Welcome! This blog is dedicated to all things related to tomato and vegetable gardening. Please dig around. DIG DEEP, there are lots of things buried below. I plan to video catalog the entire 2013 season. Enjoy & GL!
Straw Bale Gardening Basics with Determinate Tomatoes
(Join Me for Another Garden Experiment)
'Straw Bale' gardening has been something that keeps showing up in some of the Google+ gardening communities. It has peaked my interest and I did have a seasoned bale of straw from last fall in the garden. I figure why not give it a try and see if it is effective. Another garden experiment to occupy my time.
A straw bale is essentially a raised bed and a container. The theory is that the tomatoes or vegetables can root right into the bale. Bales will hold moisture and have a degree of nutrients. Not only can you grow tomatoes in a bale, you can use the used and decomposed straw to improve your garden soil in the following years.
A NEW straw bale has to be conditioned for about 14 days. A bale has to go through a composting stage like a pile of green cut grass. In my case, my bale is from last year so it is ready to plant. New bales should be soaked for 14 days to let the microbes do their thing to the newly cut straw. Some people jump start this process with a high nitrogen fertilizer and even use urine to start the process. Just soak the bale with it.
Once the composting process has occurred you can plant the tomato or vegetables. You don't want the heat generated from the compost process to potentially harm plants and you don't want the microbes challenging the plants for nitrogen and other nutrients. Let the process finish before you plant.
I planted 3 determinate tomatoes that will each get about 2 feet tall. I am starting small to see if I can manage a straw bale. You want to make sure you add soil to the hole and work it in, before putting in the tomato. You want to ensure the roots contact the soil and the soil thoroughly contacts the straw. Over fill the planting hole with more soil once the tomato is dropped in and pack it tightly around the planted tomato. That is the basic set up for planting in a straw bale. Wish me luck!
Every container tomato garden does not need large containers and large tomatoes. You can find small varieties of tomatoes that my suit your container garden needs or preferences. The 'Patio Princess' is a 2 foot dwarf cherry tomato that can grow well in 2.5 gallon containers or small grow bags.
It is important to match the mature size of your tomatoes and other vegetables with the size of the container. A container has to have the capacity to provide for the root system of a mature plant. In this case a 2 foot tall tomato's root system can be managed in the containers that I show in the video.
The same issues come into play with large container tomatoes or small container tomatoes... can you keep them watered and fed? You have to make sure a container never dries out because you will damage the plant. You also have to make sure you feed them frequently on a routine. Sometimes that routine my be a gallon of 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer weekly or it might be a half gallon of full strength fertilizer every two weeks. There are lots of options.
The video highlights these ideas and shows you how to set up a coconut coir grow bag. This is my first time using them. I will be using saucers as a water and liquid fertilizer reserve. A gallon of water with half strength fertilizer will run through these containers. They may have to be fed over two days, if not for a saucer to catch the run-off.
I've grown single peppers in 2.5 gallon containers and single peppers in 5 gallon containers on my deck. There is a slight size difference in total plant growth but in the end the pepper production was very similar. The main difference is watering frequency. You never want your peppers or any plant to be in a container that completely dries out. As a gardener that is the main issue when making decisions about container gardens... can you maintain the moisture and nutrients/feedings? Bigger containers and fewer plants are more forgiving when it comes to those two issues.
If the answer to the question above is yes, you can grow 2 pepper successfully in a single 5 gallon container. The key is to have a back up water reserve in some capacity just in case you miss a scheduled watering. Watering becomes a bigger issue when the heat of summer arrives. If you were to grow them on a deck... you would need some sort of watering tray for them to sit in during the hot weeks of summer. You can also use containers on the ground. The video shows you how to set up a 5 gallon container for a ground contact pepper container.
All ground contact means is a container with a good size hole in the bottom where the container soil and developed roots of the plants can contact and grow into the ground. It is your back up watering system so to speak. The hole is also key for drainage. Peppers hate prolonged wet soggy soil. The video covers the basic set up along with a general soil preparation with a basic ratio for organic matter. Organic matter, be it compost or peat moss, is your water retaining agent. Don't worry, if you don't feel like messing with soil mixes, any water control store bought garden soil mix will work just fine. Enjoy!
What good is gardening if we can't have a little fun and experiment. I set up my experiment with two 'Boxcar' tomatoes. They are planted in the same bed, in the same way but one is getting a whole banana and egg buried a foot down in the hole. It is a way to feed your tomato much like Native Americans did when burying a fish with their crops.
