Weekly Gardening Thread --- February Fantasie

Garden Girl's Monthly Column | Feb 2006 | GardenGirl

[Kviteseid]

Here is something to consider:

I call my technique: Tomato Loco
It’s growing Tomatoes upside down...

A convenient and space saving way to grow your own Tomatoes, upside down!
Using recycled bottled water containers.  The size used in coolers,  are perfect for the planting application.
We cut them down to approx. 3 gallons in size. Cut the bottom off for use as the top, and fashion 3 cables as the suspension supports.
Planting Tips:
When the Tomato plant reaches approx. 10 inches in height or more...
Place Potting Soil in the bottom of the suspended container, to the level of the short pipe.
Holding the Tomato plant by the roots, Carefully feed the leaves and stem of the Tomato plant through the pipe and using plastic wrap or equivalent, carefully place the plastic wrap around the stem of the tomato plant.  Not attempting to keep the water in, but to retain the soil from washing out. Place the root ball against the potting soil.

Fill the remainder of the container with soil and water generously... until water drips from the mouth of the container.
Place the included weed block cloth (shiny side up) over the top of the potting soil. This will act as a way of dispersing the water evenly.

Place in a full sun environment (if possible) or as much sun as possible.
The leaves will turn over in approx. two days... searching for the sun.
Water frequently, approx. every other day or so.  Fertilize too.

I welcome your comments or suggestions

Tomato Loco

[Gabz]

Don’t feel bad, I wasn’t able to figure it out either, that’s why I bought the wooden pot maker I posted up thread :)

[Gabz]

Thanks for the link! That idea, of using the glass, will help out when my daughter and her friend want to help make them and I only have the one wooden doohickey!

[A knight without armor]

I just love asparagus. Especially creamed over toast. When I was in the 3rd - 5th grades we lived where there was a huge and old patch of it. That is the only time I’ve had so much I always had my fill. When it went to seed there would be a big area of tall soft fluffy stems. It is a very user friendly plant. I do not remember any pests or problems with it. We did nothing at all except harvest it. Before we moved there my mother and I would pick it wild growing along fence lines. This was extreme north west Illinois.

[fanfan]

Thanks FRiend!

[Gabz]

Lucky you. Asparagus has always been high up on the list of my favorite veggies.

[chickpundit]

I’m going to guess rhubarb is another perennial vegetable. I’ve never grown it, but my dad started growing it last year, and told me they would need to wait until this year to eat it. I didn’t get to see my grandma very often while growing up, as she lived far away. However, I do remember she made a really yummy rhubarb pie :)

[Gabz]

Yup!!! Rhubarb.

[A knight without armor]

Stop it you people! Rhubarb is another blast from the past favorite of mine! It too grows wild along side barns, corncribs, and old houses. Oh gosh when I wasn’t eating rhubarb custard pie I’d be bumping around the farm trying to ride a bike while chewing on a rhubarb stem with that giant leaf flopping around. My mother made the best rhubarb custard pies. I don’t think there was a top crust. I like to make a rhubard sauce by buying frozen rhubarb and cooking it down with sugar. My grandparents and other seasoned citizens considered that a spring tonic. I do not care for the idea of mixing rhubarb with strawberries in recipes. That dumbs it down for me. I like my rhubarb straight. Now quit it, you are starving me to death here. My favorite country living comfort food trilogy is asparagus, rhubard and morels. Don’t get me started on morels. They grow wild and we’d have plastic buckets and dishpanfuls to saute in butter. Now I see Kroger sells them dried and priced like jewelry. I like those foods so much. Whatever those three things do for you, I'm made out of it. In the garden my favorite was round red radishes and long white icicle radishes. Dipped in salt or sliced in a bread and butter sandwich.

[gardengirl]

Morels! No fair! Now you’re making me cry! I can remember hunting them with my grandma.

Rhubarb pie doesn’t have a real top crust—just lattice. Haven’t had any in ages. It won’t grow here, or at least not well. Too hot.

[Red_Devil 232]

I should have planted fewer tomato plants ... I was overly optimistic and very greedily planted a few to many.

[Red_Devil 232]

I have a question about raised beds. Do you plant tomatoes every year? A neighbor told me that I should not plant tomatoes in the same area next year. Is that valid?

[trisham]

I should have planted fewer tomato plants ... I was overly optimistic and very greedily planted a few to many.

****************

No criticism here. I do the same thing every year. I love tomatoes.

[Red_Devil 232]

Do you have an opinion on the question I asked in #92?

[trisham]

A neighbor told me that I should not plant tomatoes in the same area next year. Is that valid?

*********************

I believe your neighbor is correct. We didn't plant tomatoes last year because we had a problem with disease the year before. This year I'm going to plant in containers, probably whiskey barrels. This will allow me to avoid the possibly disease ridden soil in our garden, to control moisture and fertilizer, to keep the tomatoes from crowding, and to weed and prune without breaking my back. The area I've chosen is out in the middle of our yard, so it will receive maximum sunlight. I'm looking forward to seeing whether this will make a substantial difference in our crop.

[Red_Devil 232]

I had some strange white/yellow meandering streaks or spider web looking veins in my tomato leaves and also in my zucchini. Any ideas?

[yorkie]

In Colorado I had a successful garden of beets, carrots, onions, lettuce, peppers, broccoli, green beans, peas and tomatoes. I loved it. (I even made a special ‘compost’ out of water, yeast, Miracle Grow and left over peelings and vegetable left overs.)

In AZ? I can’t even have tulips - let alone vegetables.

[mware]

Longing for the summer when my nephew can wander through his grandmom's garden.

[trisham]

I'm guessing it may be a type of wilt, possibly more than one. It can take multiple seasons of crop rotation to get rid of the problem.

To avoid wilt in the future, do not over-water, weed well, and keep adequate space between plants. A fungicide may also be used.

[gardengirl]

RD—as far as pruning tomatoes, not usually, unless they’re in your way or diseased. A lot of people sucker them, which means to break off the lower limbs so more strength goes to the top—producing part—of the plant. Some do, some don’t. it’s a personal thing. OTOH, if you sucker them, the suckers can be stuck in the ground. Most of them will root and make more plants. :)

You really shouldn’t plant the same thing over and over in the same area. It just gives insects and diseases a better toehold.