The SDMB 2013 Gardening Thread (Yes, Very Early This Year)

Cafe Society
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Well, I lost the pot of dill. The seeds hadn’t yet sprouted and I think I have some seeds left so I can start over. But the pot fell off the shelf (I must not have put it back far enough) and landed on the floor, spilling out most of the dirt. I put it outside to deal with tomorrow. I’m too irritated with it right now.

I picked up some oregano seeds yesterday. I’ll plant those sometime tomorrow. Still have to get white and yellow peppers, roma and better boy tomatoes, and the replacement blueberry bush. I’m going to go pick up an organic potato from Earth Fare the next time I’m on that side of town ($2.29 per pound!!!) to get my potato starts from. It has been drizzling here today so I haven’t been outside digging in the dirt at all today…

I just splatted a huge (about an inch! gahhh!) black FURRY spider in my kitchen! Not a good day today! Don’t ask me what kind it was - I didn’t inquire before I brought my mighty sneaker down on it.

Carnivorousplant, your toothbrush comment about the ghost pepper seeds made me laugh!

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I’m in N.E. Texas and we’re under permanent water rationing. I saw a subsistence gardening technique online practiced in Africa called keyhole gardens, a raised circular bed with a donut hole and a cut in the side allowing access to the donut hole, which is your compost pile. In the villages where it is practiced all green waste goes into the composting hole, and all household gray water is poured into the compost and flows out into the soil helping to reduce water requirements. Since the bed is raised it eliminates most weeding and all stooping. I built one this winter and am going to plant in it next weekend, as it looks like our last freeze will be Monday. Imagine if your only vegetables all year were the ones you grew yourself…

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Burpees has engineered a sweet corn that grows in pots. I live in NY on Long Island just steps away from Queens. I do not have any space for growing things. Veggies grow in two beds I built, one is about 6x6 and the other 6x12. The instruction for the seeds are 9 in a 24 inch pot.

Corn. Is it really possible?

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Any advice to a novice gardener (or a website) who wants to plant tomatoes and peppers?

I live in SE Missouri with pretty good soil (not in the Sandy delta). It gets real hot and humid starting in June. And we got lots of rabbits and squirrels.

I am single, interested in getting eating tomato every other day or so for BLT sandwiches and wouldn’t mind plum tomatoes for roasting.

I am a novice so simplicity is more important than taste (I am not a picky eater). But I do want my tomatoes to get ripe.

Should have thought about this earlier, getting the soil ready etc. Or is there still time?

I m figuring about 5-6 plants and 1-2 pepper plants.

I can plant just about anywhere to get 10+ hrs of sun down to 4 hours of sun (either morning or afternoon). For Watering, the most convenient place would probably has Southern Exposure and shade after 4 pm. Or Western Exposure with sun starting about 1 pm until sunset.

The most inconvenient place to water is probably with strictly Eastern exposure.

Thanks for assistance.

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No.
Raccoons.

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Tomatoes and peppers are the best thing for novice gardeners to grow. Forgiving and flexible (tomatoes more then peppers, but still) all one needs to do in the beginning is find varieties suitable for their location and plant! Time? I dunno exactly what zone Missouri is in, but I’m sure it is pretty early to be planting stuff. You’ve got at least a month.
Find out if you’d like determinate or indeterminate tomato plants. Determinates grow in a bush and need less support. They also tend to let one huge load of tomatoes at once. Indeterminate are more vine-y and need a lot of support but will give you tomatoes forever and ever until you are sick of tomatoes.

My experience with peppers is that you will have to wait for them. I’ve had a problem with low yield for years with both very hot and bell peppers. What it is with them is that it takes a long time until harvest. Once they’re ready to give peppers, they’ll give until frost. Early fruiters (for me, at least) were sweet banana peppers AND Hungarian Hot Wax peppers.

Check out also the USDA plant hardiness zone. It’s a good thing to know about what you are planting and where.

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aaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

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The cilantro I bought to spend enough for them to sell me gunnera seeds is sprouting.
I hope the gunnera does well. I’m waiting until Summer to start it in the garage, it needs to be warm.
I want that by the water garden so badly, have for years. :frowning:

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Here’s a page for tomatoes from the vegetable planting calendar from the Univ of Missouri Extension. Scroll down and pick your county from the map - that will tell you when to plant. If you’re starting from seeds, you can start the seeds 4 -6 weeks earlier than you want to plant outside.

I noticed Better Boys on the list of suggested types on that site. Better Boys are really good to start with because they’re an easy hybrid to grow. One tip from me. When you plant the plants outside, add in some crushed eggshells into the dirt (2 -3 should be fine) to give the plants a little extra calcium (it encourages more blooms.) Then, when they start to bloom, give them a drink of dissolved epsom salts in water. This will help prevent blossom end rot. This works well for both tomatoes and peppers.

Also, get some tomato food, and feed them a quarter or half serving every few days to every week. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and drinkers and too much food at once isn’t good - it’s better to constantly give them small amounts of food to keep them blooming and producing. But if the plants get two - three feet tall and they don’t have any buds yet, cut out the tomato food and give them more eggshells to encourage blooming.

Another key to tomatoes is consistent levels of moisture. If you miss a few days of watering and then water a lot all at once while you have fruits growing, the fruits can split. It’s at best ugly and at worst you can lose that fruit. I keep track of the amount of local rainfall in my area through weather underground. Most plants need at least an inch of water a week. Tomatoes need more. You may find during the hottest days that you’re watering your tomatoes once or even twice a day. But all the effort is worth it!

