My wife does the fertilizer stuff, and the one she uses specifically says it’s for plants that require high acid content such as azaleas. Pretty sure it gets enough sun; azaleas grow almost anywhere. Yeah, we have squirrels, but there are a ton of buds: they just never turn into flowers.
We have an upside-down tomato planter. We bought small tomato plants last week to put in it – but one of them is hanging loose. It honestly feels like it’s hanging by a thread, but so far a few bouts of strong wind and thunderstorms haven’t shaken it loose. But it doesn’t seem to be growing. Is there anything I can do for the poor little tomato plant?
I agree with Broomstick that you might need to feed them more.
When you look at a bag of fertilizer, there should be a group of three numbers. Something like 24-8-16 or 4-12-0. That shows the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. You want one where the middle number (phosphorous) is at least as high as the first number (nitrogen). Sometimes you can find fertilizers that say ‘for tomatoes’, or sometimes they just say ‘for flowers and fruit’ or something like that. The higher the numbers, the stronger the fertilizer, so follow the instructions on the label for how much to apply.
Algernon - this year, make sure to choose your varieties. Tomato varieties are loosely split into determinate (bush) and indeterminate (vine) types. Here’s more info.
I’ve grown bush-type in the past, and am thinking about making the switch to vine this year. They need a bit more fussing (regular pruning, staking) but have a longer season, perfect for my CA weather.
Also, you can’t plant tomatoes too deep. They like it.
Check if your local Master Gardeners are offering a specific tomato growing class or workshop. Ours do every year, they’re very popular, and give great region-specific advice, including recommending varieties they’ve grown successfully for years in their test plots.
Well… poo, it looks like a feral cat has used my chard patch as a litter box.
>sigh<
Counter-measures will have to be deployed. (Cat lovers don’t despair - no harm or injury is intended to the cat. I will install “spikes” made from trimmings off the rose bushes to discourage paws from pawing at the dirt. It’s worked in the past.) Also, will have to plant more chard. Dammit, that’s one of my favorites!
About the tomatoes - they like a bit of acid,so I’ve been putting the used tea leaves around them… so do roses.
Everything has to be in containers,because this dirt here is awful! It’s riverbank,so it varies from greasy black mud to a granular dust that cracks…
Mostly I’m just playing around,but fresh veggies are always welcome and the flowers are so cheerful.
I have what may be a Saturn Peach Tree - I put some pits and peels in the flowerpot and – Tree! Anyways I’ve got to transplant it (Hope it likes this dirt)
It’s already in the 80’s…f
The Armenian cucumbers are going insane in my kitchen window, along with the cipollini onions, and to a lesser extent the Charentais melons. Right now the community garden folks have been pricing a delivery of topsoil and/or compost, and I’m waiting for that to go in before I transplant anything and direct-sow the beets, carrots, snow peas, and radishes. I wish they’d get on it, though!
Maybe I will plant the morning glory seeds over the weekend, but it’s still kind of cold around here. I’d probably be better off waiting, but I’m impatient.
Meanwhile I planted a bunch of mint and thyme and various flower seeds in other pots to start indoors. The stuff that my big fluffy stupid lunk of a cat, Boris, dumped out (and I scooped back into pots by hand) is sprouting, but of course, all mixed up - it was like 3 different kinds of tomatoes and 4 different kinds of peppers, and now I have no idea what’s what. I guess it’ll be an adventure once they start growing in earnest.
I also planted a few more bulbs out in front last weekend, and the damn squirrels have been digging them up again. But the tulips are growing like crazy, and 2 of the 3 clematis vines, that didn’t do much last year, seem to be sprouting more vigorously this year. So are the ferns - a friend let me dig some out of her yard last year, and they weren’t looking very happy after transplanting, but they are looking more settled now.
When will it get warm out here for real, dammit?
Do not plant moring glories into the ground unless you want them all over! I put seeds down so that they could grow over some lattice I have on one side of the porch three spings ago. They have somehow jumped over the stairs and crossed the porch and are trying to kill the two Endless Summers I have under the bay window. I’m finding them near impossible to beat back. They are worse than kudzu!
