgiving. They are not beginner plants. Tomatoes give seasoned gardeners nightmares. So why is it that I keep torturing myself by trying and trying to grow them?
Maybe I like a challenge.
Maybe I think that I’ll do better with a difficult crop, since my luck with “easy” plants is sporadic at best.
Maybe I really like Salsa.
Ok, so it’s mostly that last one. I like to do things for myself, and making salsa with my own tomatoes would be awesome.
Of course, my need to do everything for myself is part of my problem. When I first decided that I was going to take on tomatoes, I wanted to start from the very beginning, no pre-grown seedlings for me. I read up on how to grow my own seedlings and then I found the tip that was going to save me time, effort, and frustration.
I could direct-sow my seeds right in the garden as long as there was four months between frosts in my area! That was perfect! As soon as it started to get warm I would plant my seeds and I’d have tomatoes in no time.
So I spent the entire second weekend of March preparing my “garden” (an unearthed portion of my back yard). I had the hose system all prepared so I wouldn’t get water on the leaves or fruit; I’d read about those nasty black spots. I had chosen an area that had a decent sun/shade ratio, so I was happy with that. I had chosen the perfect tomato cages for when it was time to use them. I sat down Sunday night, exhausted, but with the taste of homemade salsa on my mind.
That Wednesday my heart broke because of frost. I swore I’d never enjoy snow again.
I looked at the weather report. I read gardening blogs. Looks like I had jumped the gun. Apparently Mother’s Day is a really popular day to plant tomatoes. Seedlings, of course, but supposedly it only took 5-6 weeks to grow seedlings. I still had plenty of time. But I wasn’t going to take a shortcut this time. I decided to pot them.
Two weeks later, I had managed to drown all of my newly planted tomato seeds. I was told by a friend that there was no way the seeds could survive the daily dousing I’d been giving them, so I didn’t end up living with false hope that I’d have tomatoes any time soon.
By this time, I was frustrated. I stayed home from work for two days and read everything I could about planting tomatoes. I was going to try this one more time.
I used a special seedling soil mix. I kept my plants in a warm, but dark area. I watered less often, but was sure that my seeds didn’t get dry.
They sprouted. I repotted them in a 6-pack, each plant in their own little home. I had a special spray bottle for my tomato plants. After germination, I had them in the light almost constantly, but not quite, after all, too much light was as harmful as not as much.
All that was in my head were facts about tomatoes. I coddled those poor plants, but they were making it. I fertilized them. I petted them so to “train” them to be strong. I may have talked to them a bit. I was getting ridiculous.
I of course had been depriving myself of salsa because I knew my own homemade salsa would be worth waiting for. I finally caved and made some from store-bought tomatoes. That moment (hour) of salsa-goodness reminded me why I was doing this, and I remembered to relax. After all, gardening is supposed to be good for you.
3 of my plants made it to my garden. 2 bore tomatoes. Many of those tomatoes were either spotted or devoured by bugs. But I did have one nice batch of salsa to show for all my hard work.
Since then, I’ve given in and bought seedlings. Some years I still start from seed. To my dismay, my second year yielded fewer tomatoes than my first. But then the third year was pretty good. I’ve learned lots of tricks, and I’ve turned my focus to other plants, but tomatoes have probably taught me more gardening lessons than any other vegetable. Most of all, they’ve taught me that I need to relax and have patience. I’ve also learned that the world doesn’t end when plants die, as sad and frustrating as it can be.
What gardening lessons have you learned?
Mackenzie Kupfer has been a lover of all things green since the age of six when she began gardening with her Nana. She is currently an online publisher for the tomato cage supplier, Avant Garden Decor. In her free time, Mackenzie enjoys attending garden shows, hiking, and collecting ceramic tea sets.
Planting cucumbers, pumpkins, and zucchini seeds today
12 years ago Uncategorized 4 Comments
When it comes to pumpkins, cucumbers, and zucchini, I plant these and much the same way. This might make sense since they are all in the cucurbits, Latin for the squash portion of the family. All three of these are pretty rapid grower so no need for small cells and transplants here. Actually all three really do not appreciate being transplanted so go with the largest container you actually fit in your seed starting area.
