Beginner Gardening: First time growing ANYTHING and need advice , 1 by TheWinterRose

TheWinterRose wrote:
Hi everyone,

My mother has done gardening for years and this season was my first time trying anything. I live in apartments and so the fact that I could grow anything is great not only being a first time grower, but because of where I live. I have gotten some good harvest and I don't really tend to follow rules very well so I fertilize with natural fertilizer whenever I think the plants need it and water when I either remember or see they need it. I am amazed at the good crop I have gotten. My neighbors are all impressed and really like the live growth of plants I have grown. They say it gives the area some beauty beyond normal apartment plants.

So I have a Ghost Pepper plant (because we can't seem to find Ghost Peppers around here), a purple bell pepper, a hot pizza pepper, Thai chili, herbs (lots of basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, sage) and then a variety of tomatoes (Oregon Spring, Beef, heirloom, black cherry, another larger cherry tomato that turns purple and orange, Jersey devil, and some orange pear shaped small tomatoes). They are mixed between determinant and indeterminate. My mother explained the difference but I didn't really GET what that meant until I saw how the indeterminate can't keep their 'hands' to themselves.

I have gone through pruning the plants just because I live in apartments and I didn't want the plants to take over where people should walk (see the pic I included). But I don't think I've received one orange tomato and perhaps I have received one Jersey Devil.

So here is the problem. With the season change, I see that where my pepper plants are, aren't getting sun until around 3pm now and where the tomato plants are currently at, they don't seem to get any sun until around 5:30p (CORRECTION: I just went out and checked the tomato plants and it looks like at around 3:45, the first plant starts to get sun. At 4:10p, when I just checked, the three tomato plant pots do have sun on them). My tomato plants have lots of green larger tomatoes on them and I don't want to lose those to only having later afternoon sun.

I have considered moving them to where maybe they can get more sun (even though it would still be from only around 3pm, but I am currently using the railing on the stairs and the pillar next to the stairs to help tie the tomato plants in place. How can I move them? Can I somehow fold them over upon themselves carefully to make them a little more compact or...?

Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Also, keep in mind the pic I am including was a few weeks ago. The plants have since grown a lot again, especially thanks to the milder temperatures we finally got.

This message was edited Oct 3, 2014 4:15 PM