Garden Thread 2023!

[begreen]

That's some serious hydroponics.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Serious hydroponics, indeed.

Are you going to try all those buckets for tomatoes in the winter or just one or two as an experiment? Are you going to have supplemental lighting? I would think plants would have a pretty hard time when you get to the Persephone period [when you have less than ten hours of sunlight in December and January]. Are you looking for production in the winter or just getting a major head start on the spring growing season?

I’ve been very pleased with Karen Olivier’s Taiga tomato, but it’s a big indeterminate. It’s part of the True North series of tomatoes that she bred when she lived in Zone three in Canada. [I believe that she now lives in zone eight]. You might want to look up her name and see if you can get hold of any of her varieties that interest you, though, of course, there are numerous other cold-hardy choices. Glacier has been good for me as well.

 

[Montanalocal]

Tomatofest and Totally Tomatoes are two tomato seed vendors that specialize in tomatoes seeds from all over the world. My fav is Russian Big Roma from Tomatofest. I am in zone 4 with a short cold growing season.

https://www.tomatofest.com/default.asp


https://www.totallytomato.com/category/45

 

[Dan Freeman]

I never knew there was such a thing as cold weather tomato varieties.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I never knew there was such a thing as cold weather tomato varieties.

My phrasing of “cold-hardy” wasn’t really the right term. Tomatoes are still warm weather crops, not like true cold-hardy plants that can survive frosts and freezes. We’re mostly just talking of plants that won’t go into a sulk the first time the temperature drops below fifty five or something.

Having lived in Texas and researching heat resistant varieties, I learned that sometimes the same mechanisms that help plants endure colder weather can also help them endure higher temperatures. I can’t remember the details, but I can say that I did sometimes have surprising results from things that were marketed toward those in the more northern growing zones like the Taiga and Glacier tomatoes.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I was reacting more to EbS-P's post, but thanks for the explanation. I appreciate it.

 

[EbS-P]

I never knew there was such a thing as cold weather tomato varieties.

Some are more short season varieties. Other more cold tolerant and will set fruit with colder temps.

Short Season Tomato Seed Collection

Short Season Tomato Seed Collection

www.tomatofest.com

83 Fast-Growing Short-Season Tomato Varieties for Cold Climates

Maybe you never got around to starting seeds early like you wanted to, or all your tomato seedlings succumbed to damping off or got eaten by mysterious critters. Maybe this spring has been a lot colder than it usually is or maybe—like me—you live in a region with a very short growing season. Here

www.gardenbetty.com

It an experiment. I’ve spent 15 minutes looking into cold/short season tomatoes in the south but haven’t found much.

That's some serious hydroponics.

My dad will get a 6 bucket set up. A 6 bucket vining setup (tomatoes cucumbers) 6 buckets for peppers and eggplant and 6 buckets to start plants inside it make a patio planters.

We don’t have any good soil here. Is all beach sand. Any soil we have purchased in bulk was not very nutrient rich and needs fertilizer.

Serious hydroponics, indeed.

Are you going to try all those buckets for tomatoes in the winter or just one or two as an experiment? Are you going to have supplemental lighting? I would think plants would have a pretty hard time when you get to the Persephone period [when you have less than ten hours of sunlight in December and January]. Are you looking for production in the winter or just getting a major head start on the spring growing season?

I’ve been very pleased with Karen Olivier’s Taiga tomato, but it’s a big indeterminate. It’s part of the True North series of tomatoes that she bred when she lived in Zone three in Canada. [I believe that she now lives in zone eight]. You might want to look up her name and see if you can get hold of any of her varieties that interest you, though, of course, there are numerous other cold-hardy choices. Glacier has been good for me as well.

It’s an experiment and to free up the tower garden to grow smaller plants. I don’t think I want more than 6 buckets of tomatoes (with two stems per bucket for indeterminates that I can trellis).

I have lights that I plan experiment with indoors. And I will start many things early like Jan 1. Cold tomatoes will get stated in a couple weeks. Need to get the school year started and into some thought of a regular schedule. Winter garden here can be pretty productive and if you protect from the 5-15 freezing nights we have you can keep most things growing year round.

 

[begreen]

We don’t have any good soil here. Is all beach sand. Any soil we have purchased in bulk was not very nutrient rich and needs fertilizer.

