Stovepipe

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.

And caging ~ can anyone give me tips on when or when not to use them?  Currently I have them on my two tomato plants and my two oldest & largest pepper plants.

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.

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.

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!

Yes, it greened up to 3500 feet last week. I put in a more modest 25 tomato plants. I have around a dozen pepper plants. 8 rows of corn around 40 feet long each. 4 rows of cabbage. 3 rows of potatoes. A row of sweet potatoes. 15 cucumber hills. 8 watermelon hills. 5 zucchini hills. 10 cantaloupe hills. 5 big max pumpkin hills. 4 rows of sweet onions. 2 rows of peas that are already knee high and in full bloom. 3 rows of green beans. I'll plant 2 more rows of corn at least in a few weeks and more beans too.

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

With 75 tomato plants, everyone you know should be in tomatoes all summer long.

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.

Stove......I think you need to have a big picnic for all of us once the harvest starts rolling in!!!   Wish I could try something like this, but our property is too shaded with mature oaks.  Happy growing to all!!!

TN Valley sub-forum picnic sounds like a great idea!

I hope I did the pairing correctly.....

Your flowers and peppers look great, nice work!

Just installed about 150 sweet onion bulbs and 3 thirty foot rows of peas. Probably roll out some cabbage soon. Then it'll be time to prepare for tomatogeddon. I'm going for 2 pounders this year.

I expect to see lots of pics John!

Oh on another note. My local lowes and home depot got hit HARD last night from the freeze. 80% of their veggies and herbs got wiped out from the freeze. It was a slaughter.

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!

Nice photos. Hows the green up coming along down there? Noticed lots of 60s-70s over the 7-10 days, have the trees and vegetation started responding? 

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!

Thank you,

 

Everything is blooming big time right now.  Lots of whites and purples coming in.  You can start to see the green trees getting little buds as well. 

 

It seems like all of my plants handled the transplants well.  All are nice and perky now, the cowhorn peppers are really growing fast....

Glad to hear your crop is doing well along with everything else down there, pictures look great!

Stove, what varieties of tomatoes are you growing this year?

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?

I cleared (dug up and tilled and derooted) a 20'X5' area in the front of my house for flowers to be planted.  I am also going to grow peppers and tomatoes in pots this year around back of my house.  I'm going to buy plants as opposed to seeds due to my newbieishness when it comes to gardening.  I have decided to place the pots outside though, not in the screened area (taking my chances with the animals and mischievous kids)  I will keep you guys updated with some pics when I get some plants placed in my new garden area.  I'll also keep some pics up of my veggies when and if they work out lol...

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.

I thought you were supposed to harvest in late February or early March. Oops...

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

My garlic was a massive fail...BTW...when I dug one up to look at it, it looked like a spring onion...it still smelled like garlic, at least.

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.

Southwest facing and the screened in area is probably going to get some direct sunlight.  I think between neighborhood kids and stray animals my veggies would get messed with outside. Hopefully going to be buying some land in the next few years where I can really take this hobby to where I want it to go.  I think I'm going to give it a try, the worst thing that happens is I learn a little about gardening. lol... 

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.

Is it possible to grow peppers (bell/red/yellow) in pots?  I live in a townhouse so I don't have a lot of space outside and I worry about the neighborhood kids messing with my plants when they grow.  Can I grow peppers in pots inside a screened in area that doesn't get direct sunlight?  Or am I stuck with having to place them outside in the ground or in pots?

Thank you in advance

 

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! We are glad to have more posters. Feel free to ask anything. No question is a stupid one here. I'm still learning a lot. Weather is a very humbling hobby. We have some very good people here so you should pick up the learning curve quick. It was hard to weed through all of the talk in the southeast forum before we seceded from them. Your right the SE forum was basically all NC. There might of been 1 out of 20 posts about the TN valley and Alabama/MS. But we started from the bottom and now we're here (lol). You couldn't of picked a better time to join.

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!

That's amazing Stovepipe.  I really want to plant some veggies next year.  ME and my girlfriend had quite a few plants and flowers this year but we stayed away from the edibles.  I live in the city, in a townhome so it's difficult to find the space and privacy to garden like that.  Anyways, bravo sir.

Good job Stovepipe !!

Wow Stove congrats!

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.