Join me and see if this makes a difference. The video shows the basic steps and my experiment. You want to plant the whole banana and egg below the tomato. Don't break or mash them. Let them stay whole and decay as slowly as possible. The theory is that they will release nutrients for the tomatoes.
I will launch the second part of the video in mid to late July and you can be the judge of the difference.
Growing Cucumbers: Feeding, Planting, Disease Control, Trellising and Pollinating
Seed Starting:
Cucumbers really enjoy the warm weather. As your garden is transitioning from cool weather crops to the warms season crops... you might not have room cleared for your cucumbers. I highly recommend starting your cucumber seeds in 8 ounce or larger cups. It is true that cucumbers don't like to be transplanted but that is more about starting them in little seeds cells like you probably used to start your tomatoes. Cucumbers will out grow those little cells too fast but larger cups are effective.
Creating Cucumber Transplants
You can save yourself a couple weeks of time by letting your cucumbers germinate and grow in cups. Not only will you have nice transplants for your garden when space opens up... you don't have to worry about the seeds germinating in the ground. There is no risk of losing time and having to replant because the seeds don't come up.
Planting:
Cucumbers are heavy feeders and they need a lot of moisture. There are several products you can use to amend your soil. In general, it is a good idea to dig out a 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep hole or larger to prepare the planting hole. There is no exact recipe and you can use what you like but here is the basic idea.
Mix in 2 large shovel fulls of organic matter like peat moss or compost
Add a small handful of lime if you are using peat moss for PH balance
Add 1 or 2 tables spoons of 10-10-10 fertilizer or your organic equal
Add in 1 tablespoon of Epsom Salts to help prevent yellow leafing
Add back in the soil you dug out and mix it in well and deep
Not only are you amending the hole with nutrients and elements to hold water but you are loosening the soil for deep root development. Epsom Salts help keep your plants green.
Curing Yellow Cucumber Leaves with Epsom Salts
Cucumbers need a good soil to start and grow but they also need a mid-season side dressing of fertilizer and some liquid fertilizer while they grow. Cucumbers really take the nutrients out of the soil. Around mid-season or when the cucumbers are bigger and have set some fruit, they will need a nutrient boost. Scatter 1-2 tablespoons of 10-10-10 fertilizer around the base of the plants and give them a 2 gallon drink of liquid fertilizer.
Your choice of products is fine. That will give them what the need to continue fruiting and finish out the season. Here is what mid-season cucumbers look like and how you can save them.
Saving Yellow Beat-Up Mid-season Cucumber Plants
Pests and Diseases:
Cucumbers are very susceptible to powdery mildew, mites and white-flies. The best way to address these problems is by using a baking soda spray on the leaves to control powdery mildew and a soapy water spray on the undersides of the leaves and stems to manage mites, white-flies and other soft body insects.
Spray your plants 1x weekly to prevent powder mildew and address soft-bodied pests
Spray your plants daily for 3 days if you notice powdery mildew or pests
Identifying at Treating Cucumber Powdery Mildew
Getting Cucumbers or Hand Pollinating:
You don't have to hand pollinate your cucumbers but in some cases you may want to increase the plant's yield by hand pollination. The best way to see how to do this is in the video. Female plants have a small cucumber below the flower. Male plants do not. If the female plant is not pollinated, the tiny cucumber yellows and dies out.
Hand Pollination Cucumbers: Male & Female Flowers
Trellising:
Cucumbers are vines that love to grow. Trellising is the best way to grow your cucumbers. You give them a way to grow vertically. This not only saves you space in your garden, it cuts down on pests and diseases by getting the vines and fruit off the ground. There are many methods of trellising. The video shows you several ways to trellis your cucumbers.
3 Vertical Ways to Grow Cucumbers
Building a Cucumber and Vine Trellis
Cucumber Varieties:
There are many kinds of cucumbers beyond the basic 8 inch variety. I encourage you to grow a couple different varieties. Taste does vary a bit but more importantly they will mature at different times and you will get to pick them steadily over the season. I highly recommend the 'Armenian' cucumber. It has a great color and shape. You can eat the skin. It tastes like a cucumber. And it is very very prolific. The four plants that took down my trellis in the above video were 'Armenian' cucumbers.
