Garden Thread 2023!

[EbS-P]

Transplanted each variety to its own bucket. That’s 8. I’ll try and get a clipping of a volunteer plum tomato that grew all summer with no watering or care whatsoever. Time to pick a bunch of tomatoes!

 

[begreen]

Looking good. That's a tomato jungle.
Our Tiny Tim clipping is taking off nicely. And I picked a cucumber today from the greenhouse. The lettuce has sprouted, but it will be a few weeks before we get anything.

 

[EbS-P]

Looking good. That's a tomato jungle.
Our Tiny Tim clipping is taking off nicely. And I picked a cucumber today from the greenhouse. The lettuce has sprouted, but it will be a few weeks before we get anything.
View attachment 318311

I’m looking forward to getting rid of the jungle reclaiming the tower garden but it’s still setting tomatoes.

The determinate tomatoes seeded at the end of January. Have finally died… I think. Hence the large crop I need to pick. They did die back a bit at the end of July. But come august/September they sprouted new growth and took off again.

Average first frost date is next week.

 

[begreen]

That's a great harvest.
It may not freeze before December the way things are looking. Other than a little cool spell coming through it looks like daytime temps will be back in the 70s. My sister says the weather has been great.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'm prepping to plant 100 red tulips tomorrow. I picked up a bulb auger as I really don't want to dig all those holes, lol.

I'm not sure where I'll be told to plant them, but I'd like to plant them all over the front yard. I think it'll look cool when they bloom all at once in spring.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Tulips are in! I hope the squirrels don’t get them all! I’ll never hear the end of it if they do! Lol.

 

[EbS-P]

Tulips are in! I hope the squirrels don’t get them all! I’ll never hear the end of it if they do! Lol.

They are my dads bulbs out if containers on his porch. They eat everything here. There was a 8 pound butternut squash they ate most of in 18 hours.

 

[EbS-P]

First blossom. This is on. Buckbee’s new 50 day plant. It’s very robust and thick stemmed compared to the others I planted. I’m at about 9 weeks from seeding. I’ll get out there with my electric toothbrush tomorrow. And probably every day or two for the rest of the cool season. It’s all under a green house now it’s 50 and raining. Gutters are sprouting.

Buckbee's New 50 Day Tomato Seeds

Buckbee's New 50 Day -Organic Tomato Seeds produce very good yields of great tasting, 4-6 oz., scarlet-red, round fruit. A great cooler, short season variety. Delicious!

www.tomatofest.com

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I need to get my aerogardens going. It’s time to get plants working for me again.

 

[begreen]

I need to get my aerogardens going. It’s time to get plants working for me again.

The Tiny Tim has sprouted a couple flower bud stalks.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@EbS-P , you inspired me to try out the electric toothbrush on the three new eggplant blossoms that opened yesterday. I’ve read about that method, but don’t think I’ve ever done it before. At this point the plant has had a total of six blossoms open, but I don’t know yet whether any fruit will come of it.

I love mustard greens. A number of the plants got hit by the hard freezes we had a while back, but there’s new growth out there. I’ve discovered that I love using mustard greens in place of lettuce on sandwiches, though my primary ways of eating them would be just as a cooked pot of greens topped with a splash of apple cider vinegar or sautéed with garlic. A leaf or two raw as a snack in the garden is delightful, too, though.

 

[EbS-P]

@EbS-P , you inspired me to try out the electric toothbrush on the three new eggplant blossoms that opened yesterday. I’ve read about that method, but don’t think I’ve ever done it before. At this point the plant has had a total of six blossoms open, but I don’t know yet whether any fruit will come of it.

I love mustard greens. A number of the plants got hit by the hard freezes we had a while back, but there’s new growth out there. I’ve discovered that I love using mustard greens in place of lettuce on sandwiches, though my primary ways of eating them would be just as a cooked pot of greens topped with a splash of apple cider vinegar or sautéed with garlic. A leaf or two raw as a snack in the garden is delightful, too, though.
View attachment 318543View attachment 318544

That looks great! I need to decide if I keep my eggplant growing in the tower or if the tower will be allowed to frost and die. The tomato vines are about done. I could start some new eggplants I have two buckets left.

 

[EbS-P]

Fall has taken its toll on the big green monster. Peppers , eggplant and tomatoes are still setting fruit. Had my timer fail caught it early enough that it wasn’t a big issue. It was a solid state timer. Replaced with analog outdoor dial timer. Green house gets well over 90 in the sun on 65 degree day. I think I have planes 24 5 gallon bags half have germinated.

Net pots are on a pump and watered once an hour. Open gutter will need a drip emitter system. Bags will get their own drip emitter on rain water or city water. They can get water from the sprinkler system if close to the grass now but it will get drained soon.

I’m going to start a separate hydroponic thread to share what I’ve leaned and keep track of my thoughts.

 

[EbS-P]

USDA zone map updated…. I’m now 8a……
USDA's plant hardiness zone map shows half the country has shifted - https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213...eners-arent-surprised-as-usda-updates-key-map

 

[begreen]

Looks like we are now approaching what was a California climate growing season here.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

This doesn’t tell us anything new. It still lists my low temp as the same. They may have changed the designation and color. No idea.

