Gardening 2012!

[Figwit]

[crookedtree]

[killr]

re: soil costs
check with your extension office or county landfill. I can buy compost or topsoil (and mulch) from my county recycle center for cheap. It fills the bed of my pickup truck for like $20. Thats what I filled my beds with originally.

Added bonus, you dont have so much plastic bags wasted when you buy it straight from the source.

[Chiquita]

Spent lots of time in the garden yesterday. Took lots of weeds out of the last bed that hadn't been planted in. Planted eggplants and put in a few stepping stones where we didn't have any. For mulch I put in a layer of newspapers and topped that with pecan leaves.

Also did a little work on the hardscaping. Pulled lots of stray grass runners that were crossing the path from grass area to garden beds. Took the several cardboard boxes I had been saving for this purpose and put them down for weed barrier as well. Added pecan leaves there as well.

My herb garden is looking lovely! Had to cut back the oregano because it is getting tall, hung some up to dry and will do that again today. The volunteer tomato plant already has little tomatoes. Peppers are doing well, if only we could keep the snail population down!

The last of the cool weather crop (spinach and Swiss chard), will be pulled out soon. In their place we will plant more tomatoes and zukes. Maybe even another pepper.

[Chupacabra]

Uhhh Stupid Questions: Gardening Edition!

Last summer we had a small container garden. Amongst other things, there were two tomato plants, in two separate pots on either side of a rectangular planter that was growing lettuce mix & baby spinach.

We didn't do anything to the plants after summer ended.. just left them there until a few weeks ago when we were prepping for our new plants this season.
We had no plans for the rectangular planter so we didn't touch it.

Now there's a big ass plant growing from it. I thought it was a weed (lots of trees above) but it actually looks just like a tomato plant! Is it possible for a tomato to have fallen off into the box (likely) and then just hang out all winter and then sprout in the spring? Obviously that is how things grow but its unbelievable that a tomato would have hung around and survived our winter and then sprouted so heartily? Am I being ridiculous?
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[Chiquita]

My best tomato plant this year, so far, is a volunteer from one of last year's plants. It's already about 3-1/2' heigh and in a week or so I will be swamped with tomatoes. So yes, it's possible. I'm not sure how cold your winter got (ours was hardly a winter) but it is possible and not all that unusual, in my experience.

[Chupacabra]

Interesting! Our winter was the most mild I can remember, but still, it did go below freezing quite often. Snow 2x.

I'm glad, and excited to see which of the two varieties it was. I just wish I didn't spend so much time worrying about my seedlings that looked pretty weak for a while... this surprise plant looks like it'll keep us in tomatoes all summer long.
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[killr]

Tomatoes volunteer very easily but you may not get the fruit you expect (or any fruit at all). I leave volunteers but I dont expect much from them, if I had limited space I would be very skeptical of it. Id hate for you to not get any tomatoes!

[Chupacabra]

[featherstoryaniweda]

On earth day, I just couldn't not get some plants. I told my daughter we would, but I didn't do the research before hand...I've farmed before, but never actually started my own garden. I'm doing containers cause I only have a balcony to work with.

I have a tomato plant that seems to be dying, I bought it from the grocery store and the bagger ripped a stem then my daughters both ripped stems so now all there is is the big main stalk with all the stems hanging loosely wilted on the sides...I also don't know if the container is deep enough, it doesn't seem to be getting enough sun and my soil might not be appropriate. Where can I do some research on reviving this plant and helping my other plants to thrive?
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[Chiquita]

featherstoryaniweda how is the plant doing? Tomatoes do need a lot of sun, mine can handle having shade in the morning but it's really hot here so I think they appreciate not being in the sun all day.

I still haven't had time to pull up the Swiss chard and put in seasonal veggies. Which means I might actually have to buy seedlings instead of putting down seeds myself, that's okay. I did pull up some of the mammoth sized radishes that I had let get large, I had put them in for ground cover and the peppers and eggplants were ready to take over.

The first zuke I got was tasty and handful of cherry tomatoes every day. Even the eggplants have flowered.

[receptionitis15]

I am almost done with planting everything this year! There are 3 varieties of mini tomatoes - two are ones that did very well previously and one variety (sweet 100) is new. I'm excited to see how it does! I'm also growing chard, strawberries and a couple of types of herbs in containers: cilantro, basil, mint.

I have a question for those of you who container garden - do you use anything to cover the dirt in the pots? I have landscape fabric to lower water loss and prevent weeds from growing, but I think I need to put something on top to keep it from blowing off. I was thinking of using those flat glass marbles, but would they leach lead/etc. into the soil? I'm growing leafy vegetables so I feel like I need to be especially careful.

exciting to hear about the eggplants flowering already, Chiquita! What kind of eggplants are you growing?

featherstoryaniweda, in my experience, tomato plants are pretty resilient! I would plant it in the largest pot you can find - they do well in containers, but they do need quite a bit of root space and lots of water once they get larger. If a stem has been partially torn, you can wrap the wound and it will heal. If the stem has been completely torn off, you can still save the plant - if you bury the end of the stem in the dirt it may reroot. Just stear off a few lower levels of leaves and bury several inches of the stem in the dirt.

Chupacabra - we had an especially mild winter this year as well, and a couple of my tomato plants survived through the winter too!

[Chiquita]

I love eggplants and they love hot weather so I grow lots of them. We have lots of ichiban eggplants, a couple of the large globe variety and one Rosa Bianca heirloom that managed to survive the winter. The Rosa Bianca should be ready to pick next week. Now I need some recipes.

[greenbean]

This coming weekend is the traditional start-your-garden weekend 'round these parts, but I have already planted carrots, radishes, beets, onions, peas, zucchini, dill, and coriander. I have tomato and jalapeno bedding plants, but they'll go in this weekend after I've hardened them off. I'm super excited to get a full growing season this year! I didn't finish making my garden bed last year until mid June.
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[mohawk]

Receptionist15- you could ditch the landscape fabric and cover the soil with sphagnum moss. It will help with water rentention and keep weeds out mostly.

We have SO much already. Blooming in our gardens! I have 6 purple coneflower blooms! My tomato plants, cucumbers, and peas all have flowers! It is crazy!


P1100776 by akuhlrock, on Flickr


echinacea in bloom by akuhlrock, on Flickr
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