Gardening

[CincySportsFan]

Finally got my tomato seedlings and bush beans planted today. Between morning frost up through this past Saturday and rain most every day for the last week or so, I finally got out and planted things this afternoon.

 

I've got a couple of containers I'm going to grow Italian bush green beans in, a trellis on my fence that I've grown lemon cucumbers on the last couple of years, and I put a three tomato plants in my raised garden bed. I'm going to add a hot cherry pepper plant in the garden bed towards the beginning of June.

 

I'm pretty excited about my tomatoes this year. They're a no-name heirloom variety from the Balkan Peninsula. One of my company's customers was a Bosnian refugee, and he said when his family fled, his mom had brought over a handful of tomato seeds from an old family variety that they had grown on their farm for generations. He gave me and a coworker a few dozen tomatoes last year, and they're absolutely UNREAL. They're a little larger than a baseball, and when you slice them open there's just one single thin vein of juice/pulp and the entire rest of the tomato is meat. I saved some seeds because they're so damn good. The closest registered variety I've been able to find is the "Anna Russian" tomato, but the Anna Russians are smaller and shaped a little differently.

 

It's my first time growing anything from seed, and I'm glad to finally have them planted out in the garden bed instead of down on my workbench under a grow-light.

 

We went to Baetens yesterday and picked up some tomato and pepper plants. Going to try our hand at doing the tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. Don't know how that'll go, but going to give it a go. Got three different varieties to try, (had only planned on getting two, initially) Patio and Better Boy. While we were picking out the plants, this older gentleman started talking to me about Supersonic. So, I figured what the heck, and picked up one of those too.

 

As far as peppers, we got some green, yellow, orange and red bell peppers, along with a pimento and poblano. (We are not big on heat when it comes to peppers.) Got the lumber to make our pepper planter yesterday as well, and started to work on it today, but got psyched out by a few dark clouds and sprinkles, and packed things back up earlier than we would've liked to this afternoon. So, hopefully we'll finish that tomorrow.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

We went to Baetens yesterday and picked up some tomato and pepper plants. Going to try our hand at doing the tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets. Don't know how that'll go, but going to give it a go. Got three different varieties to try, (had only planned on getting two, initially) Patio and Better Boy. While we were picking out the plants, this older gentleman started talking to me about Supersonic. So, I figured what the heck, and picked up one of those too.

 

As far as peppers, we got some green, yellow, orange and red bell peppers, along with a pimento and poblano. (We are not big on heat when it comes to peppers.) Got the lumber to make our pepper planter yesterday as well, and started to work on it today, but got psyched out by a few dark clouds and sprinkles, and packed things back up earlier than we would've liked to this afternoon. So, hopefully we'll finish that tomorrow.

 

That's the reason I grew yellow pear cherry tomatoes for the first time a handful of years ago. They're my favorite variety for salads. I've grown them, I think like 4 years straight. This is the first year I'm going with something else in a while. Just had this lady at the nursery going on and on about how tasty they were, so I picked one up, haha.

 

I haven't ever done 5 gallon buckets, exactly, but while my wife was in med school we were in an apartment and I grew everything on our balcony in containers. The big planters I had the tomatoes in weren't a whole lot bigger than a 5 gallon bucket. They worked out just fine. The only thing I learned is that if you leave for more than a couple of days while it's in the real heat of the summer, you need to have someone come over and water - like moreso than if you're growing in the ground. Having the entire planter/pot/bucket above ground makes that soil dry out FAST, so you have to make sure it stays watered while it's hot.

[CincySportsFan]

Anybody starting to harvest anything yet?

Our tomatoes are just now starting to turn.  We lost some time due to a couple of issues.  One, was the amount of sunlight that actually hit our deck.  Instead of getting full sun for a good 6-8 hours, it was probably more like solid sunlight for 4, and then "filtered" light for another 4-6.  Was great for the plant starting out and blossoming...not so much for fruit ripening.  Ended up moving them off the deck and down into the yard a couple weeks ago.  Not an easy chore with an 18 gallon bucket filled with soil and tomato plants that are over 5 feet tall.

