A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

For containers i‘ve previously used a “super soil” of my own making and it will carry the heaviest feeder thru one season.

I don’t know if they (the stoners) were the first to coin that phrase but “super soil” is a quite popular grow method.

The way i went about it was to start with a base potting soil, in my case Roots organic 707. I’d dump 2 or 3 of the big bags on the shop floor before adding a long list of amendments, (which i can produce if there’s interest) and raked it all together, mixing thoroughly. Next i’d shovel my mix into 32 gallon brute containers. (any plastic garbage can works)

At the time i was using 12ea 16 gallon containers so i needed 192 gallons of planting mix / 25 cu.ft./ 6ea 32 gallon cans.
Once the soil was in the cans i’d activate it with roughly 2 gallons of Compost tea and A Gallon of whole milk After which the lid was shut tight. These cans sat out behind the house to cook for 3-5 months and when needed were brought out one at a time.

it’s a lot of work up front but the end product was light years ahead of anything i’ve ever used. The amendment ratio was off the chart and im sure it would fry most stuff if used right away but the cooking, break down period made it safe for anything i used it for.

You can be over whelmed by “the internet scientist” who will jerk you this way or that but don't get discouraged this is DIRT SIMPLE.

another method would be to use open bottom containers and make sure where you place them is decent garden soil so that any leeching may end up being food for later.

our method has been nearly sure fire for the many years i've been gardening here. worm compost put in the hole underneath the plant (about a gallon to a gallon and a half in volume), then i plant the tomato pretty deep so it has a chance in our heat of the mid-summer plus the heavy clay soil. i do not amend or fertilize after this other than what has already been buried in that garden in the previous years. so that's one year.

the next years i do not plant in those same holes or spots, but rotate plant other things through that garden for three or more years. normally i do not have to amend for the beans and peas and the only really super heavy feeders in comparison to the tomatoes is the big onions but they will do ok enough in the 2nd rotation too of worm compost.

i also amend for the sweet red peppers (but not green peppers - they seem to do ok in 2nd or even 3rd year rotation).

but do note that i'm growing these in mostly clay soil and that it holds nutrients pretty well.

 

[heirloomgal]

Thanks! Funny, I had googled a bit about 'super soil' and the first recipes were all originally from a guy named Sub cool! lol I guess he's pretty famous for his soil!

 

[Alasgun]

He WAS famous for his soil until lots of medical marijuana growers started playing with it and now there’s numerous versions. Funny thing is after you play with it a bit you’ll realize that the important part is the breakdown period where the microbes go to work on it. With this thought in mind here’s a blend i use and have had great results with. This recipe has been adjusted to fill 1ea 32 gallon container.
Your soil base - either locally available or bagged organic. I have substituted by using good garden soil and my compost. You’ll need enough to fill the container within 8 inches of the top. I prefer the Original, mentioned earlier “Roots Organic 707”
Amendments - i use the “Down to Earth” brand, any of them work.
6 cups Crab meal
4 cups Neam seed meal
8 cups fish bone meal
2 cups of Blood or Feather meal
4 cups Kelp meal
2 cups Langebite
6 cups oyster shell or any Calcium source, Gypsum, wal mart brand etc.
3 cups Mykos, fungal innoculant.
15-20 lb bag of Worm castings
4 cups Comfrey
4 cups Alfalfa meal
5lbs Azomite
3lbs Black Soldier fly frass

Once these things are blended well i add a couple gallons of my Compost tea and a gallon of whole milk.
The goal here is to create a nutrient rich environment to house your microbes while they do they’re thing. for me Compost tea gives the most bang for the buck but is not necessary if you don’t make your own. Your microbe stock is also coming from the worm cast, soldier fly frass and compost.

Once your container is capped let it sit in the shade somewhere for 3-5 months for great results. This is a rough estimate of the time it takes for the microbes to break everything down to the point where it’s plant useable. I left a batch over the winter once and it was wonderful.

At the onset, use what’s easy for you. This is not very scientific and i’ve had good results with elements missing.

Jeff Lowenfells book “Teaming with Microbes” is a valuable resource for anyone not schooled in microbiology - - me!

