Stovepipe
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Everything posted by Stovepipe
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Kettle River Giant garlic is in. Not as big as I'd hoped for but bigger than last year's grocery store variety. Still waiting on the German Red to fall over. Green bell peppers rolling in. Cajun Bells coming in early, time for a summer chili!
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I still haven't had time to fool with it yet but I'm thinking I'll cover it loosely with soil. The main thing is to ensure the kids won't trip over it. It won't be a permanent installation though. This fall I'd like to run it down to the plot where I plan to build a hoop house.
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All the talk about blight and rot got me paranoid about running the sprinkler so I figured I'd go for the soaker hose. Got something that looks like this from Lowes for about $24, it's 100 feet long and I plan to run four 25 foot sections: I may add an additional 50-100 feet to cover another set of raised rows depending on how dry we get. I have no love for hoes! I covered my garlic in wheat straw last fall and the wheat seeds germinated. It's been a pain pulling all of that out of the beds. That and all of the little tomato seedlings that come up from the home made compost. I need to go back to burying my plants in woodchips. I've never tried pumpkins, keep us updated on how these turn out for you this year.
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I broke down and bought a soaker hose system. I should have it up and running by Sunday, just in time for the rain to actually start lol.
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I say use em if you got em. Just be mindful of the tomato plants getting top heavy, you'd hate for the containers to fall over and break the plants. You may have to stabilize the pots with something if they end up super tall. If you need to tie the plants to the cages do it gently. I cut up old tee shirts into thin strips and tie with them. A very thin string that is tied too tight can cut into the plants. Of course you could also let the tomatoes just sprawl out on the ground but you'd want to keep straw down for them to lay on and that might not be ideal. Also you have to be careful to not let them get ground rot in that scenario.
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Looks good Marietta! My only concern would be the tomato plants getting root bound in those pots. Even if they do you should still have yield, but the plants might be constrained. The peppers and other things should do awesome. Put a little fertilizer on them from time to time and keep them mulched with wheat straw or wood chips if you can. I came across some large plastic containers that previously had tree saplings in them, a friend was going to throw them away. I snatched them up and planted sun sugar cherry tomatoes and basil in them. The buckets are about 2 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep I'm guessing. These plants are growing like crazy and are as big as ones planted in the ground at the same time, at least so far. I'd suggest being on the look out for these as you might even be able to find them for free at somewhere like Lowes. Large pots are expensive so tree buckets are a nice free alternative if you are doing a container garden.
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My garden is blowing up, even with us being unlucky on storm tracks lately. We've got several big fatty tomatoes, I'm hoping a few are ready to eat within the next couple of weeks. The garlic has started to lay down so it'll be ready to harvest within a week. Basil is bushy and smells amazing. Cauliflower heads are getting noticeably bigger each day, I think it's about time to tie them up. The real fun will begin in mid to late June when we can start slicing up big Cherokee Purples and Pink Brandywines to eat with mozzarella cheese and basil. And the fresh salsa, pasta sauce, and the canning... can't wait!
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Wow you're not playing around John, nice work! Yes we need some pics.
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I had 100 in the ground last year. I lost count of how many jars I canned but we ran out around February. The withdrawals have been rough. Love me some maters. So John, has the mountain top turned green yet?
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^^ Lookin good guys! I got the rest of my warm season plants in the ground last week. Aside from a few miscellaneous things like an herb here or there and replacing a large bed of garlic with potatoes, I think I'm set til fall. Ended up with right at 75 tomatoes which is significantly less than last year. But, this time I spaced things out much more so hopefully I can baby them better and get better yields. Here is what is in the ground as of May 12: 75 tomatoes (pink brandywine, cherokee purple, goldmans italian, early girl, sun sugar) 17 peppers (green bell, cajun bell, jalapeno) 7 sweet basil 8 cauliflowers several different lettuces which are about done spinach kale garlic (german red, kettle river giant, elephant, and some random grocery store variety) onions (yellow, red, white) leeks shallots oregano cucumbers 3 half rows of sweet corn (3 more half rows in 3 weeks) It's no fun having to run the sprinkler in this drought, but so far everything is growing nicely. Corn came up in about 6 days. I have a few green tomatoes. The fall planted garlic is looking good, maybe another 3 weeks and it'll fall over and be harvested. The kale went nuts this year. I ended up with freaking giant plants, way more than I could eat so I've been giving it away. The cauliflower is huge but not making heads yet. All in all the season is off to a good start over here.
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I put 24 mater plants and 5 basils in the ground last weekend, with about 50 more maters to go. I'd planned to put in another 25 this coming weekend. At the moment I could probably cover everything up if frost comes knockin. Any more and I'll have out kicked my coverage. I don't know what to think at this point. It's tricky this early but the payoff of early tomatoes is huge. Not sure yet if I'm going to roll the dice or not. It'll probably come down to what the models are showing Saturday morning.
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If anyone is looking for mushroom compost in east TN, take a drive over to Monterey Mushrooms in Loudon. They sell it for $50 a truckload or they'll fill up a utility trailer for $35. That is a heck of a lot cheaper than what landscaping services or dirt companies sell it for. It can be as high as $230 for a 1 ton dump truck load and those companies get it from Monterey Mushrooms anyway so might as well get it from the source yourself. http://www.montereymushrooms.com/about-us/company-divisions/fresh-division/loudon-facility/ Call ahead to confirm what days and times it's available. I got a trailer load yesterday and it's dank. Can't wait to get it in my garden beds. It really is black gold, plants love the stuff.
