Trying To Get Setup For Some Tomatos

I've been very quiet these past few months because of severe health problems. I can not do any gardening in the heat and our weather has been a consistent mid 90's. I tried and ended up in the hospital again but this time with an angina attack and two weeks later back again as my pancreas acted up so I will wait till October before I plant. For the first time I will buy my plants from a local family nursery that grow heirlooms.

My watermelons did very well with a 50lb Crimson Sweet and many others. So sweet and delicious. No store bought would have done so well and all in Coco Coir but alas with Boca Bob's coir no longer available I'll have to revert to Jungle Growth but I will buy the small bags even though they will cost me more they will be lighter and easier to handle than the large 2 cu ft bags. I'll only take care of four or five EB's so I don't strain myself. Nothing like the 19 EB's and 38 tomato plants.....

When do people in your area start their tomato plants? You will have to post pics as I want to see how you are doing ok? Looking forward to your posts.
joy

Tplant, perhaps it is time to try to enlist a teenager or young adult to help you with your garden. You've got enough knowledge and experience to share that I'm sure there are young people who would appreciate the opportunity to learn from you. If you can't get a volunteer or two, I'm sure you could pay someone "in kind" with some of your produce or the use of a box or two.. Lots of kids and others would like to help their families with their groceries, eat healthier, or even just grow enough they could donate produce to local food pantries.

You've obviously got some limitations to your activities (since you've pointed them out.....duh). Perhaps you can use that great spirit of sharing you have and make a difference in some others' lives. I'm sorry if I sound "preachy", as that's not my intent. If you could get some assistance with your garden, you could enjoy it at the times when you are physically able to enjoy it, instead of fighting the day-to-day, many hour commitment that your body doesn't seem to want you to be fussing with. I'm just positive there is some way to improve this situation.

I'm often surprised how many people think they don't have a green thumb or the ability to grow stuff. If not for my (wonderful) grandfather, I might feel the same way about myself. You know, growing food in Florida is a real art.....what with the humidity, heat, tropical storms and bugs....good grief, the bugs and the fungi!

Please keep taking care of yourself and doing your best to get stronger. You're a treasure here, and we know your circumstances are tough to contend with. Sure wish it was easier for you.

This message was edited Aug 20, 2010 12:06 PM

Sigourney, what a nice message to T-plant, who IS a treasure here--he taught me about Earth Boxes, tomatoes, and coco coir, and always so willing to help newbies.
I didn't know that Boca Bob's coco coir was not available anymore. Is he not selling it?
T-plant, you are wise to be making the modifications that you are. . . don't strain yourself.

TPlant--so sorry to hear of your continuing health issues. I echo the thoughts others have already expressed. If you can find some strong young person to help you, it would be a fair trade for all you can teach them and perhaps share the yield. I know I would be excited to work with someone of your experience (too bad I don't live closer!!).

Keep posting for us here as you can, please, as you know we always have questions for you.

Cape Cod Gardener: I think Boca Bob has retired. He sold me his 10 EBs and I bought some nice stackers and coconut coir from him. Looking forward to using the stackers for the first time, they are awesome looking. Yes, TPlant will have to stick around and advise us all, I'm looking forward to planting strawberries this November in both the stackers and EBs.
joy

Looks like Boca Bob is still in business at www.instagarden.com. I knew he was retarded but haven't heard anything about him being retired.

The Instagarden "front page" is still up, but when I click the "shop now" icon, I get a "server not found message." Guess he did call it quits... I hope he enjoys retirement. At age 45, I'm not counting on ever being able to retire and am envious of anyone who manages to do so! :o)

I hear you , Liannenc--I once planned on retiring at age 55. Those dreams and plans have been laid to rest. Hope Bob enjoys his retirement--I'll miss dealing with him, and now have to find a new source for coir and grow lights!!!!!

TPlant--hope you're doing ok. We're winding down our gardening season just as you are gearing up for yours. Can't even get fall crops to germinate here due to the unusually high temperatures we've been having.

Here is hoping Bob will still be posting some of his garden pictures...........they were inspiring.

Man O Man! Everything seems to stop me from my gardening work? First, angina attack and two weeks later a pancreatitus attack! Here I am sitting on my butt while it accumalates weight about 23 lbs. I must keep active to maintain my weight but doctor forbids me to go out in this heat or I will bring on another heart attack. Three strikes and I'm out (have two strikes already) of action. Hurry up cool weather of October....Reduced my EBs from 19 to six or seven but will probably work only four this season unless I get to feel better,,,,,

Tplant, I hear you about carrying around heavy 2 cu ft bags. My solution is a garden wagon. I use mine so much!! I really have a hard time lifting those big bags, so I get the store to load them in my car on the back seat. Then I can slide them off the seat into the wagon and roll them to the garden. Once in the garden, I leave the bag in the wagon, and remove the mix from there. Once it is light enough for me to handle, I can them remove the bag from the wagon.

