Except for my EB tomatoes planted in March my containers have been planted about a month. I can not believe what I see. You guys in zones 9 and 10 have always been my garden envy, season wise; but this year I have the prettiest, most advanced plants I've seen in my area for this time of year.. I saw a garden yesterday that is doing pretty well, but his plants are all just getting started. Start the show with my original 2 EB planted in March.
Thought because of the early cool weather on the above plants I was not going to get any fruits. This is just a sample of what hangs heavy on both plants in the EB.
The topsy turvey tomato has started to take off. Look closely and you'll see a small mater.
Beans, cucumbers and squash were all planted same day (1 month ago today). By the way all my containers have been modified into self contained status. Is there any other way? This is a group shot.
Look at these peppers. I may have too many in this box, I'll just have to wait and see. Young fruit is showing itself on all the plants.
Here's a shot of the squash closeup. It's growing so fast it blurred the picture. LOL
And I think I'll enjoy sliced cucumbers pretty soon.
I've got corn, zuchinni, swiss chard, more tomatoes started. I just want to see if I can duplicate the success of the past month . Looking forward to seeing what fall and winter gardening will be like.
Why are my photos shown as thumbnail script icons that read "unauthorized access". They're my photos so I understand I can use them as I desire. What has happened? Interestingly, at least for me the photo appears when I click the scripted icon. What did I do illegally?
This message was edited May 28, 2009 8:43 PM
This message was edited May 28, 2009 8:46 PM
Your photos appear normally to me-- the thumbnail is in the post, and when I click on the thumbnail I'm taken to the larger pic... maybe it's some sort of glitch?
By the way, your garden looks amazing! I wish my family would eat stuff like squash, cucumbers and zucchini-- I'm the only one who likes those. I may have to try growing then anyway next year-- I bet some of my coworkers would be happy about that!
This message was edited May 30, 2009 12:30 AM
haha! Made me laugh reading that your squash grew so fast they blurred the picture. You should have had squash 20 minutes after your last post. LOL!
Seriously, your plants look so wonderful! I hope you get tons of veggies in your garden. We had some of that yellow summer squash for dinner, the first 3 little ones of the season.
Great looking plants! Enjoy the bounty. I know taste is very subjective, but if you like Yellow Crookneck Squash.....you have got to try Sunburst squash. Probably my favorite after eating a few recently.
gessieviolet.........that notation on your photo's appear on all of our photo's posted on Daves Garden. That is so no one can steal photo's from this forum and use them for monetary purposes. Garden magazines and book publisher's have to pay good money for all the pictures in mags and books and this prevents them from getting some for free. It also prevents you from suing Dave for letting someone use your photo's posted on his forum.
You can change your settings in your user preferences to the opaque copyright notice, a watermark-style copyright notice, or none at all.
AMAZING!!!!!!
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of fertilizer do you use.
Tried this myself this year, but not having anywhere near your rate of growth.
Sharanne, I am not very consistent in my methods and I am experimenting . The the most often fertilizer is a strip of 2 cups of 10-10-10 on top of the mix under the plastic cover. (This is what I did under the EB of tomatoes). Under the squash and cucumbers I mixed a slow release fertilizer into the mix, since I am using mulch rather than a plastic cover. On the topsy turvey, I am using a daily weak watering of weak tomato water soluble fert and a seaweed solution. As I said I just mix all methods, I think the real secret is a mixture that drains well and consistency with what ever you do.
How many tomato plants did you plant in each? I know Earthbox recommends 2, but on another website someone who came up with his own design said he grows 4 per planter. And on Instructibles.com, I saw someone else who grows SIX per box. The pictures all showed very healthy, prolific plants. The writers surmised Earthbox tells people 2 per box so they can sell more boxes. Makes sense.
Gardenwife, in my HEB I plant 2 tomatoes. I never really thought about why......but I can't imagine my storage box container holding 4 to 6 plants and producing any size plants. Even 3 plants would be hard for me to maintain in the the box. I also use 5 gallon buckets converted to the EB principle. I don't double bucket, just rig a false bottom with wicking in the single bucket at the level that holds 1 gallon of water and plant like the box. One plant per bucket is working beautifully for me. Now in the EB of peppers I do have 5 plants (because one got broken and was destroyed) and they are growing beautifully. I agree with folks who recommend the square foot spacing recommendation as a guide. If Mel Batholomew can grow it in 1 square foot of space I can grow it in a container, yep, even corn.
I would say try if it interests you. Gardening should be an adventure, you'll win some and lose some. Just don't tell or show the ones you lost. HEHE. That's my real secret!
