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I'd look at your packaging or a gardening book and see what spacing it recommends planting them at. If you are looking at 12" recommended spacing put four plants in there. If 6" spacing then you have 16 plants, 2' spacing you put in one. Basicall look at the spacing and set up a grid of that spacing and set one in the middle of each grid space.E-Z Glider said:
What page was that on?
I had a couple the other day that looked all shriveled up and I figured they were goners but wouldn't you know, after a healthy dose of H2O they are looking just fine now. So all is not lost!
That's why I planted a ton of em. I killed quite a few seedlings when I didn't water one day but still have a healthy dozen plus that are doing well.
Most still looked like hell today...
You want to gradually harden your plants to the elements. Start out a couple hours the 1st day then a few more the next, etc. Don't leave them in the sun for 8 hours right off the bat. After a week, they should be ready to plant.Another tip CC mentioned that I've always followed: after the first true leaves show, set up a fan near them to blow air on the plants (on low setting). This will help strengthen them.
Do you have them on a timer? I'd advise you do this and set it for 14-16 hours of light each day.If you do, I wouldn't turn the lights off. Just be sure to water them before you leave.
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking about getting a timer.
I did the same thing but had then out on and off over the last 3 weeks. Most of mine had part of the plant turn white the day I put them in the ground. It was extremely windy that day and they had a full dose of sun. I see new growth on all but 1 so I'm in good shape. My peppers didn't do so well though. Some may pull through but if not I have a handfull still inside.
Our frost date is still not for a week or so and my tomatoes are still absolutely tiny. I transplanted them into an organic planting mix so they'd get some nutrients but they haven't grown much. Will start giving them some light feeding in hopes of getting them big enough to plant when I can. On a related note I just got the bulk of the work done on building my self watering containers (all except the watering tube. I followed CC's method of using two containers, one inside the other, but due to the tapering of the sides and the fact that the inner one is sitting 5" above the bottom there is a gap around the edge between them and I worry that I'll lose more water or will end up with more chance of mosquito nests in there. Should close up a bit when I get the soil in there but I'll try to find some weatherstripping to stuff in there to make it even tighter. Only other thing I haven't done yet is put in the watering tube and I need to buy some tomato cages as I don't have enough of them and the ones I have are really weak and are far too short.
If you are going to remove suckers you do that as soon as they show up and pick a nice strong branch to train up the thing. If you are going to do it you start early so that it puts its energy into the one main stalk.
guess i need to figure out which of my plants are determinate and indeterminate, and start plucking. I want to have 2 vines growing from each plant. As for the containers. I did them like the instructions from the web site minus the rig they set up for the cages. The only way bugs are getting in is through the watering pipe. They seem to be working well so far. I'm growing Cucumbers in one and two different cherry tomatoes in the other two containers.Men-in-Cleats said:
After reading that CC was not to happy w/ his, I made mine like the earthtainer website and it worked like a champ.
Jeebus. That thing is a monster. I'm going today to get my plants (NYC was below freezing at night last week.) It will be a while before I reach that height. Still no word on CC?
I sent a letter to his BIL weeks ago. Haven't heard anything.
Wow, got a pic of that deck??
I'll snap a few tonight if it isn't pouring down rain.zander_s said:
#### Dude...I'm really sorry. I never saw this post until just now.My potato box was a dismal failure as the watering system I installed failed mid-summer. One day everything was huge and beautiful...then next day it was all gone...completely rotted out as the line burst and flooded the box.
I actually hadn't found my answer yet, so thanks. Was planning to fill my raised garden and potato box with soil/compost this weekend. Was just planning on going with 4 plants (in a 2x2 box). Can I mix potatoes? Maybe 2 sweet potato, 1 regular, and 1 redskin?