No worries - they are going in window boxes on the back porch, so they can grow up netting to the porch above ours, as they have for the past couple of years. That way they make a nice curtain of flowers for us to look at instead of staring at the lovely alley 
This is the way my daddy would plant tomatoes. He would strip off the leaves and branches until he had a “topknot” about 2 or 3 inches long. Then he’d dig a trench about 5 inches deep and lay the plant in it (Yes,with the top part bent slightly ) The plant would grow a huge root system and we always had bountiful crops of tomatoes… He liked the "Big Boy"Beefsteak type… And Golden Bantam sweet corn… I was shocked to see that it was considered an Heirloom verity,'cause I can remember when it was “new”.
Today I went out to the community garden to clear out the plots where I am going to be planting veggies and herbs and melons (and maybe strawberries). Boy, there was a lot of debris - from the 2 maybe 4’ by 8’ plots, we filled an entire yard waste bag.
But bonus - there was an entire bush of thyme that either survived the winter or re-seeded itself. Also, a bit of sage, and possibly some cilantro. And then an entire corner with what I thought were weeds, but when I started clearing them out, the unmistakable aroma of chives emerged. But I had already pulled an armful, so some of them are going into tonight’s dinner (pork tenderloin marsala) and the rest are getting chopped up and put in the freezer.
So man, that’s a lot of chives and thyme. What can I do with them? Thyme can be dried, but chives…well, I have never really used them much. Chive pesto? Lots of chive cream cheese with salmon?
Also, I dug up the violas that were growing out between the rocks that are along the fence on the side of the building, as well as the ones that had spread in spots around the front lawn, and transplanted them to fill in the bare patches around the hyacinths that are coming up along the front fence. Also, the ferns my friend gave me last year are propagating a bit! And the magenta and yellow tulips all seemed to open at once! Woohoo!
Chives can also be dried (we used to snip them into half-inch pieces and spread them out on a paper towel), but they lose a lot of flavor. You get sort of an ornamental green flake with a very subtle flavor at best.
Excellent advice everyone! Thank you!
I am puzzled. I planted Swiss Chard in 2 planters about 3 days apart. Little green sprouts in one planter,nothing in the next 
They are end to end,same sun/water…
Yesterday I went for a ride/drive in the chair and found my very favorite rose bush had been pruned! Wrong time of year… anyways,I was coming back and noticed whomever had missed picking up a couple of branches! I read up on how to start cuttings and have them sitting in damp soil. There were 2 rose hips also,so I have rose seed wrapped in a damp paper towel in a plastic container in the fridge… However,Google says they may take 6 years to become a rose sprout!!
Wee little basil (from last year’s plants gone to seed) is coming up. So is some red-blooming false yucca, seeds courtesy of the pods on all the nearby landscaping.
Summer. Is. Coming.
Oh, and the mother-in-law’s tongue in a pot on my desk at work is sending up a pup. Does that count? 
The Ms planted the tomatoes (Sweet Millions!) a couple of days ago, along with the basil, green beans and squash. We have three yellow peonies in full bloom and lots more on the way.
This is how far behind the season is here on the East Coast. My tulips just bloomed. I will get plants for pots but I don’t think I’ll be doing veggies. I don’t have the strength this year.
Also, look how pretty my bleeding hearts are. I just now this second went outside and snapped this pic. Bleeding hearts don’t know how to take a bad picture.
Got my onion sets: white, yellow and purple. Need to get them in the ground, along with some beets and turnips. Also, need to replant some of the chard where the damned cat dug it up. Was going to do it today, but discovered someone took a payday loan out in my name in Texas… um, I’ve never been to Texas. So gardening time was taken up by filing a police report and that sort of nonsense, followed by threat of rain. Well, doing an early shift at work tomorrow, so maybe I’ll do that after work. Getting a row in doesn’t take that much time, after all.
I discovered what was wrong with the Swiss Chard – -- They’re Striped Zinnias :roll: The Chard has started coming up… for real this time.
The Green Beans are coming up!!