In organic circles you hear the term “feed the soil”, well this is what were doing here. That strong microherd is what makes P.H adjustments a thing of the past!
You can use the end product whole and plant in it directly or as a top dress to really bolster a bed or a number of containers.

 

[ducks4you]

I saw that you, too have grown burgandy okra. I always direct sow okra. It is, after all, a weed from Africa, and I don't think I have ever seen insect infestation on okra for the past number of years that I have grown it.
Biggest problem is ALWAYS missing pods when I harvest. But, they can become seed pods, instead.
I have had great germination from any okra seeds that I have saved, too.
It's kindof a no problem vegetable.
That's quite a complicated recipe (above.)
I like this recipe better:

How to Improve Your Soil | 3 Easy Steps | joe gardener®

Learning these 3 easy steps to improve soil can be a game changer for any gardener or weekend warrior who thought their soil was impossible to grow in.

joegardener.com

Like @flowerbug , I prefer to dig a deep hole for my tomato transplants. I like to start from seed and keep up potting them until they are pretty big, and there is NO WAY, JOSE! chance of a frost.
I use my hand auger that I have used to dig holes for 8 in diameter wooden fence posts to make my transplant holes, and I always dump 2 handfuls of horse manure at the very bottom for the tomatoes to reach for, then some aged compost (from my piles), then backfill with the dirt I augered it, which is pretty crumbly and reminds me of sifted flour.
I think, too, it's a good idea to only water as much as the tomatoes need, let them dry out a little bit and reach for the water to grow a great root system that doesn't need watering in the middle of the summer.
I recently read an article about gardening in Canada. Wouldn't hurt for you to have frost covers for YOUR tomatoes so that they get a long enough season to get in the ground earlier.

 

[heirloomgal]

The recipe seems complex because it isn't for in ground gardening, it's intended for using in containers with the goal being to not have to fertilize throughout the season - which is what I have to do now with what I use. I am doing more and more in pots as time goes on and it is really a pain in the tush to be having to give them fertility throughout the summer. I'm sure I had over 50 (hungry) potted plants last year. I don't give fertility to much in my in ground gardens (except corn really, which I throw chicken manure at a couple times in June) because the soil here is quite fertile as it is. The containers are a different story though! They start off rich, but all the water leaching draws out the nutrients over time.

I'm realizing that okra really is quite a seed type - nearly everything has sprouted already, and it's been a matter of days. That's crazy fast and the germ rates were 100% for everything. I haven't grown it enough to be familiar with the germ rates, but it's looking like one that really holds viability well. Which I love. Baker Creek is selling a variety of okra that apparently you can harvest up to 10 inches long, Louisiana 16 inch Long Pod. Might be a good one for growing if you tend to miss the pods sometimes!

 

[Branching Out]

I am doing more and more in pots as time goes on and it is really a pain in the tush to be having to give them fertility throughout the summer. The containers are a different story though! They start off rich, but all the water leaching draws out...

Last summer I made a note to top dress all of my flower containers with dry organic fertilizer and compost in late June or very early July, as the plants had clearly used up all of the nourishing soil amendments by July last year. I am hoping that this will help on the fertility front.

Watering is much trickier. Like you I had a LOT of containers last year, and it was a full-time job keeping them watered. I did everything I could to bottom-water them, by filling tubs and placing the containers to soak in the vats of water. For me it would be way too time-consuming to repeat this, so I too am hoping to find creative solutions. One concept that I am considering is what the Brits call 'Ring Culture', and if I can tweak it a bit I think it may get me most of the way to easier container culture for my tomatoes and peppers. The Allotment Garden has a good article on it, as does Gardening Info Zone. My eventual version of ring culture is still a work in progress-- but the ring culture idea has really got me brain storming.

If you search 'modern ring culture with grow bags' Greenhouse Stores has an image of a container within a container, all set in a bag of compost. A very cool method indeed, especially in terms of limiting water lost to evaporation; that could be half of the battle right there.

 

[flowerbug]

the only problem i've had with okra is black aphids. it was a one-time crop and since i rarely see aphids on anything here it surprised me. i was only growing for the flowers and seeds and to see how they grew (habit).

