Posted on 03/14/2014 12:57:29 PM PDT by greeneyes
Posted on Friday, March 07, 2014 2:18:07 PM by greeneyes
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Hey all. Do any of you have a recommendation for a gardening book that has ‘recipes’ for good soil for various different vegetables and such? Right now I’m just using Miracle Grow and mixing in some sphagnum moss and mycorrhizae to improve drainage but I have no idea which plants need a higher ph or a lower ph and which ones need good drainage versus needing to hold moisture. Is there a comprehensive book that’s considered better than the rest? Or should I just pick a gardening book based on what I’m growing?
Thanks in advance.
Oh man so much info out there. Here’s a page from the Farmers Almanac if you wish to look up by plant type and info just as a quick snapshot guide.
http://www.almanac.com/plants/type/vegetable
It appears that the super hot “Scorpions” will turn into short bush pepper plants.
We also are doing well with Amish paste, Romas and Cupid grape tomatoes. All are quite tall and, with a few days of hardening off, could become producers by mid June...
Saving tomato seeds is simply putting the seed sacs from the tomato into a small jar with a table spoon or two of water and let them ferment for a few days then rinse them off and dry them. All my tomatoes now are heirloom.
That’s what I did.
I hope they breed true. Time will tell.
On the off chance that they don’t work, I ordered some new seeds anyway and will be planting those in a couple weeks and see how they do compared to each other.
Sweet! Added to my bookmarks. Thanks.
The breeding will be true if they were the only kind in the area. If they were cross bred with something else you liked or that did well it’s no big deal. Tomatoes aren’t like something like cucumbers that may have been crossed with something else. With cucumbers you want heritage for sure. Last year my heritage cucumbers did really great. I have more land cleared this year and even have my greenhouse up!!! Putting the tilapia tanks in now.
Things that make me go, "Hmmmmmm". Using 10-20-10 fertilizer, then topping with more phosphate doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. I'm not a big fan of fresh cow manure either. Every time I've used it, I end up with tons of toadstools in my garden.
My raised beds are filled with slightly aged horse manure, and some local organic matter. When I plant my tomato's, I wait until the plant is approx. 4 inches tall. I trim all the leaves off except the crown. I dig a hole that is slightly deeper than the plant is tall. In the bottom of the hole, I place a hand full of 3% phosphate (not Super Phosphate or Triple Super Phosphate), a couple handfuls of dirt and mix them, then I put the plant over that and cover it up to the crown.
This technique works great for me, but then again, I don't have sandy or clay soil. I have Texas Hill Country caliche which is high pH. I am going to try ammonium sulphate on other area's of the property though.
I hope your tomato's bear well. The last time I planted seeds from store-bought fruit, I ended up with tomato's the size of a pencil eraser. There were a lot of flavorful little itty-bitty tomato's, but they all could fit in my cupped hands ;)
Hence, I don't worry about the environmental issue of sustainability vs. peat etc. The mix is 6 inches deep over crappy clay soil. I am in the process of double digging some of my beds to make it easier for the roots of plants.
Here's a link that I found that you might find interesting:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Raised-Bed-Gardening-—Getting-the-Soil-Mix-Right&id=1640553
I prefer the raised bed method, because it is easier than messing around with soil improvement. I have also grown veggies successfully using the walmart potting soil mix. It was cheap @ $2.50 per big bag.
I just used some landscape timbers to outline the space. Used a shovel to turn over the soil about 6 inches deep. Put a layer of 4 newspapers deep over that (weed and grass suppression), and dumped the soil on top of the newspaper 6 inches deep. Then planted the veggies.
I can tell you that mushroom compost spread about 3 inches deep will give you a great harvest for lettuce, spinach, and other leafy types of greens. I did a little experiment last year with different mixes planting the same veggies. Mushroom Compost won hands down.
For more accurate way to go, You could have your soil tested at reasonable cost working with your local extension office. You take the soil samples, and they do the testing and then tell you what is needed.
LOL. Spring fever is running rampant!
All sounds good. I am really excited with my tomato experiment. I have green tomatoes already! Can’t wait for them to get finished.LOL
My tomatoes were Heinz variety sauce tomatoes who are supposed to be OP.
From what I’ve read on the gardening threads, tomatoes tend to self-pollinate more than cross pollinate. I have two separate garden plots. I plant all of the same variety in one spot in the garden, and anything else goes in the other spot.
I want to share a little method for tomato seeds that Red Devil posted a few years back.
Use liquid oxy clean to spray on your tomato seeds. Let them soak for about 30 minutes. Rinse off and let dry. No need for waiting and having stinky fermented seeds.
Are those Heinz tomatoes really meaty? I do Roma’s for soups, ketchup, paste etc.
I’ve heard of that before but have never tried it. The “stinky” isn’t an issue outside and it’s pretty simple to just do it out in the garden.
Yikes...had a hybrid Juliette mater plant last year produced a lot of small ones too. I'm hoping these 'store bought' tomatoes from seed produce bigger.. we shall see. As a backup I will purchase 2-3 other variety plants. Next year I gotta, gotta go with heirloom tomato seeds although cherry maters are pretty hardy against the heat. So many 'maters, so little room.
We were actually over the annual rainfall last year for our area, but missed the runoff rains to fill the lakes. We have water rationing now.
The highland lakes are still at 30 something percent capacity and we need a few depressions to plant themselves over the hill country.
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