Given these sprout, early, grow quickly, and are large in size this is a perfect plant to start with the little ones.
With worries of putting all my eggs into a large basket I typically create three holes and place in three seeds thinning out the two weakest seedlings. if I am feeling a bit soft or change my mind on how many plants I want this year I have been known to carefully “save” a seedling and transplant instead of ending its life here
Here are the seeds in their happy home in the grow box with some of their older seedling friends.
Beware of toddlers and seeds
12 years ago carrot, kids, seedling 2 Comments
Tip to gardeners with two year olds, don’t keep you seeds on the counter within some little hands reach. I was at least happy she was nice enough to bring the seeds from the kitchen counter to the kitchen table to open and pour them out…much easier to clean up than rubbed into the carpet.
Happy seed starting…
Testing your garden soil
12.1 years ago nutrients, soil test 3 Comments
I always am good about amending my soil whether it is grabbing a bag of spent coffee beans from Starbucks whenever I notice them there, few handfuls of alfalfa pellets at the beginning of spring, or compost when it becomes ready in my bin. the thing I neglected to do was actually test my soil to see how I am doing.
The process to do this is actually pretty simple. You first start by getting a sample of your soil. If you have a very large garden it is a good idea to take multiple samples and mix them together for a single combined sample. What I decided to do was prepare my soil as if I was going to plant some seeds (turn up the soil with a claw, smooth it out, etc) then I took a sample about 6-7 inches deep and placed it in an old container than I am pretty sure held baby spinach.
Next comes the fun sciencey stuff, for the pH test you fill one of the cylinders to the first line with soil, add contents of one of the “green” capsules and fill to the fourth line with filtered/distilled water and shake vigorously.
For N/K/Potash tests the process is somewhat similar where you take one part soil to 4 parts water. For this I grabbed an old juice container from the recycling bin. Added the appropriately measured parts and shook for a good couple minutes, which was much more of a workout as the tiny vial… I then let the soil settle and came back 10 minutes later to see perlite floating on the surface and the water still a bit cloudy…think it was the coffee ground…
I then took a tea strainer, which I am pretty confident I have never used for straining tea, and poured some of the slightly cloudy water into a clean container to remove the perilite. I then filled each of the files to the appropriate (4th) line and added the color coded capsules to each of the vials. After 10 minutes of waiting I had my results…
So here is what I discovered:
- pH: Pretty much perfect, basically neutral maybe a bit on the acidic side but good range for most all vegetables
- Nitrogen: Though this shows a little color it started out a bit on the brown side so really this was almost no change so appears even with my amendments I am still very low on nitrogen.
- Phosphorus: Basically off the charts no need to add an more here…
- Potash: This one looks decent, probably could amend some here but really something I am worried about.
So for me this quick $4 soil test brought me some great information and will plant to give my garden some additional nitrogen boosts throughout the season.
How To Make A Tire Planter
12.1 years ago cheap, container garden, DIY, guest post, planter, tires 4 Comments
Used tires are a difficult waste product to dispose of as they take up a great deal of space and are discarded in large volumes every year. Through recycling a tire and turning it into a planter, you create something useful and attractive for your outside space for free and help the environment at the same time by keeping the tire out of landfill.
Try asking at your local garage or a breakers yard for unwanted tires, business owners are usually only too happy to give them to you as they normally have to pay to have them taken away. For this reason they are often dumped illegally by unscrupulous people.
If you want ‘how to’ videos then head for YouTube and you will find plenty but if you follow these step-by-step instructions then you will get the hang of this wonderfully simple and fun project in very little time.
First up you will need:
- An old tire or tires
- Box cutter knife
- Leather work gloves (for cutting)
- Chalk
- Paint (weather resistant)
- Soil & some compost
- Whatever you want to plant – flowers, vegetables etc
- Old clothes – tires are dirty!