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TN Valley sub-forum picnic sounds like a great idea! Your flowers and peppers look great, nice work! I expect to see lots of pics John!
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Yikes! That sucks but it might be worth sifting through the mess to find some slightly damaged plants. I've gotten free plants from them before that were in rough shape but were brought back to healthy in my garden. Yesterday I got a few more things in the ground: White onions Red onions Elephant garlic Shallots Leeks I'm thiiiiiis close to taunting mother nature by putting 10 or so tomato seedlings in the ground. My wife is going to pick up a trailer load of mushroom compost from Monterey Mushrooms tomorrow. I can't wait to start playing with that. I also found a free source of donkey manure that will come in handy later on. I can almost taste the heirloom tomatoes now... it's been too long!
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Check out this article: http://growfood-notlawns.com/started-boxes-60-days-later-neighbors-not-believe-built/ I think I'm going to move towards this goal. Eventually I'd like to have my entire front and side yard covered in gardens and walking paths. Hey, less to mow! As far as the upcoming freeze, just bring out the sheets and blankets. Last year I had maters in the ground that survived a hard freeze just fine covered in sheets. The tops of a few plants that touched the sheets got burned a little but recovered nicely. Maybe put some buckets or something for the sheet to rest on. An uncle of mine puts 5 gallon buckets over his plants during freezes. Last year he lost several tomato plants with that method though so I don't think I'd do it if we're facing 25 degrees. Lettuce, spinach, collards and kale say bring it!
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Here in central east Tennessee things are greening up, trees are budding, buttercups are blooming, gardens are growing. Lawns are getting bushy with onions and weeds. It certainly feels like spring and with the quick progress I've seen on my recently planted salad garden (not to mention the garlic, onions, and mater seedlings) I cringe at the thought of repeated freezes and frosts. I think you'd enjoy the drive if you come south, Georgia is probably significantly greener than we are right now. It's happening though! Glad to hear your crop is doing well along with everything else down there, pictures look great!
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For the third year in a row I've carried along some Pink Brandywine seeds that I've had really good luck with. The original plants were purchased from Lowes. They were "grafted" which I understand to mean a root system from one plant was fused with the upper portion from another plant. I've not seen them sold there since I guess summer of 2013. They are very well performing heirlooms with exceptional flavor. I also have some other Pink Brandywines from a seed company, as well as Cherokee Purples. For paste tomatoes this year I went with Goldman's Italian for a change since I didn't have great luck with Romas last year for some reason. In addition to the seedlings I plan on buying a handful of larger plants in late spring, probably some early girls and whatever impulse buy heirlooms I come across at Lowes. What about you, what are your plans?
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Definitely post pics and best of luck. Nothing wrong with buying plants, the stuff at lowes right now for 3 bucks a plant looks better than my seedlings hehe.
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You didn't dig them all up did you? If not, you're probably golden come early summer.
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How did it fail? A fall planting of garlic won't yield until June. You could plant in spring but planting in fall lets the roots get established over the winter and gives it a head start for spring growth. It really shouldn't take off in a major way until about May. You'll know it's ready to harvest when it gets tall and starts bending over, probably mid June-ish. Mine is currently short and stubby but seems to have weatherd this winter well. Onions too.
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Planted greens this past weekend, hopefully I don't lose them to a crazy cold snap. I have a piece of plexiglass I can put over the "salad box" that should keep that area warm. The rest of the plants will have to fiend for themselves. There are still about 40 tomato plants under grow lights and 20 more that I'm bringing outside on the warmer days to harden off. Hopefully the weather will cooperate to some degree and we can avoid any extreme cold going forward.
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Definitely give it a try, sounds like a decent setup. Err on the side of bigger pots and get some good gardening soil from Lowes or somewhere, maybe mix in some compost if possible. I've seen tomatoes and basil (and some other herbs) do very well in pots in screened porches. Take pictures and keep us updated, good luck! I'm about to transplant some tomato seedlings to bigger pots and start hardening them off on the warmer days going forward. The spinach seedlings are about ready to transplant to the outdoor herb box. I may gamble and make the move next week. Been hearing a lot about "hoop houses" lately and seeing some good setups online. I think I'm gonna have to pull the trigger and build one over my large bed this fall. The idea is to have a temporary green house type setup with no artificial heat that can be removed in warmer weather. Ideally it would allow greens to grow all through the winter and a nice early start on things like tomatoes. We'll see how well it pans out, should be cheap so it's worth a try.
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I've never tried them in pots, but I'm sure if the pot is big enough and there is enough light they'd grow fine. Is the screened room pretty bright? South facing by chance?
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Welcome and please join in the discussion. Glad to have you!
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I got some tomato seeds planted today. 12 pink brandywines, 12 cherokee purples, and 12 goldman's Italians. I'm waiting on some more seeds to be delivered then I'll get some early girls and other things under grow lights. Hopefully I'll be able to transplant to bigger pots by March and if I'm lucky have tomatoes to eat by May. Garlic and onions look pretty decent. The small batches of kale and collards were extra tasty this season due how the frosts worked out. I'm pumped about spring gardening!