I recall this when my sister lived in Wilmington. It will take a few years, but can be done. Add lots of organic matter. We added a lot of compost and leaf mulch to the sand and ended up with some decent growing soil by the second year. By the third year she had a respectable garden. Besides composting at home with kitchen organic waste and leaves, get coffee grounds from local espresso stands, grab corn stalks, spent pumpkin vines, etc. from local farmers at the end of the season.

 

[EbS-P]

I recall this when my sister lived in Wilmington. It will take a few years, but can be done. Add lots of organic matter. We added a lot of compost and leaf mulch to the sand and ended up with some decent growing soil by the second year. By the third year she had a respectable garden. Besides composting at home with kitchen organic waste and leaves, get coffee grounds from local espresso stands, etc.

it can be done. I’m pressed for time and impatient and space limited. If I started collecting coffee grounds I might as well get a pellet extruder and sell coffee pellets

Eggplant from the tower!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Beautiful eggplants, EbS-P. What variety are they? [I think I ask that question almost any time someone posts a picture of a vegetable.]

Last summer I bought some Aswad eggplant seed to try in Texas since they’re supposed to be fairly drought tolerant. Planning this spring to move, however, I sent the seeds to my mother, and she grew out a bunch of plants for us to enjoy when we arrived. Boy, have we been enjoying those eggplant.

Here’s a picture of her row of nine plants and a close-up shot of one plant.



And a shot of the bell peppers that run alongside. I think they may be from some Quadratto Giallo seeds I sent her, but she’s not sure.



The bush beans have been nibbled almost to extinction, and we’ve failed to remove any bunnies from the garden. When one last bean started showing damage, it finally occurred to me to use the traps as a fence around the long survivor whom I’ve named “Una.” There won’t be much of a crop from one plant, but I still want to keep it alive.



The Rattlesnake pole beans that we planted about a month ago and protected with some small fencing have been growing tall. We had to put up a second layer of fencing above the first to give them more height. Some are taller than I am now.



I took those pictures a couple days ago when the corn was still standing. My mother has since pulled it all out, and we’re still trying to use moving boxes and old vegetation and weeds and grass clippings to mulch. Here’s what she did the other day.


And just as a bonus, non-gardening picture, here’s one of the view from the other side of the hill we live on. Our family took a walk last night and managed to see this as we approached the road at one point and came out of the trees. The phone camera couldn’t really capture it, but I think it’s still worth sharing.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We don’t have any good soil here. Is all beach sand. Any soil we have purchased in bulk was not very nutrient rich and needs fertilizer.

Ditto on what begreen said, however if you are buying soil look for a mixture of 50% topsoil and 50% mushroom compost. You won't find it in bags at the big box stores; you'll have to search out nurseries and have it delivered in bulk. Mushroom compost mixed in will eliminate the need for fertilizer.

 

[begreen]

The garden is looking good DG. The beans may recover, hope so. I'm sorry to hear about the rabbit damage. Maybe sprinkle or spray some cayenne on the leaves?

 

[NickW]

Zucchini are starting to slow back down a little. Getting 3-4 a day. Had a stretch where we got 40 in 5 days. Plants are still very healthy.

Melon plants are very large & healthy and have/had lots of flowers, but not that many melons have developed. The melons (cantaloupe) that are there are larger than previously. The hybrid honeydews I can't find a single melon growing in the 4 mounds. I heard somewhere that the dry/drought stretch we had earlier in the summer hurt the melon pollination.

Jalapenos are doing good.

 

[begreen]

I have the opposite thing happening with our cantaloupe this year. Lots of melons, but they are small. I think I need to thin out the crop so that most of the energy and food goes to the largest melons.

 

[NickW]

I had that a couple of years ago. Little ones make nice little personal snacks, but we had like 150 cantaloupe that year and gave a lot away.

This years don't even look like cantaloupe yet. I did find a couple of small hybrids growing after I did a fairly thorough search. Photo is one of the cantaloupe.

 

[NickW]

🤣🤣🤣. They're not cantaloupe! I just found the package and they're Crenshaw. I must have decided to try something different this year. No wonder they look so strange!

 

[begreen]

I had that a couple of years ago. Little ones make nice little personal snacks, but we had like 150 cantaloupe that year and gave a lot away.

This years don't even look like cantaloupe yet. I did find a couple of small hybrids growing after I did a fairly thorough search. Photo is one of the cantaloupe.
View attachment 314565

Ha, I thought that looks like something else. Our cantaloupes have the characteristic tan, veined skin, even as babies. Keep us posted on the Crenshaw. I haven't tried that one.