 

[heirloomgal]

Last summer I made a note to top dress all of my flower containers with dry organic fertilizer and compost in late June or very early July, as the plants had clearly used up all of the nourishing soil amendments by July last year. I am hoping that this will help on the fertility front.

Watering is much trickier. Like you I had a LOT of containers last year, and it was a full-time job keeping them watered. I did everything I could to bottom-water them, by filling tubs and placing the containers to soak in the vats of water. For me it would be way too time-consuming to repeat this, so I too am hoping to find creative solutions. One concept that I am considering is what the Brits call 'Ring Culture', and if I can tweak it a bit I think it may get me most of the way to easier container culture for my tomatoes and peppers. The Allotment Garden has a good article on it, as does Gardening Info Zone. My eventual version of ring culture is still a work in progress-- but the ring culture idea has really got me brain storming.

If you search 'modern ring culture with grow bags' Greenhouse Stores has an image of a container within a container, all set in a bag of compost. A very cool method indeed, especially in terms of limiting water lost to evaporation; that could be half of the battle right there.

I used some of the Pro-Mix organic granular fertilizer for top dressing last year in my planters. What gave me hesitation about the product was it said 'don't let it touch the stem of the plants' - this was not an easy, or possible, thing to accomplish since I had lots of meadow type flowers in the planters. I haven't used a product like that before and it may not have been a good quality addition, because I did not find the boost lasted long. I did have planters though that were not terribly big ( some were window boxes) and had to water a lot, so it may be that containers size really factors in with keeping fertility levels at fairly good levels.

My dream watering situation for potted plants is collective bottom watering on long tables - like they do at the greenhouses, but for big outdoor plants. But like you say, it's not practical. I rotated some of my plants in a big blue kiddie pool last year; while this made the need to water with a can much less frequent, it would have taken hours to give all of them a good soak. I could only get 5 at a time in, and I like to give them at least 1/2 an hour in there.

I like the Ring Culture idea, I could see that working well with dwarf tomatoes in particular. Any method that collectivizes the plants I like because it's when we separate them all out that evaporation hugely increases. That method would be great to maintain moisture, particularly if the plants are not huge. I wonder if plant vigor might obscure the watering bottom over time though like what happens with plant tags?

 

[heirloomgal]

Well, I can't happy dance too much over my Burgundy okra because all the okra is up and zooming. I guess they aren't pokey germinators!! Haha, we'll see if I've got an okra jungle in a month by the speed at which they are moving...🫢yikes

My oldest lot of groundcherry seeds from 2018 has done well this year. Germ rates were very good too, near 100, and clearly I planted waaaaay too many as a result. I remember when I harvested the seeds for these, it was in January and the fruits were like fat raisins! I hope the Morelle de Balbis follows suit and sprouts as well.

My Richter's basils are sprouting! I never know when I get seeds from there what'll happen, but this was good fortune! I worried a wee bit that because they are odd species they might give me trouble. So far so good....and I probably way overplanted the Lime basil too. The Camphor seems a little less aggressive thus far.

This has to happen at least once in a gardening season - this year multiple times. I planted 4 seeds of 'Murupi White' and nothing after a several weeks. So, dumped in the rest of the packet (was supposed to be 10 seeds total, but there was more) and boom, they all show up. Now I have to have success, because there are no more seeds to plant!

I think I am experiencing favoritism. Of all the peppers, there is one standing out because it is so well behaved, so stocky in nature, so delicate and refined. It was another one that fooled me with the first 4 seeds and so I planted the rest of the packet and whamo a whole little forest. No room for failure here either! 'Goronong', Baker Creek is offering it this year. I like it already! Despite the major crowding, it isn't straining up at all.

It should mature to look like-

 

[ducks4you]

the only problem i've had with okra is black aphids. it was a one-time crop and since i rarely see aphids on anything here it surprised me. i was only growing for the flowers and seeds and to see how they grew (habit).

Okra has lovely flowers, related to hibiscus, and it is SO easy to harvest and then to freeze!
I just bring the pods in and cut them into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces and fill quart freezer bags.
NO blanching necessary!
We fry ours in bacon grease with some corn meal until most are blackened.
It is a real treat and DH says he likes them better than potato chips.