Stovepipe

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!

Wow you're not playing around John, nice work! Yes we need some pics.

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?

^^ 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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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?

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.

You didn't dig them all up did you? If not, you're probably golden come early summer.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Welcome and please join in the discussion. Glad to have you!

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!

Thanks guys! I ripped out about half of my summer plants to make room for cool season stuff. This weekend I got cabbage, collards, carrots, lettuce, and spinach in the ground. I may plant a few more greens but generally will just put down crimson clover again for a cover crop over winter. I'm most excited about getting the garlic and onions planted in October. Although I spent a little more than I would have liked, I decided to try a couple of garlic varieties from a seed company. Hopefully if they are successful I'll be able to keep some bulbs for planting next time to avoid that cost again. From the website: Garlic German Red Strong, Rich Flavor! Authentic flavor, bold and spicy! 140-150 days. When it comes to hardnecks (Rocamboles), German Red is the choice for northern and cold-winter gardens from coast to coast! Right at home in severe winter weather, it matures beautifully from a fall planting, yielding plenty of large, shiny, striped purple-and-white cloves for your enjoyment. German Red sets large fruit, with about 8 to 10 big cloves and no smaller internal cloves. Superbly fragrant as well as flavorful, it offers that satisfying "real garlic" bite that is so mouthwatering. The cloves are easy to peel, with an ivory base color and many lavender stripes and streaks. German Red harvests in midseason and holds very well, so you can grow a big crop and harvest them all at once. It's quite easy to grow, having very few problems with pests. Plant it in rich, well-drained soil -- garlic doesn't do well in dense soils with few nutrients. You should separate the cloves just prior to planting, placing them about 6 inches apart and 4 inches deep. 1/2 pound. and Garlic Kettle River Giant This is an Artichoke variety, spicy and hot. It originates from the Pacific Northwest, so cold climates are no issue. 90-150 days. This tasty garlic is called giant for a reason -- the bulbs can grow up to 4 inches across! A softneck Artichoke variety, Kettle River Giant actually offers the best of both worlds, displaying the long storage capabilities of a softneck combined with the rich flavor and medium-hot aftertaste of a hardneck. Kettle River Giant is an heirloom garlic that originates in the Pacific Northwest, so cold climates are not an issue. In fact, it consistently produces large bulbs in areas that experience harsh winters. Its beige-white wrappers with pink overtones cover 10 to 14 cream-colored cloves. Kettle River Giant is quite easy to grow, having very few problems with pests, including deer. Plant it in rich, well-drained soil -- garlic doesn't do well in dense soils with few nutrients. You should separate the cloves just prior to planting, placing them 6 to 9 inches apart and covering them with 1 to 2 inches of soil. This garlic has also proven to be quite suitable for growing in containers. 1/2 pound. Anyone tried growing these before?