You’re going to have so much fun growing tomatoes!

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Thanks for the help Biggirl and Clothilde.

What about soil preparation. To have to get someone till the ground or can I do it manually?

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You’re quite welcome. I’ll post more as I think of more tips.

Regarding tilling, I grow in containers, not in the ground, so of course I never till. What kind of dirt do you have? Is it hard clay?

Around here, most people don’t just plant directly into dirt - they amend the soil or simply use a soil-less mix in the holes. I generally make up my own mix using a combination of potting soil, cow manure (make sure it’s sterile!) and construction sand. Sometimes I add in perlite if I have it, sometimes I don’t. And, of course, the crushed egg shells.

You ought to be able to do it yourself with just a shovel. It’s hard work, though. If you’re planting a lot, you might just rent a tiller for the day. But I think if you’re only planting a few tomatoes and peppers then a shovel will work.

When you plant your tomatoes, pick off all but the top leaves. Then plant the thing sideways with only those top leaves sticking out. The long stem you planted will develop roots all along it, giving your tomato plant a very strong root system.

Another thing just occurred to me. Have you had a soil termite treatment done? If so, you want to avoid planting where the treatment was done, so don’t plant too close to the foundation of your house. Make sure you’re a few feet away so you don’t break the treatment barrier. Your termite company can advise you how far out to plant - they get this question all the time.

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How is everyone doing with their gardens/planting?

Biggirl, did you get your Burpee sweet corn? I’m interested in that for next year, so if you’re growing it this year, I’m hoping it does well for you.

notfrommensa, did you plant your tomatoes and peppers?

As for me, I’m behind schedule. I was at Sam’s yesterday and got a package of 4 blueberry bushes for $16, so that’s more than “just the one replacement bush” that I needed, but it contains two Top Hats, which are low-growing, and two Spartans which can make big bushes. The two I already had (one died) were just “blueberry” in plastic containers from Lowe’s - the container never said what kind they were, but I believe they’re some low bush variety.

As for my sprouting, all 4 of the 2012 cucumbers sprouted on the paper towels, and all 4 are potted in little “toilet paper tube” pots until they get out of seedling stage. (Can you tell I really like “free” ways of doing things?) Only 2 of the 5 organic zucchini seeds sprouted on the paper towels. Zucchini just doesn’t like me, for some reason. Anyway, I’m putting those 2 in the TPT pots until they’re no longer seedlings. The 2012 yellow squash seeds I started in the paper sprouting pots all came up overnight (there are 3 there,) so they’re fine in that sprouting pot for a little while. The green beans are growing like they belong to Jack! The green beans and yellow squash and both the beefsteak and cherry tomatoes were started in sprouting pots in a low plastic container with wet gravel on the bottom, all stuck inside a sealed gallon-size plastic ziploc bag, sitting on an old washcloth on top of the tv in the bedroom (for the warmth). The other 2 plants in there, the other green bean variety and the bell peppers, have not sprouted yet. The chamomile is surprisingly surviving in a little pot on top of the refrigerator. And, of course, the dill is no more since the pot fell off the shelf and I put it outside because I was so irritated over it.

In all honesty, I should have started all my sprouting back at the beginning of February, so I’m really 6 weeks behind. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up before summer gets here. So this week I’ve got to start more zucchini, more cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, and more bell peppers and green beans. I’m starting all these on paper towels. Otherwise I’m going to be REALLY behind! I’m also going to start the oregano in a little plastic pot - when that’s up and ready I’ll put it in a bigger container outside and keep it there.

I got two small organic potatoes from Earth Fare, and they are sitting on my kitchen counter trying to sprout. Once they’ve started putting out good-sized sprouts, I’ll cut them up, let them dry out overnight, and then plant them. That’s going to be a fun experiment this year!

I’m heading to Lowe’s in a little while to get plants of roma tomatoes and better boys and hopefully white and yellow peppers. I also need potting soil, peat moss, and some azalea (acid) food for the blueberries. I’m hoping I can find some old black plastic pots from trees lying around that I can talk them into giving to me. :smiley:

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The crocuses, daffodils and hyacinths have come up to beautify my front yard. I have white and purple crocuses. This year this beauty popped up a bit away from where the white and purple crocus bulbs were planted. I don’t remember planting it but that doesn’t mean I didn’t. It it be a white and purple crocus baby?
Also, I’m gonna buy those corn seeds (kernels?) right now!

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I don’t think that link to Pinterest is working Here is my Iris Crocus (that’s what I’m calling him). In hopes of encouraging more of these same, here’s a link to my early spring blooms. At least I hope the link works.

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Very nice, thanks. :slight_smile:

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This is my second year doing any sort of garden or growing anything edible. Last year we did peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkin. this year we have oh, so much more and I’m so excited.

Two different kinds of tomatoes
Anaheim and poblano peppers
zucchini
butternut squash
lettuce (3 kinds)
cucumber
string beans
strawberries

Everything from seed except for the strawberries and one tomato. Lettuce, zucchini, and beans are just poking through the dirt. Yay! We have a tiny yard with a few raised beds, but much of it is in pots/containers.

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Be careful with the strawberries. They’ll take over your yard if you’re not careful.

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Thanks for the tip! They are in containers, so hopefully well contained.

59

Oh. Containers are fine!

60

Our soil is awful here, so everything is in raised beds or containers with nice soil. For living in an area with much farming, the area where out house was built is awful. I think the only thing that grows here on its own is blackberry vines. Cannot kill those things. Grrr…