My little wagon is one of my favorite garden tools. It's a child's wagon that was left over from my nieces. It's very sturdy. Once an axle broke & I took the whole wagon to my friendly neighborhood hardware store (NOT some big box store) and they rebuilt both axles for me with some heavy duty threaded posts.

Thanks jomoncon --- I use a hand truck and now that BocaBob is out of business I will have to revert back to my original Jungle Growth but instead of useing the heavy 2 cu ft bags , I'll buy the ! cu ft bags. They are slightly more expensive but they are in my 39 lb weight lifting limit and just mix it in with the coir as every season the need to add more mix always arises because of shrinkage when removeing the old plants, The mix clings to the roots and therefore more mix must be added to top off the EB

Joy --- Sorry to take so long to answer your question but down here Flip and me start our seeds 8/15 and set the plants out 11/1 or so. This usually gives us tomato by Christmas depending on weather.

I want to thank all of you for your very kind words of praise as at this time of my life things have become very difficult and I was not going to renew my subscription to DG figureing that YOU ALL WERE ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND DIDN'T NEED ME ANYMORE! My subscription is now due and because of your concern for me and very kind words I will renew tomorrow when I get my check as things have been very tight for me financially because of my medical co-pay bills, expensive heart meds and five doctors to take care of me. Unfortuneately, there aren't anyt teens to help me because the school is a pre-school here and only goes to the sixth grade but I will be able to manage my tomatos. For the first time I will have to buy my plants from a local nursery as it will be easier on me at this time. I will probably only have eight plants for four EBs but it will still be very much fun for me as when the cool weather arrives in October I will be able to sit in my garden looking at my plants and drinking my decaf coffee and listening to music from my radio.

Tplant--of course we need you!!! You and Bocabob and Joy and many others were so instrumental in getting me started with EBs. Even as we all gain a little more experience, there is so much to be learned from others.

You are looking forward the cooler weather with anticipation; in our zone, we are looking forward to with...well......not anticipation, that's for sure. Our first frost date here is mid-October, and it's all downhill from there, weatherwise. It's fun for me to read about how you all are picking tomatoes at Christmas, while we're shoveling snow.

Take care of yourself, and just relax until your weather lets up a bit.

We need you, Tplant. There is always information to share. So glad that you are renewing your DG subscription.

Hey!!! I went to renew my subscription today but one of you already did so for me? Words can not express my gratitude. Since I have been ill every penny of my money is needed for medical bills although I do have insurance , it only goes so far and things will be very tight ($$$$) for the next year or so. That was another reason for me giving Flip (aries44) my EBs because it was to much for me to work financially and physically. Believe me , it wasn't easy for me to see them go.
Never have I had such friends as for the ones I had always took advantage of me and then when I needed them they abanded me. Well that is the past and I'll let it be so but I am deeply touched emotionally. I don't know what to say? THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU.
TED

Wow, what a pleasant surprise that must have been. Thinking about it makes me feel good. Somebody doesn't want to go without your valuable contributions. I have no idea who did it but I know DG would not be the same without you. Hope you are doing well. I wish I was closer I could help you carry stuff.
Lisa

So glad you will continue to join us here, TPlant--it just wouldn't be the same without you.

Thanks Mom! I'm waiting for the cooler weather of October and then it will be safe for me to work. I'll have my son put up the tent so I'll be cool and shaded. Very anxious to get started. Only thing is I will have to buy my plants for the first time!

Hey TP - glad to hear you'll be growing again this season. What are you going to go with??

Thanks to you, I now have about 12 EB's to add to my container group that also includes about 15 made from heavy duty plastic? 55 gallon drums (cut in thirds). So, two of my original dirt gardens will house containers this season while the third garden area will house about 15 in the ground.

I just potted up my seedlings last weekend and still have some more that I'll get to in the next day or two. 33 varieties to choose from. I have some new ones from Carolyn and Suze to try and ordered some from Gleckler that look interesting. I'll be giving a lot of seedlings to my brother and other folks at work like I usually do. Hopefully I'll keep around 50 or so for me.

Stay well,
Flip

Paw,
How would Santa find you again if you're not on DG? You gotta stay around here.

WE DO NEED YOU!!!

Linda

I understand bocabob is no longer selling containers. i purchased from him 2 large tiered containers. Know where I may get more???

Hi, I am in zone 8a GA .
Am I able to grow maters now, starting with seedlings in eboxes, in an unheated hoophouse?

Regards Tinki

How cold does it get there and about when does it get cold?

Rockette--not sure exactly which ones you're looking for, as I know Bob sold a couple of different types. Try here to see if this is the type you have (I've ordered from here with good results)

http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/category/self-watering-planter

1lisac, thanks for question. I just found out that it gets to cold here to start growing now.

Regards Tinki

mom2goldens,
those look like the ones, thank you.

It's too cold for anything here yet that I'm thinking of for my garden, so I'm doing repairs. November is strawberry planting season though, and I want at least 60 of those plants! Then in January, potato planting time. February will be tomato seed planting in my seed starter kits.
joy

Will you invite us all for strawberry shortcake when your berries are ripe, Joy?