The people mentioned in the story are now thinking of growing new plants? If their area was warmer than designated, why did they wait for the USDA to tell them it’s ok? Gardeners have looked for micro climates for much longer than the USDA has been around so they could plant earlier or keep a more fragile plant. How does this change anything?

I must be missing something.

 

[EbS-P]

This doesn’t tell us anything new. It still lists my low temp as the same. They may have changed the designation and color. No idea.

The people mentioned in the story are now thinking of growing new plants? If their area was warmer than designated, why did they wait for the USDA to tell them it’s ok? Gardeners have looked for micro climates for much longer than the USDA has been around so they could plant earlier or keep a more fragile plant. How does this change anything?

I must be missing something.

I think more a marketing helper for novices. Most serious gardeners are aware of local plants and planting time.

 

[EbS-P]

Down to 45 last night. Green house was up to 90 and 100% RH by noon. Time to manually vent. Tomatoes are going to we way taller than my supporting structure that will roll inside by January. Only waiting on parsley and cilantro to germinate.

 

[begreen]

The Tiny Tim cutting is going gangbusters. It has a lot of flowers starting and a couple in bloom. I cut off a major branch in an attempt to control growth, but the other two limbs just got taller. Keeping this thing contained could be challenging. I have found that this is not the best choice for these small hydroponic growers. I grew one in a pot last summer and it got to be about 30" tall.
New micro tomato seeds just arrived. With a 1 ft max height hey look better suited for this style growing. I will be starting them today.

 

[EbS-P]

The Tiny Tim cutting is going gangbusters. It has a lot of flowers starting and a couple in bloom. I cut off a major branch in an attempt to control growth, but the other two limbs just got taller. Keeping this thing contained could be challenging. I have found that this is not the best choice for these small hydroponic growers. I grew one in a pot last summer and it got to be about 30" tall.
New micro tomato seeds just arrived. With a 1 ft max height hey look better suited for this style growing. I will be starting them today.

View attachment 318979

You get the nutrients right at the right time and they take off. I’m building the concentration up in mine. Tomatoes are more forgiving I have found.

I’m thinking I need to start searching for some dwarf varieties for my winter growing. I ran across a blog from some gardener in the Raleigh NC area that I’ve been working on good dwarf tomatoes I’ll have to find that blog post again for about the last 20 years. I’m getting quite specific with my wants. Sets fruit down to 50s or colder, dwarf a. Early producer (say less than 70 days). I really want to find one or two or varieties that do well in my “winter” garden. I think the summer varieties will be easier.

I will be experimenting on one or two vines how they respond to being topped. They are all indeterminate varieties that I am training to a single stem. Maybe I need to rethink that.

 

[begreen]

Bunny Hop seeds has an extensive selection.

For micros, Siam, Red Velvet, Jocolos, & Orange Pumpkin, are well rated.

Dwarf / Compact Varieties – Heritage Seed Market

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Down to 45 last night. Green house was up to 90 and 100% RH by noon. Time to manually vent. Tomatoes are going to we way taller than my supporting structure that will roll inside by January. Only waiting on parsley and cilantro to germinate.

View attachment 318978

I had trouble germinating parsley and cilantro [and lettuce] in Texas when the temperatures were too warm. It’s possible that your greenhouse might be getting the soil temperatures higher than they like. At times I used ice water for watering to help keep things cool. Sounds extreme, but if you don’t get anything in a reasonable time frame, it might be worth considering. Parsley does take a particularly long time to germinate, though, so waiting a couple more weeks may still be in that reasonable time frame.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

You get the nutrients right at the right time and they take off. I’m building the concentration up in mine. Tomatoes are more forgiving I have found.

I’m thinking I need to start searching for some dwarf varieties for my winter growing. I ran across a blog from some gardener in the Raleigh NC area that I’ve been working on good dwarf tomatoes I’ll have to find that blog post again for about the last 20 years. I’m getting quite specific with my wants. Sets fruit down to 50s or colder, dwarf a. Early producer (say less than 70 days). I really want to find one or two or varieties that do well in my “winter” garden. I think the summer varieties will be easier.

I will be experimenting on one or two vines how they respond to being topped. They are all indeterminate varieties that I am training to a single stem. Maybe I need to rethink that.

Was it Craig LeHoullier’s blog? I believe he’s the leader, or one of them, of the Dwarf Tomato Project.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

There’s a little Battir eggplant in that thorny calyx. It’s been hiding from me, but I’m delighted to see it. I did top the plant a week or two ago, but it’s putting out buds on suckers now. If those set fruit, I’ll top the suckers, too, even though they’re still quite small. I don’t want them to have more than one fruit per branch or more than one branch per sucker.

 

[EbS-P]

Was it Craig LeHoullier’s blog? I believe he’s the leader, or one of them, of the Dwarf Tomato Project.

Yes it was. Thank you for sharing. It’s book marked now.