 

[NickW]

Will do. I'm excited to try them.

I vaguely recall deciding to do something different with the overabundance of cantaloupe we had. It was over 150 last time and they all get ripe at once.

I wish I could find the mango hybrid seeds again that I planted the same year we got all the cantaloupe. They tasted a lot like cantaloupe only sweeter with a touch of mango flavor. We got close to 200 melons that year. It was something like 168 cantaloupe and 30 mango hybrids... The neighbors were happy. We loaded the wheelbarrow with melons and went door to door. Nobody is eating 20 melons a day...

 

[begreen]

The neighbors were happy. We loaded the wheelbarrow with melons and went door to door. Nobody is eating 20 melons a day...

I was wondering what you did with all this produce. Do you sell it or take it to the local food bank?

 

[begreen]

I wish I could find the mango hybrid seeds again that I planted the same year we got all the cantaloupe.

Is this it?

Melon, Mango Hybrid

A welcome breeze of mango-tinted sweetness, fragrance and luscious color to your family breakfast table.

www.burpee.com

In the FAQ I noted this comment:
How many melons per plant should I expect? Limit your fruit to 3-4 per plant. The more fruit a vine supports, the smaller the fruit will be and the longer it will take to ripen.

 

[NickW]

Freeze a lot of zucchini. Give overabundance to family and neighbors. Sent some zucchini to work with my wife yesterday and taking some more to a family gathering tonight.

I freeze zucchini as zoodles, boats for stuffing, and shredded. I found a really good zucchini spaghetti recipe, have 3 different stuffed zucchini recipes (and was doing some brainstorming with a neighbor for other idea's), and use shredded for zucchini bread and zucchini grilled cheese. Jalapenos get cut in half, cleaned out and frozen for making poppers.

 

[NickW]

Is this it?

Melon, Mango Hybrid

A welcome breeze of mango-tinted sweetness, fragrance and luscious color to your family breakfast table.

www.burpee.com

In the FAQ I noted this comment:
How many melons per plant should I expect? Limit your fruit to 3-4 per plant. The more fruit a vine supports, the smaller the fruit will be and the longer it will take to ripen.

Yes, they were excellent! None of the stores had the seeds and I was too late to order them.

 

[begreen]

Yes, they were excellent! None of the stores had the seeds and I was too late to order them.

I think I will try them next year. In the meantime, I am heading outside to snip off some of the extra cantaloupe babies.

 

[EbS-P]

Beautiful eggplants, EbS-P. What variety are they? [I think I ask that question almost any time someone posts a picture of a vegetable.]

Last summer I bought some Aswad eggplant seed to try in Texas since they’re supposed to be fairly drought tolerant. Planning this spring to move, however, I sent the seeds to my mother, and she grew out a bunch of plants for us to enjoy when we arrived. Boy, have we been enjoying those eggplant.

Here’s a picture of her row of nine plants and a close-up shot of one plant.

View attachment 314529View attachment 314530

And a shot of the bell peppers that run alongside. I think they may be from some Quadratto Giallo seeds I sent her, but she’s not sure.

View attachment 314531

The bush beans have been nibbled almost to extinction, and we’ve failed to remove any bunnies from the garden. When one last bean started showing damage, it finally occurred to me to use the traps as a fence around the long survivor whom I’ve named “Una.” There won’t be much of a crop from one plant, but I still want to keep it alive.

View attachment 314532

The Rattlesnake pole beans that we planted about a month ago and protected with some small fencing have been growing tall. We had to put up a second layer of fencing above the first to give them more height. Some are taller than I am now.

View attachment 314533View attachment 314534

I took those pictures a couple days ago when the corn was still standing. My mother has since pulled it all out, and we’re still trying to use moving boxes and old vegetation and weeds and grass clippings to mulch. Here’s what she did the other day.
View attachment 314535

And just as a bonus, non-gardening picture, here’s one of the view from the other side of the hill we live on. Our family took a walk last night and managed to see this as we approached the road at one point and came out of the trees. The phone camera couldn’t really capture it, but I think it’s still worth sharing.

View attachment 314536

I don’t recall the variety. Probably what ever Home Depot had. They were good grilled. More dense than the store bought ones.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I have the opposite thing happening with our cantaloupe this year. Lots of melons, but they are small. I think I need to thin out the crop so that most of the energy and food goes to the largest melons.

Our cantaloupes were a disaster this year. Barely grew with no fruit. I just wish this summer was over; it has been nothing short of a disaster.