It looks like my container Tomato experiment has succumb to old age and the elements. This was the first time that I was able to harvest main season Tomatoes here after many attempts. I gave up trying to grow them in the ground {nematodes} and stuck them in some old 5 gallon buckets. They have for me preformed well and provided many a BLT sandwiches during December.
The container Tomatoes were an experiment and here are some observations.
1- Growing in the containers gave several advantages. The plants can be moved around to the best spot for sunlight. The containers get the plant up off the ground and away from some of the hungry bugs.
1- Growing in the containers gave several advantages. The plants can be moved around to the best spot for sunlight. The containers get the plant up off the ground and away from some of the hungry bugs.
I still need to fine tune the watering as growing in the containers cause the soil to dry out rapidly.
This Tomato bush is being cut up and going in the compost bin so nothing is wasted.
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This means it is time to reload the 5 gallon bucket for another round.
I mixed in a couple of shovels of Compost from the bin and worked it into the soil. Then stuck in some Park's Sweet Success Cucumber seeds for the next crop. I have read it is best not to plant the same vegetable but to rotate something different in between. We will see how this one turns out.
Anyway here is some more of the recent cold effects on the garden.
I noticed that some of this Lantana bush's Leaves have turned a dark purple color. Maybe this is normal but it is suspect after the recent freeze.
I did
get a variegated passion vine out of the freeze. Not to many of these around. Kind of cool looking.
get a variegated passion vine out of the freeze. Not to many of these around. Kind of cool looking. I read that when water freezes it expands. Since plants cells are made up of a lot of water in prolonged freezing temperatures they expand and rupture . Some plants are more susceptible than others.
And the last casualty of the freeze is my wife's planter. We were taking some of the plants inside when it was knocked over and broke.
Not to worry', she was the one who knocked it over and broke it. I thereby avoided gettin' the evil eye .
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It looks as though you survived the big freeze quite well. We also cant grow regular tomatoes in the ground here because of wilt in the soil. I did grow a black russian last winter though, I think if you ammend the soil with enough compost...... I also heard that marigolds deter nematodes. At the moment my vegetable garden is full of marigolds, cosmos and pigeon peas as a green manure crop. Have you joined KGI yet? they have a wealth of information on tomatoes. Very active site, if you havent it is worth looking at. That was a beautiful planter.
ReplyDeleteGillian
Gillian,
ReplyDeleteThe Tomatoes worked out well. Im going to scrounge up some more 5 gallon buckets and startup some more vegetables soon. The buckets don't look that great but I did enjoy the fresh Tomatoes. I have grown Marigolds just because I like the smell [ lots of folks don't ] but I will try some around the base of some of the vegetable plants. Thanks. The planter is about to get an epoxy makeover when I get around to it.
I saved all the pieces to put it back together. It's on my list of things I really ought to do one day.
I am considering putting tomatoes and peppers in containers also, for the last couple of years my plants have not produced much in the ground. I also compost but after the freeze last week my bin in full
ReplyDeleteRusty,
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced that is the way to go here. I need to throw in some tweaks and experiment some more with the fertilizing and watering but that's the fun of gardening.