Toms after their haircut and shampoo and rinse

Ok, pruned the toms just in time for a weekend shampoo and rinse and here are the pics along with some purple bell peppers in bloom and other things, starting with my baby remember him?





This message was edited May 23, 2009 2:59 PM

Here are the lay flat bags relocated and staked gently, they are getting tall and I have one that is bushy and short and full of toms already:

Some more lay flat bags with toms in them relocated and adjusting just fine:

My cabbages:

My okra:

look at this lay flat bag tomato, see all the little green balls on this baby? I don't think this one will be too tall, I think its the spreading type:

Here is a purple bell pepper(s)

More peppers:

Toms in 5 gallon grow bags of coconut coir:

More pics:

More:

This is the revolutionary planter with the tom in it:

My bloommaster of cukes with lots of yellow flowers on it:

Climb babies climb:

My corn: Still waiting for two strong young men to come along to kick those concrete blocks and board out and flip the tote around so I can see the drain hole, it's facing the fence on 3 of the totes.



This message was edited May 23, 2009 3:19 PM

Here are some more maters:

eggplants:

Another one:

These are my ambrosia melon on the left (the bigger one) and my watermelon and green melon:

My other melon lay flat bag:

Joy,
I am absolutely AMAZED at what you are growing in TUBS!!!! I am pretty container savy but YOU are a guru!! PLEASE could you give details on how you plant in Tubs. Do you drill holes in the bottom for drainage?
Also....WHAT i a FLAT bag and where do I get them or do you make your own. ANy details would be GREAT!!! WHat can you grow in a flat bag?

THanks so much.
Mommacat
Deb

Deb, go to a website called instagarden.com and read all about grow bags and coco coir. Its the latest rage for growing veggies in. Linda

mommacat11: This is my first time growing in bags, I got them from the email Gymgirl gave you, and I at first didn't think they'd do well with tomatoes, but as you can see they are growing fine, I prefer the 5 gallon grow bags for tomatoes though if given the choice between the two, I am hopeful that they will be perfect for the melons though. The containers are from totes and I really don't care for them, as I have to have a knife in hand whenever I go outside to unclog the drain holes, I had them made from 2 eighteen gallon totes, one 5 1/2 inch pond basket (for the wicking device), and one PVC pipe for the water fill tube. I prefer the earthbox over all the other ones though. This Spring was experimental for me, and I think what I will do next season is start my tomtoes in the 5 gallon grow bags, burying the stem and then transfer them to my 5 gallon self watering buckets. It rains up here a bit more than everywhere else; but, if you use coir and the bags you can always put a few more holes in the bag to ensure that the bags drain properly, that is what I did anyways. We've had so much rain I would think it was monsoons here. LOL

The only drawback to the bags is that you really should use the fertilizer that Bob has and it has to be applied with a 2 gallon watering can instead of a sprayer, which is a lot more work, I like the ease of the EBs and 5 gallon buckets. You live in VA so don't know how much rain you get there?
joy

Joy, I'm curious about your eBucket design. I see you're using what looks like a 1.5" or 2" fill tube, righ? What's your wick look like? Also you left a lotta space to the rim inside and use no bucket lid. What are your reasons /observations?

Gymgirl: The 5 gallon bucket on top gets a little heavy when the tomato or plant starts to grow, combined with the coir, potting mix or whatever medium you are using, so, that has to be taken into consideration when filling it and when drilling the drain hole, first you need to make sure the drain holes are rather large, and the 5 1/2 inch pond basket fits snuggly to the bottom of the bottom bucket, making he wicking device workable. I did not have a lot of lids so had to go without them, which didn't seem to matter. I did the bury the stem routine in both the 5 gallon buckets and the 5 gallon grow bags; but, instead of putting the fertilizer in, as I used the strip around the outer side of the 5 gallon bucket, since I was using the bury the stem method, I used Bob's fertilizer until the plant got to the top of the bucket, then I placed the fertilizer strip around the top and let it take over on the 5 gallon buckets. All the tomatoes have massive root systems due to the burying the stem method which has helped the plant become really healthy.

Some of my tomatoes I bought from Burpees (about 9 of them), and the peppers I bought also, same with the eggplant, the rest was all grown from seed. Now, that I have a greenhouse, and have proper heating for it, I can do things a little different this next season. So; I'm going to do things in steps. I also have lots of nursery pots; but, I figure if I want to bury the stem, I'll use the 5 gallon grow bags again, just clean them out with bleach water and reuse them, then transfer them all to the topsy's and revolutionary's when they reach the top of the grow bag, using Bob's fertilizer of course. I'm going to be hopefully buying 10 more EBs and the tubs will go to my sister who likes them and I will save a few tubs for fruit trees. At the end of the season, comes the taste test and I will know what I want to plant next year, and if I order plants from other companies to grow which ones I will order from, thus far Burpee has my vote as the eggplants and nine of the tomatoes came from them, the peppers I got from RH Shumways, 4 have died already and the others are off to a slow start, the rainbow peppers I got from gardener's choice are flourishing like crazy; but the tomato tree, even though it's tall doesn't have many yellow blooms on it, so time will tell, then there will be the taste test too. LOL
Being a beginner, I think I'd rather buy eggplants and peppers instead of starting them from seed, I've had a headache with both thus far trying them myself, so, would rather order them. I'm possibly going to use a above ground garden for my corn next time and my onions.


joy

This message was edited May 25, 2009 12:05 PM