GARDENING

I don't know what solipsister is alluding to, re persimmons.

I've only seen one tree, and it was glorious, in front of a Neutra house I was working a re do at. I suppose I have a slide, but it is imbedded in all my stuff. But I remember it as well pruned and fulgent, all at the same time.

The virbinium wall

Pear tree planted last year. Wild raspberris behind,.....to the right a neat tree I dug up on the back of the property. Beeautiful white flowers on the top,...trying to find the name.

June garden update:

Marigolds doing their best to guard my strawberries and tomato plants from pests.


Garden is coming along nicely, making great progress. The better boy tomato plant is about to outgrow the wire cage.



The tomato plants are just loaded with tomatoes.



Some of them are as big as a fist already!



Something has started munching on the leaves, looks like some kind of a fly that co-habitates with the fire ants in their nests. At least that's what it seems like. A bunch of flies emerged from between the paver bricks in the same spot as one of the portals the fire ants used after we had a good rain a few days ago.

Will have to get some neem tea and garlic granuales to fight them off.

Garden plans for this season Butrrflynet? More tomatoes for canning, more cayenne and Hungarian peppers for chili powder, flakes, and pastes, and pickling, for me.
Every year, I purchase the end of season bulbs, the super stores have, and sink them in the ground around the property. Already, walking around out back is like fishing, or pulling a handle on a slot machine,..never know where, or what will pop up.

peas, onions, parsley and lettuces are in. I have 2 large rows of mesculen and spinach that I planted last fall.

wow btrfly, I didn't know about the marigolds.

I'm going to plant some tomatoes in pots (five gallon home depot buckets) and I was thinking I'd have to get chiken wire and all that.
I was going to do those patio tomatoes, like you have.

this is the first time I've ever planted vegetables, so I'm kind of winging it.

Tomatos in pots are kind of a hopeful thing. They take off early then peter out because they are really heavy feeders that need more than just some garden fertilizer. They need room to spread out their roots and take off like the small tree that they wanna be. Patio tom atoes are ok for a city dweller, but if youve got any soil at all, plant cherry tomatos on the ground and some bigger ones for slicing. you can fertilize and keep them watered but they will have the root room they need. The only way a patio tomato will reach its full ptential is if you cut the top off a 42 gal baqrrel and fill it with compost and stick a tomato plant in it. Then maybe youll have a good long season crop.

I agree.

I did 5 gallon pots last year, and my tomato plants hit a wall in July.

going a different direction with them this time.

(peppers rocked in pots)

A pal of mine in the pub grows nothing but toms and peppers. He brings me a load when they are ready. The peppers freeze okay.

When I run out the shops are full of either at silly prices. 39 pence a pound silly and no mess to clear up thanks to the sanitation systems.

I've grown tomatoes in pots for over 20 years. I use pots that are about 10 gallons, anything smaller than that really never gave me good results. In extreme heat the smaller pots dry out too quickly and tomatoes need a good amount of water to thrive.

I add compost to potting soil to enrich the growing medium, and when the plants have started to take off, I feed regularly with tomato or vegetable plant food. I use tomato stakes and tomato cages in the pots to help keep the plants upright, and generally put about two marigold plants in each pot to help keep the pests away.

I don't care for the patio tomatoes that are meant to be grown in pots. I usually plant a mundane variety of regular tomatoes--Early Girl, Big Boy, Beefsteak, and at least one that's a little more exotic--and cherry tomatoes, generally celebrity sweet 100. The cherry tomatoes always do exceptionally well in pots. I always seem to have tons of those luscious little guys well into early Fall. The regular tomatoes do well, but the tomatoes are probably less abundant and smaller in size than if they were grown in the ground. But I can't complain, they are delicious and I always have as many as I need. Generally, I'll have two basil plants and some herbs growing in smaller pots alongside the tomatoes.

Tomatoes are rather easy to grow. Even in smallish pots they can do remarkably well. Decent soil, and lots of sun and water, and not too much else, is about all they need.

Butrflynet - I am not all so sure you two are dealing with real fire ants. I have ants that look like them but aren't. It turns out other ants can look like fire ants. I am allergic to even "sugar ants", a colloquialism, as there are many varieties of tiny black ants. If I were bitten by the larger of my ant population, I'd bet I had bad swelling as well.

Fire ant colonies are quite large. http://www.controlfireants.com/identifying-fire-ants.htm

Yes, agreed, firefly.

I had a monster harvest, lasting months, a couple of years ago. From one huge pot.

The plant got a bit out of hand, actually. Tallest, widest tomato plant I'd ever seen!

The bigger the pot, the longer lasting the tomato. I know that the tomatoes in pots will grow quickly, but then , usually, they jest crap out well before the end of our season. I agree that peppers in 20 gal tubs do wonserdully. In fact, I grew ALL of my chilis in pots last year and they made wonderful additions to the patio plants.

