Garden thread

stepping_up_IHB

stepping_up_IHB

New member
I keep reading all these articles about how gardening has come back into fashion full swing, particularly for vegetable gardens. As some of you already know, one of my greatest desires for buying a house was to have a real garden. It's been quite a learning experience compared to all the years of doing containers. I figure there must be others here with gardens. I'd love to hear what you are growing and any tips you can share. I'll start



1). Tomatoes!!!



11 varieties. I've never had a tomato not be successful, but this year I have one that is not dead, but has just not grown a bit. It's been in the ground about 6 weeks and still looks like a seedling, while all the others are thriving. Anyone have any thoughts on what the problem might be?



2). Peppers



3 varieties of sweet bells



3). Green beans



4). Spinach



5). onions- peaking though



6). chard- peaking as well



7). blueberries



8). strawberries



9) herbs



I'd like to try something else where the onions and chard will soon be giving up some space. Hubby does not like squash or eggplant. I didn't have much success with cucumbers or melons last year. Any thoughts on what else we can do?



I have two tips



1). Organic compost is your friend. I buy the E.B Stone at Armstrong ($5.99 bag) and should have my own very soon. In fact, any tips on composting would be fantastic. Kitchen waste is easy, but I'm finding yard waste a lot more difficult



2). Neem oil. It's an oil derived from an evergreen that grows in India and is a wonder cure. It will eliminate any of the bad bugs without harming the good guys that are helping you out. On top of that, it also cures powdery mildew. Again, Armstrong. I highly suggest the concentrate ($17) as it goes so much further than their pre-mix for $6/bottle. Even if you only have a couple of containers, the quart pre-mixed bottle won't last long, particularly if you get hit with white fly.
 
I'm going to try to convince my husband and kid's to get rid of the sandbox he built and turn it back into a vegetable garden this summer, so this thread will hopefully be helpful. I'm anxious to get back to gardening.
 
Is there any way to garden without having to come into contact with worms or caterpillars... or snails? I can't deal with them but would like to garden. Would a greenhouse type of gardening make this possible?
 
[quote author="SoCal78" date=1242016610]Is there any way to garden without having to come into contact with worms or caterpillars... or snails? I can't deal with them but would like to garden. Would a greenhouse type of gardening make this possible?</blockquote>


Come on SoCal! Getting back to nature definitely involves some contact with critters that are not mammals. You won't get hurt and your kids will love getting their hands dirty. We planted some flowers in the front yard this weekend (something I have to admit I haven't really done since pre-kids, my gardening instinct has disappeared during the last five years). My son ran into a worm and said, "I'll just move him over here, can I feed him to the frog?" He picked him up and dropped him into one of our fish tanks and a big fish gobbled him up. Since then he keeps asking me if he can go out and look at the flowers. Step's thread came at the perfect time to get me back in :)
 
Gardening without much space? I'm trying tomatoes in "Earth Boxes" which are sort of a cross between hydroponics and self watering pots. I have space, but big trees, so the sunniest location in my yard is also the back patio. The "Earth Boxes" are hold 2 cubic feet of soil, are on casters, and have trellis/netting additions to support the plants. The plants are doing great. I can manage a variety of flowers in the shadier areas, but tomatoes need more sun.



Stepping Up - my only idea is that the "sickly" plant is somehow a variety that fruits later in the season, and needs warmer weather to really take off. Assuming they are all planted in the same soil and general location, it doesn't seem sensible that only one would be low on water or nutrients.
 
four of my six heirlooms (in 12" pots on my patio) have shot up 2.5 feet, while two varieties are only 1-1.5 feet. i think it is just the genetics, as cco suggests
 
Anyone trying the "upside down" tomatoes this year? My mother in law has one but I keep telling her that it needs more sun, it's doing well though. I'm thinking that I'll pick up one at the hardware store this weekend. Just wondering if anyone else has tried them.
 
[quote author="tmare" date=1242043059]Anyone trying the "upside down" tomatoes this year? My mother in law has one but I keep telling her that it needs more sun, it's doing well though. I'm thinking that I'll pick up one at the hardware store this weekend. Just wondering if anyone else has tried them.</blockquote>


I would like to know about that as well. Sounds convenient and maybe bug-free... right up my alley. ;-)
 
Tomatoes:



I have one in the Topsy Turvy this year, just because I know the rabbits will not be able to attack it. So far it is doing well. I moved it to a more sunny location, but I still think it should have more sun. We will see, and this will be the thread to see if it is a success or not.



I also have two planted, plus about 5 renegade plants popping up through out the garden from last year's seeds. Hat tip to stepping_up for her worm poop compost to prevent white fly, so far so good. And, Cayci has two plants on her porch that are doing very well.



I will give a ghetto tip to growing tomatoes. My dad was a horticulture major at Cal Poly Pomona, he learned more than many of us will know, and many of his classmates are rich a$$ farmers to this day. Anyway, if you take an old tire and fill it with soil and plant a tomato, it will thrive. Tomatoes love the heat, and the black from the tire keeps the soil hot. I should take a picture of the plant I have now that is growing faster than a weed. Think why the strawberry farmers use black trash bag like material to keep them warm, same thing. Yeah... it's ghetto, but my dad passed that on to me, and he and I have had some great success with our tomatoes. Those in cooler climates will appreciate the tip even more. He used the same strategy when he lived in the eastside of CM, and still had great tomatoes.



