Branching Out's Seeds and Sprouts

[Branching Out]

That is a helpful chart digitS-- thank you for posting it. When I pull up my tomato plants at the end of the season the roots never seem that deep, but it is the fine roots that go down for such a long way I think. Looks like many of you water tomatoes daily, which is not something I was expecting. I can see that it may be necessary though; my friend grows tomatoes in a very hot hoop house, so I suppose daily watering is necessary due to the excessive heat. Hoop house growing in not something I am familiar with, so this will be an interesting learning experience.

I still want to try infrequent watering for the tomato plants in the field though-- but my buddy has me a tad concerned about their demise so yesterday I used my 'drip irrigation system' to water those tomatoes deeply. It is a low-tech method where I use empty cream puff tubs that have a few holes drilled in one of the corners of each plastic container. I make a small impression in the soil under where the holes sit, and then fill up the tub allowing the water to percolate down. I filled the tubs three times, so each plant got a whopping 3 gallons of water. They won't be drying out anytime soon. My hope is that the roots will follow the water down deep.

What I like about my cream puff bucket drip irrigation system is that the buckets stack when not in use, I do not water the surrounding soil so few weeds germinate, I can fill the tubs quickly using water at high pressure, and while they water drips out I can take care of other tasks in the garden such as weeding or planting. I have been using the same buckets for several years now; they last a long time if stored indoors over the winter.

 

[Branching Out]

Today I had several trays of seedlings sitting in the shade, and when I went to move the shelf they were on two of the shelves came loose and collapsed. It was a bit of a mess. While all of the plants were salvaged, I have no idea what I am growing now as I had five kinds of melons and two varieties of cucumbers all on the one tray. They each look identical. I am pretty sure that I figured out what a few of them are, but I will have to grow out the melons in order to identify the plants.

 

[flowerbug]

That is a helpful chart digitS-- thank you for posting it. When I pull up my tomato plants at the end of the season the roots never seem that deep, but it is the fine roots that go down for such a long way I think. Looks like many of you water tomatoes daily, which is not something I was expecting. I can see that it may be necessary though; my friend grows tomatoes in a very hot hoop house, so I suppose daily watering is necessary due to the excessive heat. Hoop house growing in not something I am familiar with, so this will be an interesting learning experience.

I still want to try infrequent watering for the tomato plants in the field though-- but my buddy has me a tad concerned about their demise so yesterday I used my 'drip irrigation system' to water those tomatoes deeply. It is a low-tech method where I use empty cream puff tubs that have a few holes drilled in one of the corners of each plastic container. I make a small impression in the soil under where the holes sit, and then fill up the tub allowing the water to percolate down. I filled the tubs three times, so each plant got a whopping 3 gallons of water. They won't be drying out anytime soon. My hope is that the roots will follow the water down deep.

What I like about my cream puff bucket drip irrigation system is that the buckets stack when not in use, I do not water the surrounding soil so few weeds germinate, I can fill the tubs quickly using water at high pressure, and while they water drips out I can take care of other tasks in the garden such as weeding or planting. I have been using the same buckets for several years now; they last a long time if stored indoors over the winter.

we used to dig in 5 gallon buckets with a few holes in the bottom to fill up with water to gradually water down deep. as i am a klutz they were also a hazard and would plug up the holes at the bottom so it became yet another hazard just to unplug them. then i realized i would just water regularly and that would get the water down as deep via gravity. holey buckets gone. hazards gone. we don't really have storage space for things like that here so it was always a challenge to put things up for the winter.

as for BER it was always the initial fruits that would develop before the root system of the plant was big enough to support the fruits, so snipping those early flowers took care of that problem. planting deeper and watering regularly took care of the rest of it. yes it is a calcium imbalance, but that is also the result of the physical imbalance from the roots not being big enough to keep up with the water demands of the fruits. even watering is one answer, trimming off the early flowers worked ok for us.

better garden soil would be a big improvement for the root systems here, but there's no way i can afford to bring in tons of garden soil and no way i want to at this stage of the gardens. it is all wheelbarrow at a time work for that now if i do it and i'm quite happy to not be doing it anyways. too many other things that are a lot lighter to haul (wood chips being about all i can imagine these days, bags of leaves here or there, light stuff, not concrete, rocks or dirt... )...

 

[digitS']

I have stumbled out of the greenhouse and tossed a flat of plants on the lawn, on several occasions, Branching Out.

My common error is to lose track of varieties in the garden. There are only so many stickers that I want to make. Plants of the same species with similar growth can be planted together in a bed. Which are Which?! Some may grow large enough to hide the stickers that are there, however few.