I'm not sure that pot grown tomatoes crap out sooner than those grown in the ground. My next door neighbor has her plants in the ground at pretty much the same location I have mine in pots. My plants have as long a season as hers, but I do get fewer tomatoes, throughout the entire season, and mine tend to be a little smaller in size. We generally grow the same varieties, so that isn't much of a factor.

Different tomato varieties do mature at different times. Some are early yielding, others mature weeks later. It may be that the types of tomatoes that people tend to grow in pots, like the patio tomatoes, just don't have as long a producing season, so it appears that pot grown tomatoes crap out sooner than those in the ground. That's one reason I don't bother with the patio tomatoes. I'd rather put the effort into regular varieties, use stakes and tomato cages, and get longer lasting plants, better tasting tomatoes, and a longer season from my pots. If you only have space for a patio tomato, they will still be much better than anything you can get at a supermarket, and they do take a little less work.

The bigger the pot, the better the tomato plant will thrive, in all respects, not just the length of the producing season. I do think the ability of the pot to retain water is a major factor. Smaller pots retain moisture for shorter periods of time, particularly in very hot weather. You can water the pot in the morning, but, by mid afternoon, the pot has dried out and the plants are starting to droop. This constant drying out is not good for growth or tomato production, and the problem gets worse in late July and August, just when many varieties of tomatoes are reaching maturity, because it is hotter at that time. With larger pots you can water once, or twice, a day, and maintain more even growing conditions for the fruit. That's essential because the water content of a tomato is fairly high--if the plant isn't getting enough water, the water isn't available for the fruit. Without sufficient, consistent moisture the stalks also tend to become more spindly and problems can begin to appear on the tomatoes. The watering problem doesn't affect tomatoes grown in the ground nearly as much as it affects those grown in pots.

I"ve also found that fertilizing pot grown tomatoes is somewhat tricky. If you use too frequent applications of a water soluble fertilizer, you get rapid growth, but too much growth is diverted into the leaves and stalks and you may wind up with fewer tomatoes. I try to enrich the pot soil with a good amount of organic matter before I put the plants in the pots and then I cut down on the amount of additional water soluble fertilizer I use after that.

Growing tomatoes in pots is not my preference, I'd much rather grow them in the ground. But I don't have full sun in an area where I could do that. So, I have resorted to growing them in pots, which I have in my driveway, where I do have full sun a good part of the day. It's not ideal, but it's the best solution I've been able to work out. A fully ripe tomato, right off the vine, with a little salt, is possibly my very favorite food. I refuse to forgo that treat. So I don't care if it looks silly to be growing tomatoes in your driveway, although my neighbors seem to get a kick out of it. I even inspired my next door neighbor's little vegetable patch in the front of her house. Where there's a will, there's a way.

msolga, most of the time I get a monster yield from the cherry tomatoes, and the plants are huge. I think they are sensational in pots. More folks should try growing them.

Now I can't wait until the danger of frost passes, so I can get started with my tomatoes....

I'll try to find larger containers, but really, I think I'll be fine with the 5 gallon ones

There's only 2 people in my household, so we don't need as many tomatoes as a family. I'm sure we'll still have extra's that we'll give away
If it craps out earlier, it craps out.

The really great tomatoes that I like go for 3, 4, 5 bucks a pound, and I'm just not going to pay that anymore.
I figure with the money I save, I can buy a few from the store if my plants peter out.

Since we've got a bunch of those buckets already, I can't see spending any more money than I have to, since this is my first foray into growing food.

So, I'll go into this knowing I may not get as many maters, but I'll have fun doing it.

All this tomato talk. Nothing like a bacon, tomato, mayonnaise sandwich, with homegrown tomato juice dripping off your elbow.

The "super sweet" cherry-type tomaters are the best for snacking in hand. I love to be out in the garden grazing on cherry tomatoes and baby carrots. Staring in July, Ill always have a squeeze hose from the gardn faucets so I can wash hands and veggies ,and I always keep a little shaker of sea salt.

chai2, I think you'll do fine with the 5 gallon containers, particularly if you grow the patio tomatoes. And yours will taste much, much better than the supermarket variety. Good luck!

I'm interested. What compost matter do you folk mostly use when growing tomatoes in pots?

I'm a big fan of mushroom compost (lots of it) , added to the soil well in advance of planting. Then following up later with (liquid) fish fertilizer diluted in water.

When I used to plant tomatoes directly into the garden, I was a huge fan of a mixture of mushroom compost & horse manure, dug into the garden bed, well in advance of planting. Then followed up with blood & bone. Stinky, but great results!

I'm wondering (don't laugh!) about some (not a lot) of, say, chicken manure added to the soil & compost mixture a huge pot, well in advance of planting?