I too have one plant that has hardly budged, but I think it is because it is a late bloomer. Having gone to the Fullerton arboretum for my tomato plant purchases, I have learned that there are early bloomers, mid-bloomers, and late bloomers. I like to buy all three, since I can prolong my tomato experience.



I picked up a basil plant at <a href="http://store.claros.com/">Claro's</a> this weekend, and I look forward to the caprese salads. Yum!
 
That is so strange that you mentioned the tire trick, Graph. The impetus to getting back to gardening was my son's preschool class. I went to the Mother's Day lunch on Friday and the kids had planted a bunch of flower in 4 tires, I'd never seen that before. My son loved planting flowers in tires so much he wanted to plant some more at home (we didn't have any tires though).
 
[quote author="tmare" date=1242074060]That is so strange that you mentioned the tire trick, Graph. The impetus to getting back to gardening was my son's preschool class. I went to the Mother's Day lunch on Friday and the kids had planted a bunch of flower in 4 tires, I'd never seen that before. My son loved planting flowers in tires so much he wanted to plant some more at home (we didn't have any tires though).</blockquote>


How many tires do you want??!!!!??!!!
 
[quote author="graphrix" date=1242053130]

I picked up a basil plant at <a href="http://store.claros.com/">Claro's</a> this weekend, and I look forward to the caprese salads. Yum!</blockquote>


I need a basil plant so bad, I may check out that Claro's link. I always use fresh basil when I cook dinner and am embarrassed to say I routinely pony up $1.75 per pack at the grocery store. Last year I bought the seeds and tried growing it in a pot. I read that using coffee grounds mixed in to the soil would act as a fertilizer so I did that... and it killed the plant. Either it wasn't a Gloria Jean's fan, or I put in too much. I will try again.
 
[quote author="SoCal78" date=1242108857][quote author="graphrix" date=1242053130]

I picked up a basil plant at <a href="http://store.claros.com/">Claro's</a> this weekend, and I look forward to the caprese salads. Yum!</blockquote>


I need a basil plant so bad, I may check out that Claro's link. I always use fresh basil when I cook dinner and am embarrassed to say I routinely pony up $1.75 per pack at the grocery store. Last year I bought the seeds and tried growing it in a pot. I read that using coffee grounds mixed in to the soil would act as a fertilizer so I did that... and it killed the plant. Either it wasn't a Gloria Jean's fan, or I put in too much. I will try again.</blockquote>


Too much acid in the coffee grinds for a basil plant. Not sure what coffee grounds work best with, maybe flowers. Claro's is over in Tustin, pick up a plant for $2.99 and a couple of Italian sandwiches while you are there. My mom said that Stater Bros also had the small basil plants for $2.99 too. Keep in mind, once basil bolts/blooms with flowers, that means it is going to die soon. It's kind of frustrating, but at $2.99 a plant you should be getting what would cost $10 in store worth of basil.
 
The Farmer's Market in CDM has a guy with herbs, succulents and a few other plants. His one inch herbs are 3 for $5. This time of year, a one inch will grow quite fast. In the ground mine grew to be 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and a foot to a foot and half wide. When I grew it in pots they got to be about half that size. We grow it in large quantities and dry some of it for use in the winter. The market is behind Rite Aid and Bandera's on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Although, I still want to check out Claro's because I've heard some great things about it.





RE the coffee grounds. I've heard that it can be used for fertilizer as well, but have not done so. I suspect that Graph is right about the acidity, so perhaps it's better with the acid loving plants like azaleas, or blueberries. Also, I've noticed that many products suggest much smaller dosages for containers.
 
Trader Joe's and Fresh and Easy both have had large basil plants for about $3. As is, they come with at least $10 worth of basil. Trim anything that even looks like it might bloom and the plant will last a long time. I had one for about 7 months, I'd say at least $70 bucks worth of basil. Bugs love basil and they'll find a way to get to them so I haven't planted basil outdoors this year.
 
May I suggest a vertical garden for Irvine residents.



<img src="http://cobbers.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/img-products-verticalgarden.jpg" alt="" />



<img src="http://yardlover.indigofiles.com/images/ecom/product_images/medium/gsg062277t.jpg" alt="" />
 
I saw a photo of a space challenged gardener using rain gutters against a fence. They had several rows of them, all planted with varities of lettuce and herbs. Seemed like an awful lot of lettuce for a household, but I would think you could strawberries as well this way. Speaking of strawberries, I planted some last year in a strawberry pot, but the berries don't get very big. I think the roots get bound in it. I used to use it for herbs on the patio, which gave me quite a bit of variety in a small space. Basil went in the top and everything else in the little holes.
 
[quote author="stepping_up" date=1242001248]

1). Tomatoes!!!



</blockquote>


My dad planted a couple of tomatos this year.



<img src="http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/CraigMBA/img056.jpg" alt="" />



160 acres to be exact. That's Lemoore Naval Air Station base housing waaaaayyyy in the back.



They are planted on 60" beds with subsurface drip irrigation. This is the drip system:



<img src="http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/CraigMBA/img055.jpg" alt="" />



I think the variety is Heinz 9780's but I might of wrote it down wrong. We're hoping for 50 tons/acre for yeald. They are scheduled to be harvested the second week of July, so if any IHB'rs want some Romas, LMK and I'll try to hook you up when they get close.
 
[quote author="tmare" date=1242126945]I will (almost) kill for good tomatoes. So you better be saving some for me, no_vas.</blockquote>


That one field will make sixteen million pounds of Romas. I think I can help you out.
 
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