Mapping before setting out runs up against wish to the make extras "fit in" . I don't have acres and a casual relationship with individual plants that I have cared for from seedlings to potting up in the greenhouse, to hardening off, to setting out. It doesn't mean that I will crowd them but I will make use of available space. Yes.

What I should do is stand out there with a clip board and map varieties as they go in. I'm detail-oriented but hands-on so I'd smudge up the paper ... C-3PO is never around when I need him!

Branching Out, you must have a lot of garden space for that many vining plants.

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

As for BER it was always the initial fruits that would develop before the root system of the plant was big enough to support the fruits, so snipping those early flowers took care of that problem. planting deeper and watering regularly took care of the rest of it. yes it is a calcium imbalance, but that is also the result of the physical imbalance from the roots not being big enough to keep up with the water demands of the fruits. even watering is one answer, trimming off the early flowers worked ok for us.

Last year we had a horrid spring, so the tomato plants were mostly all 2' tall with large root systems when they finally went in the ground and there was almost no blossom end rot. I did note one variety that was plagued by it, but only in one location in the garden; a second plant of the same cultivar had no BER. This year I am adding oyster shell meal, egg shells, and crab meal in an effort to avoid it completely. A bit of crab meal goes in at the bumping up stage, to allow lots of time for the microbes to digest it. Egg shells and oyster shells are worked in later, when the planting holes are prepped. I am planting large seedlings with well-developed root systems again this year, so hopefully there won't be much of the heart breaking BER. 💔

 

[Branching Out]

I have stumbled out of the greenhouse and tossed a flat of plants on the lawn, on several occasions, Branching Out.

My common error is to lose track of varieties in the garden. There are only so many stickers that I want to make. Plants of the same species with similar growth can be planted together in a bed. Which are Which?! Some may grow large enough to hide the stickers that are there, however few.

Mapping before setting out runs up against wish to the make extras "fit in" . I don't have acres and a casual relationship with individual plants that I have cared for from seedlings to potting up in the greenhouse, to hardening off, to setting out. It doesn't mean that I will crowd them but I will make use of available space. Yes.

What I should do is stand out there with a clip board and map varieties as they go in. I'm detail-oriented but hands-on so I'd smudge up the paper ... C-3PO is never around when I need him!

Branching Out, you must have a lot of garden space for that many vining plants.

Steve

I am fortunate to have my garden and also several adjacent gardens to plant in, which means I can try many new varieties all at once. So far my neighbours love it, and I love it too. Our lot is on a cul de sac with a good stretch of city property at the front that makes for a large footprint of about 11000 sq feet. My parents' lot is of a similar size, and I do all of the planting there as well. I figure whatever dirt is left bare will need weeding, so I would rather plant sunflowers, beans, squash, cucumbers or tomatoes to cover the ground instead. That is also why I am trying to grow extra early, main season, and winter storage cultivars of tomatoes, melons (still waiting for the Winter King and Queen watermelon seeds to sprout), squash and beans-- so we don't get completely overwhelmed but a massive glut of summer produce.

This year I am trying a multi-pronged approach to record keeping:
1. I have a 'to do' list for each month of the year, that I can easily update to remind myself of which garden tasks typically need attention every month.
2. Another document is chronological by date, listing the name and number of seeds started and noting how long they took to germinate/germination rate.
3. I am trying a 'Location of Starts Planted Out' file this year, as I also tend to lose track of what I planted. The ones that I can't recall always seem to be the best ones, that I hope to grow again. I make a note on my phone when I plant them, and then when I come in for a break I add the planting location to the list on the computer.
4. For tomatoes, peppers, and beans I do use a clip board so I can note planting locations right on the list of varieties, and draw maps as needed. Adding tags as I go along is an insurance policy, however the crows sometimes remove my tags so a multi-pronged approach to record keeping is necessary. I have one clip board for beans, and a second one for tomatoes and peppers
5. We have what I call the scrub patch adjacent to the north side of our house, and it is attractive to racoons who like to use it for a latrine. I will try to plant as many squash and cucumbers as I can, to deter them. Last year it didn't help as we had tarps out to smother the weeds and they liked those a lot for their latrine. If I pull the tarps I get either weeds or whatever I plant. So I am planting a lot! Yesterday I turned ProMix and peat moss sacks inside out, leaving me with huge black or white plastic grow bags that I am filling with compost and whatever I can find around the yard like rotted leaves and old hay (it takes a lot to fill them, so we will do a run to the city compost facility where we can get a load for just $8). Those will serve as planting sacks for the big guns like squash and melons. Last year I slit holes in the bottom of the sacks for drainage. This year I will make sure the drainage holes are a little higher up, so a few inches of water are retained to keep the roots of the plants moist during the hot summer months. I also used paper sacks last year, and they held up well but dried out too quickly-- so it will be primarily plastic this year.