Here is a wide shot of the deck looking out the window which is how you access the outside. After you step out of the window, on the left are the berries. Next there is the pepper plant, tulips (covered in chicken wire because of my nemesis, Mr. Squirrel) and patio tomato plant that I bought at the green market. It was already well established so it's cheating but it already has tomatoes on it so I don't really care! I still have to pot the two cherry tomato plants. They will live where the tulips are now once I move those to the front of the house. Moving around the deck you'll see the Roma and beefsteak tomatoes in the earth boxes with herbs up front. The herb and flower boxes get moved up onto the railings when guests are over so we have a little more space. Around the corner with the current tiny BBQ are the two zucchini plants. I fully expect them not to make it, but what the hell. Now I really need to find some way of hooking up a hose to my kitchen sink because it takes about 10 trips in and out of the window with the watering can.
My opinion about those earhboxes you have set up.I think you are going to need something much bigger and stronger than a tomato cage. And you need to get on it ASAP.Here is a wide shot of the deck looking out the window which is how you access the outside. After you step out of the window, on the left are the berries. Next there is the pepper plant, tulips (covered in chicken wire because of my nemesis, Mr. Squirrel) and patio tomato plant that I bought at the green market. It was already well established so it's cheating but it already has tomatoes on it so I don't really care! I still have to pot the two cherry tomato plants. They will live where the tulips are now once I move those to the front of the house. Moving around the deck you'll see the Roma and beefsteak tomatoes in the earth boxes with herbs up front. The herb and flower boxes get moved up onto the railings when guests are over so we have a little more space. Around the corner with the current tiny BBQ are the two zucchini plants. I fully expect them not to make it, but what the hell. Now I really need to find some way of hooking up a hose to my kitchen sink because it takes about 10 trips in and out of the window with the watering can.
Yikes! Those are monsters. I guess I'll have to rethink. The cages worked great for the maters last year but I didn't have the earth boxes. A friend just passed them to me. I also only have one of the covers so I have to source one more this week.
Adding a drip line to an existing sprinkler system is not too difficult if your system has an additional slot for another zone. You don't want to just connect to one of your other zones as you'll want to be able to carefully control the amount of water to the garden and not have it on the same intevals as your lawns or shrubs. I have only put a few items in the ground that weren't a part of my winter garden. I have planted beets, radishes, a summer squash, shallots, and a sungold tomato and am currently hardening my silvery fir tree and purple Russian tomatoes, my basil, my chocolate habanero, fish, lemon drop, and tobago chile peppers, my tigger melons, and my sugar baby watermelons. I have scarlet runner beans and some bush beans that I want to get into the ground as well. Current winter garden holdovers include: sugar snap peas, kale, onions, spinach, salad greens, herbs (marjorem, oregano, Mexican tarragon, sage, rosemary), and some red chard.
My Beefmasters have already outgrown my cage. So far that's my biggest problem with the homemade Earthtainer. You lose a good foot of caging the way it's mounted.
I was just reading This over the weekend. Maybe since you already have an indoor set up, you can keep one or two of each inside and clone them or bag the blossoms and just grow enough fruit for next years seeds.
Can you do it over a weekend?Cunk said:
Son of a #####!. I thought all I was going to have to do is squeeze some maters into a bottle...let the mold form...and rinse the bottom dwellers and put in an envelope for the future.No way am I going to keep the grow light set up on all summer. But I guess I can bag a few flowers and see what happens.
Yes but everything I've read leans towards doing this for a week. Basically what I'm doing now is throwing a blanket over the fence I built around the garden. Now the sun shines in through the sides but protects it from the brightest part of the day.
Just put them in a spot where they'll get partial sun or set them up in a manner such that they will get sun for a few hours and then be shaded. That's what I did yesterday and today and the tomatoes are really taking off right now. If you don't have an area where they will be shaded set something up to where they'll get sun for only part of the day and first and increase that as the week goes on. I'm going to put them in progressively sunnier spots as the week goes on.
Thanks. It seems that my blanket method will accomplish this nicely.
Should be fine if you make sure they are in big enough containers that they won't dry out too quickly and that it won't be some sort of record hot blazing hell sort of a day.
