Well here we go, 9 months of growing veggies !!!!!! I started early, but so far so good. Below are some pics from today. Started this baby 6 weeks ago inside.
Fall Garden 2009
Flowers on these seeded July 1st
Earthboxes and 5 gallon grow bags
Another shot. I'm supporting the toms with the Florida Weave.
Yellow squash in a 20 gallon tub
Spagetti Squash
A bunch of young tomato plants getting used to the outdoors.
Pepper plants in 10 gallon pots started inside July 1st. The third one is a Smart Pot.
I caught these two having a staring contest. Who will blink first?
This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 9:05 PM
Bob: I'm so jealous, you guys are starting your tomatoes and peppers in south FL and it's too early for me, I can't start mine til late February. I hope you try growing one or two in the colander and 5 gallon buckets, I am desperate to see if they work or not. I'm just planting some of my cool season veggies now.
joy
No, just have some of each. Never have tried the red mulch yet. The ground cover will alow the roots to travel through and into the ground.
Kitty blinked. I saw it.
Awesome, Bob. I'll be watching this thread since my season is waning.
Annapet
About the red mulch as per Carolyn's very sensible words. It may be good for farmers by increasing the crop by 10% but for us it would only mean about two tomatos more per plant and really not worth the cost. However I would like it just for the color scheme for my EBs. Might look real cool?
Very nice as always. What varieties you got going?
Tomato:
BHN 444 VFF
Margo VFFT
Big Beef VFFNTA
Sun King VFTA
Celebrity VFFNTA
Giant Belgium
Aunt Ginny's
Aker's West Virginia
Muriel
Amelia
Bella Rosa
Top Gun
Peppers:
Blushing Beauty
Ariane
Giant Marconi
Bob: Keep me posted on the Giant Belgium's will you, I plan to grow those myself this Spring, along with the celebrity, and 4 other kinds.
I bought red mulch covers when they had the free shipping at earthbox, since I bought 5 more EBs just for tomatoes, thought I'd better try them. LOL
Nice list Bob....lots of determinates.
I see 3 varieties I'm planning on planting in the spring. Big Beef, is always a must grow for me. Aker's West Virginia is gonna get a try for the first time as well as Bella Rosa. Looking forward to hearing how well they do for you.
If you haven't grown Giant Marconi before, you are gonna love them. Big and productive.
Last year I grew all indeterminates and had a nasty bout with the whitefly transmitted Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus and lost 25% of my tomato crop. The disease is getting worse down here so I am switching mostly to highly resistant types that are determinates. Here's a beauty I just transplanted into a 5 gallon grow bag with coir/perlite mix. I'm not going to lose this to some stupid disease!!!!!!!!! For the few indeterminates I will grow, every other day whitefly spraying with soap/water spray. I'm using Dr. Bonners Pure Castile Soap and worm casting tea. I WILL WIN !!!
OOOPS, Here's the pic
I hear ya about whiteflies and diseases. I have the same problem. I've tried everything on them whiteflies and nothing works. Anybody know where to get napalm? :) They hideout in the hibiscus until I plant my peppers and tomatoes....then their playtime begins.
I too plan on planting more disease resistant varieties next year. I had so many different diseases sweep through here nobody could identify them all. Fortunately, some bounced back or fought it long enough to still produce. I find it odd that I have never lost a pepper plant to disease while at least 1/3 tomato plants get something, whether it be mildew, leaf spot or wilt. I probably should spray more but never do.
Our local farmer says that many tomato growers from Maine to New Jersey are experiencing a blight that is similar that which caused the potato famine in Ireland back in the mid 1800's. He said what it was, but it was Latin, so I can't remember, but it sounds like what you are calling yellow leaf curl. He said it causes the whole plant to die almost overnight, not just the bottom leaves, and makes the fruit inedible. We've had plentiful and glorious toms this year, so I hope it stays away. As always, your plants are beautiful. Do you buy any fruit or veggie at the grocery store? It looks like you can grow anything you need yourself.
Once my veggie production is in full swing, very little is bought at the store. Execpt for strawberries that I grow that supply me from Dec. -April, all fruit is bought (and I love fresh fruit)
Nice photos, Boca Bob, and I appreciate your giving a list of resistant toms. I lost almost all of my indeterminate heirlooms this year to Early Blight and Leaf Spot. The only ones that made it were the six I planted in SW containers (Earth Boxes) which were located away from the others.
Quoting:
The disease is getting worse down here so I am switching mostly to highly resistant types that are determinates.
My only problem with determinates is: don't the determinate types basically produce all at once? It seems as if you'd have a huge crop to deal with all at the same time. Or does your list include early-mid-late producing ones?
Yes they do tend to produce all at once. Luckily for me down here, I can and am planting new plants every month for 5 months so I'll have plenty from November through June. I am planting a few indeterminates though. Don't be jealous though, we do have many problems you don't have up north. Try living in 90 + degree heat during the day and 80+ degree heat at night for 4 months a year. It boils your blood. We can't wait for the fall. Just ask Tplant.
Boca Bob: There perlite and coconut coir seems like a good mix to use and was thinking of using that in my #15's for my beets and then again for toms this Spring. Your tomato looks great. I like the determinates because they don't grow all over the place. But, I am solving that problem for the Spring by building a staking system right to some of the yard sale tables.
Ray: You live in CA, they have no humidity, not like us in FL anyways, and you got bugs? I know CA doesn't have the mosquitoes we have, I'd trade bugs with you any day of the week, these FL bugs are a pain in the posterior. I'm planting herbs and stuff that deters the bug that each plant has a problem with right next to it this year, and then trying to come up with a good spray, I'm also using messenger on the foilage this fall and Spring.]
joy
joy
HA, I wouldn't hope my bugs on anybody Joy, be careful what you wish for. The whitefly infestation is so bad that at times it looks like everybody's yard was snowed on. I have yet to know anybody that picks 100+ hornworms monthly(July through October) from their plants like I do. I've found over 30 this weekend alone. I live next to a lagoon so we have a healthy population of skeeters as well. Lets see, the other bugs I have found tons of this year....aphids, earworms, loopers, armyworms, spittlebugs, thrips, mealybugs, spider mites, cutworms, flea beetles, slugs/snails, Lygus bugs, earwigs, weevils, leafhoppers, leaf miners and Cucumber beetles. So Joy, after thinking about it. I'm all for trading bugs. You can keep the heat and humidity though :)
Ray: That's ok, think I'll let you keep your bugs and I'll keep the heat and humidity. LOL I'm still getting peppers, eggplants, okra and now some tomatatoes are starting to come back around,not near as productive as yours though. You have a beautiful garden this year.
joy
Bob: What are you using for a medium in your smart pots this season and what ratio of each? I'm getting ready to start my fall garden in about a week and wanted to know what medium to put in the smart pots, I was thinking perhaps a mixture of perlite and coconut coir or perlite and potting mix?
joy
I'm using 80% coir, 20 % perlite.
Here are a bunch of pics taken today. Just over a week since last pictures
The peppers have grown alot
The pole beans are being trained to climb the wire which is 10 feet tall
Cukes coming along nicely
Yellow summer squash
spaggetti squash
toms really growing fast in this heat
winter acorn squash
Earthbox tomatoes outside the screened pool area in full sun and HEAT
Here are 2 Roma tomato plants in a Earthbox