- Elbow grease!
How to do it:
1. Find some used tires. Car tires are the easiest to get hold of and use for this, but if you have the space, you could use larger tires from a lorry or tractor. Create tall planters by stacking the tires to achieve the desired height.
2. Wash well with a degreaser and leave to dry. Old tires are usually quite oily and in need of a good scrub. This prepares the surface for painting and ensures adhesion.
3. (This step is optional). If you wish to open up the top of your tyre for extra planting space, remove one of the side walls using a sharp knife. With a little elbow grease and a very strong, sharp blade you can cut through and remove the side of the tire. Mark a guideline to follow using white chalk. Take care and wear a pair of leather gloves for added protection. If you will be stacking your tires, only cut the one that will be placed at the top, as the lower ones will need both sides in place to hold their shape. Lorry & tractor tires are much thicker so cutting them requires a powered grinder (or leave them as they are – much easier!)
4. Get creative! – Paint your tire using an oil based exterior (weather resistant) paint. Bright colors make a great impact in a contemporary space, or you could simply use white. If you are feeling adventurous though there is nothing to stop you painting polka dots, stripes, a pattern or whatever you like!
5. Leave the paint to dry fully. Have a rest!
6. Position your planter and fill it with soil and a bit of compost. Prepare for planting.
7. Plant up. Flowers, vegetables, herbs, strawberries, a tree or an architectural feature plant, the possibilities are endless. A stack of tires makes an excellent potato tower, as you can produce a large crop easily using minimal space. Once ready, simply knock your tower over and retrieve your crop. (You may wish to line your tire with plastic to prevent the possibility of any chemicals leaching into edible plants).
8. Sit back and enjoy your planter. Your new tire planter will last for years as it is made from an incredibly durable, weather resistant material. You have created something beautiful and practical and aside from your time and any paint you may have purchased, you project is both environmentally friendly, fun to make and free!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Felix is a member of the evergreenhedging.co.uk team. We are part of Greenshutters Nurseries & Garden Centre based near Taunton in Somerset which was established in 1980.
How to make a pea trellis tower
12.1 years ago cheap, peas, planter, tomato, trellis 4 Comments
Long time readers know this is not the my first attempt at making a sturdy pea trellis I have had posts and posts about this in the past. Though those creations were a bit cheaper than my current version this one will not be falling down no matter how big those plants get.
First I started with a 4 foot by 8 foot cattle panel which ran me about $6 at Home Depot.
Given the panel had sharp edges and my largest vehicle is a pretty new minivan with leather seats I planned ahead and started the construction in the Home Depot parking lot. Taking a piece of scrap lumber I placed it on the 5th cross section on one side and bent it up until it was perpendicular to the ground then repeated with the other side.
The I carefully placed the bent panel into my minivan and brought it home for the remaining construction which pretty much was adding a zip tie in the middle to make a isosceles triangle and then tucked both ends to interweave with the other open side of the tower.
Next I used some pliers to not have as many sharp pointy parts for my kids…probably more likely me to poke myself with and also filed down any ends that seemed overly sharp.
So I had a bit of a strategy for planting the peas, to know where to plant I placed my tower in the desired spot and wiggles it around to make and outline to plant my peas. I removed it as you can see below and planted two rows of peas inside the perimeter. Then in a few weeks I will plant peas on the outside of the tower. The idea is the peas will grow and climb up the tower and have sunlight and adequate airflow to thrive. Then the second crop will start to grow but by the time it starts to disturb the inside crop they will already be harvested.
I also planted peas on the outside of the tower now on the northern facing side of the tower since it wouldn’t get much sunlight after the interior had a head start.
I know a few of you are probably thinking, “Wow this is awesome for peas, but I bet this would make an real sturdy tomato tower and way better than the ones I can buy in the garden center.” Which I would have to agree with you on that one large enough to provide good airflow and sturdy enough to support and fairly large tomato plant.