Do you use soil for the wick, or fabric? I've seen small containers made out of 2-liter soda bottles, just using cotton t-shirt fabric for wicks.
I've built two containers from the plans given on this link:
http://www.zone11.org/webarchive/earthbox/index.html
This was a great tutorial, too:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-your-own-Earth-Box/
I've since learned there is a MUCH easier way to do these than buying two 18-gallon totes and cutting one down to size! Someone commented on that instructable:
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bodoggie says:
I saw your discussion about building an earth box about a week ago and decided to build one or two. Well, I've built four in the last two days. I used Rubbermaid Roughneck storage boxes. I bought three sizes---18-gal., 14-gal. and 10-gal. All three use the same size lid and are shaped identically at their tops; they're just different heights. The smaller ones nest perfectly inside the larger ones. Interestingly, when the 14-gal is nested inside the 18-gal, the space between the bottom of the 14-gal and the bottom of the 18-gal is just a fraction of an inch more than the depth of the pond basket hanging in the 9" square hole cut in the floor of the upper box.
The same is true with the 10-gal box nested in the 14-gal box. So I saw no reason to cut off the bottom third of a larger box and try to fit it in upside down as per your method.
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Isn't that great? I drilled holes in some plastic Folger's coffee cans and used them in place of the pond baskets. I bought flexible clear tubing for the pipe. In the future I am going to just use PVC so I can put a cork/wire flag down the pipe to indicate water level at a glance. I figure our pipes are all PVC at home, so what difference will it make if I have PVC pipe going down into my container?
I've also seen people who have window A/C's in sunny locations hook tubing up to their containers' filling pipes, letting the condensation do their watering. Smart, huh?
This message was edited Jun 4, 2009 11:34 AM
Nice looking squash, I ain't got the guts to try those yet. LOL Here in my part of FL the bugs and I'd be fighting over them for sure.
joy
joy, so far this year I have absolutely no problems with pest, other than my pet serama bantams. I will probably jinx everything now that I post this. When I grew squash the ground I was constantly battling bugs. So far I have not had to use anything even on the tomatoes.
I use mix for wicking.
gessieviolet: I've come to the conclusion that in the Spring you don't encounter many bugs, the closer you get to summer, the more bugs you get and of course, if you don't mow the lawn like you should, my biggest problem, you will get even more bugs. LOL I am constantly on the lookout for the horned catepillar, he haunts my dreams at night, but haven't seen any yet; so, am thinking they come around in the summer more than in the Spring; I'm ready for the little monsters though when they show up. I've also discovered that the plants on the table or the hanging ones don't encounter as many bug problems either, on the weed cloth, closer to the ground is another story, something I'm changing next time round.
joy
Gessieviolet,
Would you mind posting a pic of your single eBucket setup with your wick?? Thanks!
Linda (who's still using double buckets)...
Linda, I'll get my lazy you know what to fix one tomorrow so I can photograph. Actually just think small round earthbox and that's it. I would guess it still leaves space for about a 3 1/2 to 4 gallons of mix (I never measure or do anything the same way twice it seems; but I did measure to the point where this one holds 1 gallon of water before it starts to overflow) and things seem to be working. This is a Sweet 100 tomato a couple of weeks ago in my first attempt. It is now hanging heavy with fruiting branches.
Gessieviolet,
What do you use for the soil platform above the reservoir?
I know you'll think I am being a smart ........, but whatever I can find that I can cut to fit. I think last time a plastic water saucer was the perfect fit; it just happened to wedge at the point I needed when turned upside down. A four inch growing pot makes a perfect wicking basket under the platform.
gessieviolet: Nice looking tomato plant and 5 gallon bucket also. I have a problem with the drain holes lining up, especially if you have to move the thing after planting something in it. LOL One twist of the bucket and you set the thing off a tad too much; but, I love my 5 gallon buckets. They don't seem to pucker up and do strange things like the rubbermaid totes do, they always loose their shape.
joy
Gessieviolet, you sound like me -- whatever fits! I'm addicted to these things now and bought four more Rubbermaid Roughneck totes yesterday, two 14-gal and two 18-gal. I intended to just make two boxes, nesting the smaller ones in the bigger ones, but now I find myself looking around to see what's on hand to make the platforms. :) I might cut down the lids and support them somehow from beneath.
I've seen other HEB models where the people just put mesh baskets in the bottom of the tub and let the soil fall down around them on the edges; rather than having a central basket for the wick, the soil draws moisture up from the edges.
Lots to think about!
