Gardening

Old-school, redneck style ... tomato plants in 5-gallon buckets.

 

I had great gardens when I lived in my house in Ohio. Now in the highrise, nothing but a few indoor plants although I make them herbs like rosemary. I do miss the tomatoes. In Ohio, you're nearly obligated to plant tomatoes as they grow so well there. But you could never put them in until about the end of May.

 

That's how dad does it.
He grew a couple upside down, hanging them off the clothesline just to piss off the neighbor.

 

I want to try veggies eventually, but I'm trying to prove to myself that I can keep a plant alive first.

My sunflowers are about 5 inches tall and I have some marigolds coming up too. It's been really warm down here, so my plants are going nuts.

I'm curious to see how high the sunflowers will grow in a container. Surely they won't reach 12 feet or whatever.

 

I was at a garden store today. They had the Topsy Turvy things on sale for $9.99. Better yet, they had their own brand for $5.99. Bought three of them, three tomato plants and a big bag of soil. I'll use bungee cords to hang them from a tree branch hanging over my deck.

 

Are we just ignoring this post?

 

As for me, I started a vegetable garden in my side yard. I just moved here from another part of the country and I'm struggling to figure out what kind of watering my tomatoes/peppers/strawberries need. I don't have irrigation so I'm watering this stuff with a hose. We don't get much rain here.

I also have no idea on the soil. It seems to harden up on the surface so we aerate it once a week or so.

Any ideas? I'm so clueless I don't even know if I'm watering too much or not enough. I water it a little bit every day, but not too much.

 

My sunflowers that I seeded abot 40 days ago are two feet tall. Will they grow to 12 feet like the package claims if they are in a pot?

 

Shaggy, it sounds like you might need to add some garden soil and/or compost. It sounds like you might be gardening in plain old dirt. It won't be a problem as long as you keep breaking it up, but adding some garden soil will make it easier.

'Gola, depends on the size of the pot.

 

Depends on the size of the pot. Their roots might need more elbow room.

 

I am very proud of where my yard has come these past two years.

When we moved in, I had patches of yard that was bare due to leaves never being raked in the fall. I also had 12 tree stumps in my back yard that needed removed and a moldy fence. There was no real plant life outside of the grass and weeds. In the front yard, I had half tall fescue and half bermuda (a kind word for a weed) and a bed of overgrown trees.

My grass in my backyard is now green and thick. My dozen or so herbs have established in many beds. I have shrubs and perennial flowers growing. I just dropped about 40 annuals in yesterday (great sale, 96 annuals for 14 bucks). I have about $15 in seeds growing and they are starting to pop through (I did start them late).

It is very nice for Lil 93 and I to sit in the grass while our Beagle runs around. Pretty darn rewarding.

Here is a picture when we moved in back in June of 2007.



I will try and add a current picture soon.

 

Sounds like you have clay. You might buy some topsoil or some peat moss amd work it in the top 12" as Inky suggested.

As far as watering goes, a good soak every few days beats a little splash every day. You want the water to soak deep into the soil to help the roots grow. Light waterings do more harm than good.

Here are some good tips about watering:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-water-plants.htm

Buy yourself a good gardening book. If you want just one instead of an entire library, I'd recommend the Reader's Digest

http://www.amazon.com/Readers-Digest-Illustrated-Guide-Gardening/dp/0762105127/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241095994&sr=8-2

It's the Joy of Cooking for the gardening crowd