It is always nice to have a little downtime to regroup, plan, and prep for the coming planting season. You'll be planting while we are still in the dreaming/planning stages here.

Has anyone heard from TPlant lately? Hope he's doing OK.

Mom2goldens: I won't be starting a garden until March 31st, that is when our last frost date is, the only thing I can plant are the cool weather veggies, which I'm skipping this year to work on my plans for this Spring/Summer garden. Sure, love to have company over and share my garden with visitors and the fruit from it. LOL The strawberries do really well here when you plant them in November and come Spring/Summer, nice berries. Next fall, I plan to plant grapes in the HEB buckets with trellis for them to climb up. And will plant raspberries, blueberries and thornless blackberries also. Am looking at hydrators too. As I loved dried fruit for snacks. Contemplating cranberries also.
joy

Joy,
What variety of strawberries do you plant? I'm looking to trick out an eBucket to try them for the 1st time this season. November is our recommended month too for planting strawberries.

LMK where you get your plants. Thanks!

Linda

Gymgirl: I get my strawberry plants from the strawberry farm in Baker, FL, the next town over from mine, they have the pick your own strawberry farm. They are very reasonable and to be honest with you, don't remember what kind they are, they do well though. I will have Bob's stackers up and ready by that time and will plant 30 in the stackers and 30 in my EBs and might try some in the 5 gallon buckets myself also. I picked up the Espoma Holly Tone, as it is specially formulated for acid loving plants, such as strawberries. Bought the 25 lb bag. Bob says I should put 1/3rd cup monthly per plant in the stackers. I might wind up planting about 100 strawberries this November. How many strawberry plants were you going to put in each eBuckets? One or maybe more?
joy

Joy,
The strawberry eBuckets have about 8? 10? Holes for plants I think.

I need to order my plants.

8 to 10 strawberry plants per ebucket? are you sure, you are only supposed to put 6 per EB???? Jaywhacker says I can put 2 strawberry plants per section on the stackers, with my having 5 stackers and 6 spots per stack, that's 60 strawberries right there, and additional 5 EBs at 6 per EB will be 90 strawberries.
joy

Finally! Yesterday was a beautiful day with low humidity and I started prepping my EBs and the area that they are in but it wasn't as easy for me as it used to be as I tired rather quickly. First I started to pull away the runners over my weed cloth. I've not been working out there for months because of the extreme heat and my susceptebility to it. I started to pull some but my strength seem to fail. Then I used weed killer to sterilize the weed cloth even though the runners did not penetrate the cloth but just clung to it, We have St Augustine grass and they send out massive runners if neglected for months as I was forced to do healthwise. Working in 90 plus heat would have brought on another heart attack so I waited till it was in the low 80's and dry.Will wait for the weed killer to take full affect and that should be tomorrow.

TPlant: Can hardly wait to see your maters, I hope you will post some pics. Don't push it though, I thought it was going to start getting chillier up here, as our nights are down to around 50 degrees. So; I pulled in my dwarf banana, key lime and Meyer lemon trees. Then in the morning and during the day it was miserably hot.
joy

Hey TP, glad you're going at it. Thanks to you, I now have about 12 EB's to add to my container group that also includes about 15 made from heavy duty plastic? 55 gallon drums (cut in thirds). So, two of my original dirt gardens are housing containers this season while the third garden area has 15 in the ground.

I planted out over the past several weeks. Lotsa varieties including some new ones from Carolyn and Suze. I'm having a problem now with a weed killer that was sprayed near my plants and affected most of them, causing all new growth to be white. I've pinched them back and am now waiting to see if they'll get going again.

Here we go again! Good luck, Your S Fla friend,

Flip

Sorry to be so late for my responce but -- Ah ! No excuses. Meanwhile Flip I hope you have as much fun with your EBs as I have had in the past. Luckily for me our lawn people saw me struggling and cleared my entire garden od weeds and even cleaned off the weedcloth by brushing off all the leftovers. What a Godsend! I went to Home Depot and purchased four Hillbilys, two husky red cherry, two pink brandywine and two roma paste tomatos so instead of 4 EBs I went for 6 EBs and still have three left over that I might use for flowers or bulbs come Easter time.

TPlant--good to hear you got some help! I can't think of too many people that deserve it more....

Sounds like you have a nice assortment of tomato plants. Be sure you keep us posted on their progress. You know we northerners have to garden vicariously this time of year. My garden and EBs are now officially put to bed for the winter. Sigh.........

But, Mom, you've already winter sowed your seeds for de spring time, right? In the gallon milk jugs in the yard? The ones with the
holes in the tops and bottoms and 3-4" of seedling starter mix? The ones out in the snow that you don't really have to think about til it's almost time to plant out cause, since they've been outside all winter they're already hardened
Off and can go straight to plant out? Those seeds.....