Well it has been an enjoyable yet very busy summer for gardening here. It was mostly successful but there are always lessons to learn and I have a few things that I'll do differently next year. At this point we've canned over 100 quarts of stuff, mostly tomato products, and frozen quite a few quart bags of peppers. Tomatoes and peppers are still coming in but things are starting to slow down a bit, which is good because I'm almost reaching the burnout point. Tomatoes started ripening mid June and by July 4th Brandywine and Cherokee Purple heirlooms were getting abundant. By mid to late July the 28 seedlings matured and that bed went nuts. Since then we've been having to can 2 or 3 times a week just to keep up and avoid having them spoil. It's funny, the bed with the seedlings performed the best despite it being the redheaded step child garden. None of those plants were staked, I just let em flop over and grow wild on the ground (on woodchips). I only ran the sprinkler like 4 or 5 times down there all summer. Yet, they seemed to thrive better than the ones in beds closer to the house that were tied up and pampered a bit more. My green peppers matured late and I've only gotten to pick some decent sized ones since mid August. Jalapenos though have been going crazing all summer. I probably have 12 or so vacuum sealed quart bags of them in the freezer after giving a ton away. They just keep coming. The Cajun bells have been the darlings this year though. They have grown consistently well all season, have awesome flavor, aren't quite as hot as jalapenos and therefore have been more usable in more stuff. I will be planting lots more of those next year. Tabascos have also done well. My cucumbers were the most disappointing but they were also planted in the more marginal soiled areas of my gardens. We got enough for maybe 8 jars of pickles but considering the number of plants I had, that was a pretty big fail. Next year I'll put them in better soil, fertilize and water them more often, and build something for them to climb. Herbs did very well for us this time. We had plenty on hand for salsa and pasta sauce, as well as pesto. We did two big herb harvests where we dried them and stored in jars. They out grew my herb box so I had to move some of it around to other places in the yard. The only thing that crapped out early was the cilantro. Green beans were an afterthought, but when the onions and cabbage were harvested I shoved beans into the space that was freed up. We ended up with about 10 quarts and some pints before we got tired of messing with them. As far as canning, I started out focusing on salsa. Aside from having to buy a few farmers market green peppers and a few onions here and there, everything came from the garden and it was delicious. Then I switched focus to pasta sauce. This is the first year I've done it, and man was it the star of the season. It takes almost all damn day to work up a batch but the flavor is ridiculous. I followed almost to a tee the sauce recipe on the Old World Garden Farm site linked in this thread, although I reduced the hot peppers a bit. I highly recommend it even if you have to buy the ingredients. It blows away any store bought sauce I've ever had. I also made many quarts of V8 style tomato juice, also following the recipe on that site. Now, as I'm reaching burnout and September is on us, I'm pretty much just canning whole tomatoes or cooking them down and canning the stock juice. I figure I can use the stock at a later time to make more pasta sauce or whatever. In summary, I think the woodchips helped tremendously this year. Weeds were better kept in check and I did far less watering than ever (granted the weather cooperated). Next year I'll probably plant fewer tomatoes (100 plants is kind of nuts) but space them out a bit more. Most of my plants were sort of crowded so it was a lot of work to get into that jungle everyday and pull out maters. I'm also going to rotate crops around next year as a few of my traditional tomato beds didn't perform as well and I think it's because this is the third year in a row I've planted them there. Here are a few pics taken at different times this summer: Dining room table was covered up constantly: We have been pulling in two to four of these tubs of tomatoes every day for weeks: The cajun belles were the stars of the pepper show: The 24 plant Roma bed exploded but then crapped out afterwards, only one or two good harvests which was kind of a bummer: Some of the canned goods, with fresh chicken stock on top: Cherokee Purples are the best tasting tomato I've ever eaten in my life:

I highly recommend planting garlic in the Fall. This was my first crop and it was very easy. I just bought some grocery store bulbs (possibly organic, don't recall), pulled apart the cloves (keeping skins on), soaked in water over night, then planted them about 2 inches deep with the pointy ends up. Mine were pretty close together, about 9 per square foot, but I'll probably space them out a bit more next time. Just mulched them a few times with straw and wood chips. Planted mid October, harvested when they fell over first of June. I let the whole plants cure in the garage for about 3 weeks before trimming the bulbs. Ended up with a decent haul! This spring was my first attempt at cabbage. It was only a mild success. They were very buggy, I got the worms under control a bit late, and mine were planted too close together. I got a few decent sized heads but nothing too impressive. Not sure if I'll fool with them this fall or not. They were fun to watch grow though. I finally got enough fresh stuff out of the garden to make my first homegrown batch of garlic dill pickles. Managed 4 quarts this time, hope to get 20 before it's over with. My family got me a dehydrator for Father's Day and I'm gonna try it out tonight with 2 kinds of beef jerky and some turkey jerky. Gonna dry out some herbs this weekend. Just need these heirloom tomatoes to ripen! Hopefully this hot dry spell will turn the tide.

Tennessee paradise right now: in the backyard, nibbling on a Cajun Belle pepper, just picked cucumber #10 and Early Girl #8 of the season, about to cut some maters up and cover em in cottage cheese and fresh basil, wife has a veggie and meatball pasta about ready, storm clouds rising in the sky over the mountains, the Dead's Europe '72 is playing.... Life is good in the valley!

Wow that's exciting! How often have you been watering the cucumbers in this dry pattern? They seem more sensitive to it in my yard than anything else so I've had to irrigate a couple times a week. Mine are still tiny.

Couldn't stand it any longer, had to put up 3 quarts of garlic dill pickles. Farmers market cucs, my dill, black peppercorns for flare. Mmmmmm mmmmmm.