 

[Branching Out]

I am the world's worst sweet corn farmer. I planted out 40 seeds in May, and got three plants. Yesterday I planted out 80 soil blocks with Sugar Buns corn seed that I had started on June 1st, planting 3 blocks per hole; that variety is recommended for the west coast. There were some seeds leftover and I had pre-sprouted them as well, tossing in 4 seeds per hole. Composted manure, alfalfa meal, organic fertilizer, cottonseed meal, rabbit manure-- you name it, I dumped it on top of the patch. It all got watered in and then I covered the area with row cover, to try and trap some heat to get things started. Maybe this will be the year that I get to eat home grown sweet corn.

On a positive note, Painted Mountain corn that was planted super early is doing amazingly well. I started it in late March just to see what it was capable of, and it is now 3' tall and looking great. If my sweet corn fails again I may have to stick with Painted Mountain going forward, and just buy sweet corn from the farmers instead.

 

[heirloomgal]

I am the world's worst sweet corn farmer. I planted out 40 seeds in May, and got three plants. Yesterday I planted out 80 soil blocks with Sugar Buns corn seed that I had started on June 1st, planting 3 blocks per hole; that variety is recommended for the west coast. There were some seeds leftover and I had pre-sprouted them as well, tossing in 4 seeds per hole. Composted manure, alfalfa meal, organic fertilizer, cottonseed meal, rabbit manure-- you name it, I dumped it on top of the patch. It all got watered in and then I covered the area with row cover, to try and trap some heat to get things started. Maybe this will be the year that I get to eat home grown sweet corn.

On a positive note, Painted Mountain corn that was planted super early is doing amazingly well. I started it in late March just to see what it was capable of, and it is now 3' tall and looking great. If my sweet corn fails again I may have to stick with Painted Mountain going forward, and just buy sweet corn from the farmers instead.

There is a sweet corn variety which I tried the year before last, Dwarf Blue Jade. I was surprised how early the cobs were ready, it might do okay for you. The cobs are tiny though, which is no doubt part of why it was so early, but I thought it tasted really good and sweet. It takes on a metallic blue tinge when further along with maturing. These were planted at the end of the 1st week in June, photo was taken Aug 2.

I've never had much of a problem with BER, but from what I've read on Tomatoville it tends to trend in tomatoes bred for a drier texture, romas types in particular. I've found water to be key, the few times that I've seen it was with plants in pots that I didn't keep on top of with watering.

Raccoons? Have you ever considered growing a row of Litchi Tomato aka Morelle de Blabis? They don't like those! Then again, some humans don't like them either! lol

 

[digitS']

Branching Out, I have grown Sugar Buns for several seasons. It does well. I might prefer different varieties through the season, so would enjoy scouting them out at the farmers' market but there is hardly a need . Besides, DW is a little fixated on yellow corn.

I enjoyed growing Painted Mountain a few seasons. It was a little difficult to isolate from the sweet corn and that was doubled with the neighbor's corn patch so close. That yellow corn? There were a few cobs with odd colored kernels . Good thing that you have multiple garden locations.

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

There is a sweet corn variety which I tried the year before last, Dwarf Blue Jade. I was surprised how early the cobs were ready, it might do okay for you. The cobs are tiny though, which is no doubt part of why it was so early, but I thought it tasted really good and sweet. It takes on a metallic blue tinge when further along with maturing. These were planted at the end of the 1st week in June, photo was taken Aug 2.

I've never had much of a problem with BER, but from what I've read on Tomatoville it tends to trend in tomatoes bred for a drier texture, romas types in particular. I've found water to be key, the few times that I've seen it was with plants in pots that I didn't keep on top of with watering.

Raccoons? Have you ever considered growing a row of Litchi Tomato aka Morelle de Blabis? They don't like those! Then again, some humans don't like them either! lol

The Dwarf Blue Jade corn looks amazing. I have never heard of small-eared corn, and I will keep that variety in mind. I still have one more packet, one called Simonet that takes 65-70days; not sure if I will plant it, or hold on to it for now.

And as like you I have noticed BER in romas, specifically San Marzano which I have given up growing due to most if not all fruit having BER. I am trying a new paste tomato this year called Fiaschetto di Manduria, which is supposed to be especially good if you cut it in half and dry it. This cultivar has typically been dry-land farmed in Puglia, Italy and it is supposed to be adapted to the Pacific Northwest as well as being super productive.

Litchi Tomato is not something I have heard of before, but after reading the reviews on the Baker Creeks seeds I am terrified of it. Lol. Those thorns sound mighty scary! Maybe they would make a good 'living fence' to keep deer out of vegetable plots.