The other thing that hurt, was blossom end rot.  We went through a spell where we hadn't had any rain for awhile, so we were relying on the sub-irrigation watering.  I had told my son to water one evening, and he got involved in something else, so I ended up doing it.  I filled up the 2 or 2-1/2 gallons in the bottom of each container and put the hose up for the night.  The next day, (while I was at work), my son got up and realized he had forgotten to water the night before...so, he did it then.  Only difference was, he watered from the top.  So now we've got a saturated container WITH a reserve sitting below it.  We probably would've been alright...if it hadn't rained for the next 3 straight days.  Had to eventually cut off 6-8 tomatoes that had the blossom end rot too severely.

The peppers, on the other hand, are flourishing...sort of.  I've got nice tall plants, but I'm kicking myself for not putting them into individual buckets.  They just don't have the spacing between them that I think they need.  We've picked 2 poblano peppers so far, and have ended up picking a yellow and a red bell pepper (when they were still green), to allow for some additional room for others on those plants.  But we've got a bunch of golf ball sized (or bigger) fruit on all 6 plants, so hopefully that's good news.

Trying to think if I want to start anything now for a fall harvest.  Anybody else planting anything now?

[rjs4470]

1 hour ago, CincySportsFan said:

Anybody starting to harvest anything yet?

Our tomatoes are just now starting to turn.  We lost some time due to a couple of issues.  One, was the amount of sunlight that actually hit our deck.  Instead of getting full sun for a good 6-8 hours, it was probably more like solid sunlight for 4, and then "filtered" light for another 4-6.  Was great for the plant starting out and blossoming...not so much for fruit ripening.  Ended up moving them off the deck and down into the yard a couple weeks ago.  Not an easy chore with an 18 gallon bucket filled with soil and tomato plants that are over 5 feet tall.

The other thing that hurt, was blossom end rot.  We went through a spell where we hadn't had any rain for awhile, so we were relying on the sub-irrigation watering.  I had told my son to water one evening, and he got involved in something else, so I ended up doing it.  I filled up the 2 or 2-1/2 gallons in the bottom of each container and put the hose up for the night.  The next day, (while I was at work), my son got up and realized he had forgotten to water the night before...so, he did it then.  Only difference was, he watered from the top.  So now we've got a saturated container WITH a reserve sitting below it.  We probably would've been alright...if it hadn't rained for the next 3 straight days.  Had to eventually cut off 6-8 tomatoes that had the blossom end rot too severely.

The peppers, on the other hand, are flourishing...sort of.  I've got nice tall plants, but I'm kicking myself for not putting them into individual buckets.  They just don't have the spacing between them that I think they need.  We've picked 2 poblano peppers so far, and have ended up picking a yellow and a red bell pepper (when they were still green), to allow for some additional room for others on those plants.  But we've got a bunch of golf ball sized (or bigger) fruit on all 6 plants, so hopefully that's good news.

Trying to think if I want to start anything now for a fall harvest.  Anybody else planting anything now?

We've gotten a couple tomatoes, and thankfully, the fusarium wilt problem that kept me from planting for a couple years, seems to be gone.  Should be looking at a nice harvest in a week or two when they start ripening. We've had a few issues with blossom drop, likely due to the high heat and humidity we've been experiencing.  Green beans have done well..we've picked maybe a bushel.  Could've been more, but rabbits keep feeding on the plants.  We've picked a few eggplant, and jalapeno peppers. We are waiting on the lima beans to fill out, and that should be a good harvest as well.  Zuccini have been disappointing, but spaghetti squash has done well.

[CincySportsFan]

2 hours ago, rjs4470 said:

We've gotten a couple tomatoes, and thankfully, the fusarium wilt problem that kept me from planting for a couple years, seems to be gone.  Should be looking at a nice harvest in a week or two when they start ripening. We've had a few issues with blossom drop, likely due to the high heat and humidity we've been experiencing.  Green beans have done well..we've picked maybe a bushel.  Could've been more, but rabbits keep feeding on the plants.  We've picked a few eggplant, and jalapeno peppers. We are waiting on the lima beans to fill out, and that should be a good harvest as well.  Zuccini have been disappointing, but spaghetti squash has done well.

Those darn wascally wabbits.  😄

 

But, lima beans?!?!?  🤢🤮

[rjs4470]

19 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

Those darn wascally wabbits.  😄

 

But, lima beans?!?!?  🤢🤮

I know.  For my wife.  I used to grow the large pole Lima’s, which you see in every backyard garden where I’m from.  These beans are often larger than a quarter, and I had to order the seeds online.  But they require a ton of space, and weren’t as productive in my garden out here.