Anyone doing a garden?

[Kuma]

.....Question....do the little flowers that open on a tomato plant vine HAVE to be pollinated by flying 'usually stinging' insects to produce a tomato?....not sure on this one....awfully small flower, super small, but,.....

No killer bees necessary - each little yellow flower will turn into a tomato!

 

[mulester7]

No killer bees necessary - each little yellow flower will turn into a tomato!

.....Great, that means more attempts at corn....thanks, Kuma.....

.....the rain front has slowed, but it's still going to rain hard here soon....had a brainstorm on covering up the small plants.....

 

[mulester7]

.....here's a shot of those three rose bushes after getting hit with hard rain last night, and they're about to get it again....this is my backyard now, and when I was a kid....my Daddy brought in dirt and used concrete blocks to make a couple of terraced garden plots....I didn't want to fight my front-tine tiller this year, all I really wanted was tomatoes and corn anyway, thus the buckets, no idea on the corn yet....how long does it take a couple of seeds buried 1 and 1/2 inches deep in moist soil to break the surface?.....

 

[spartanmanor]

.....here's a shot of those three rose bushes after getting hit with hard rain last night, and they're about to get it again....this is my backyard now, .....

Looks like you have plenty of room for gardening. My main bed is only about 4 x 8 against the south facing side of the house. I am working on some new beds against my garage so that I can do more this year. I have way to many flower beds around the house. Just getting them cleaned up takes 2 or 3 weekends of hard work.

 

[mulester7]

Looks like you have plenty of room for gardening.

.....I do, Spartan, but don't want all the work this year with both wrists just receiving carpal-tunnel surgeries....am 5 days out of having the second one done....and, it was time for those to be done, so it's meant no front-tine tiller this planting season, I assure you....I'll probably go back to the garden plots next year, but not if I get what I want from these buckets.....

I have way to many flower beds around the house. Just getting them cleaned up takes 2 or 3 weekends of hard work.

.....ya' can't eat them flowers .....

 

[mulester7]

.....oh yeah, here's the top of the yellow mum plant where the buds exploded.....

 

[Kuma]

Those borrowed Union Pacific Railroad buckets will do for now, but it looks like you have multiple plants in the same bucket.

Each plants' roots are competing for the same nutrients in the soil- they won't grow to their full potential like this. At a minimum, give each plant their own container (and make sure they have drain holes in the bottom). The bigger the pot, the larger your plants will grow.

BTW, I find that a 50-50 mix of Canadian peat moss and Vermiculite works great as a potting medium for most veggies.

 

[mulester7]

Those borrowed Union Pacific Railroad buckets will do for now, but it looks like you have multiple plants in the same bucket.

Each plants' roots are competing for the same nutrients in the soil- they won't grow to their full potential like this. At a minimum, give each plant their own container (and make sure they have drain holes in the bottom). The bigger the pot, the larger your plants will grow.

BTW, I find that a 50-50 mix of Canadian peat moss and Vermiculite works great as a potting medium for most veggies.

.....Kuma, Bogframe reported the root system for a tomato plant is only about softball sized....I also appreciate the advice on what to put in the bucket, but I've found RICH DARK HEAVY PURE topsoil raked in a wheelbarrow to no lumps, and shoveled-easy into half the bucket, keeps the potting mixture above the topsoil moist for a much longer time, like 200% if not more....the potting soil mixture above the dirt ends up being about 9 inches thick....plenty, for a softball sized root system....I got the dirt free from a dirt company locally....two full buckets....this Garden-Ville Sea Tea is really something, imo.....

.....anyone, it's not too late to start some bucket tomatoes on your patio, but you need to do something pretty soon.....

 

[mulester7]

(and make sure they have drain holes in the bottom)

.....WHAT???....And RUIN My UP Buckets??.....

 

[Kuma]

mulester7, I'm curious to see how your plants perform.

But please note, container drainage is key to preventing root rot, as well as blight. You MUST poke a few holes down there.

Keep us informed, and let's keep up the gardening post!

 

[mulester7]

mulester7, I'm curious to see how your plants perform.

.....I'll bet you're interested, thinking I didn't poke holes in the bottoms :lmao:.....

.....I used a 3/4 wood bit in a drill to make 5 holes in the bottoms, actually....one dead in the middle, and four an inch from the outside at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clocks respectively....then put ONE thickness of newspaper in the bottom covering the entire bottom....then shoveled in the dark rich topsoil easily, bringing the level to half....then sprinkled in the potting mixture to the top, compressed it a bit with my palms, and started the water process....used at least a full gallon of water run down through the insides of the bucket with the insides settling on their own....filled it back to the top with the potting mixture, and hit it again with at least a half gallon of water while patting the added potting mixture on top making sure it's soaked....30 minutes later, I ran a whole gallon of the Sea Tea mix through the buckets....then, when it got to where my index finger pushed deeply into the top revealed no standing water at all, I transplanted the tomato plants....I didn't want any rain to hit them at that/this vulnerable time, so I covered the buckets with a glass roof when necessary.....

.....I may not get a tomato one, but it won't be because I didn't think about this....am having a trip with it, actually.....

.....Kuma, are you 100% sure the little yellow flowers on the tomato plants don't have to be pollinated?.....

 

[Kuma]

.....Kuma, are you 100% sure the little yellow flowers on the tomato plants don't have to be pollinated?.....

Absolutely. I have many thousands of dollars in student loans to prove it (bio major).

 

[mulester7]

Absolutely. I have many thousands of dollars in student loans to prove it (bio major).

.....and, thanks again, Kuma....a friend told me some junk last night.....

 

[JDaniel]

We are, and we do, every year. Huge frustration. We refer to it as the local deer salad bar. They wipe it out every year. We are trying a different strategy this year. We have created a raised bed garden much closer to the house, and raising a few things in pots, also close to the house.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Nice looking pics.

Here's a pic of some of our raised beds. We have about 7 of them, 4x8 to 10 ft I'd say. We never bought dirt, just made a lot of compost and picked up sand and whatnot where we could to lighten the clay.

 

[mulester7]

Here's a pic of some of our raised beds. We have about 7 of them, 4x8 to 10 ft I'd say

.....Tox, the beds look Great....you're in good shape for growing whatever :yes:.....

 

[mulester7]

.....well, I'm learning more about this Nikon digital camera all the time....I just got a new Nikon AF 50mm F-1.4 lens, and I'm experimenting....the tomato plants, the rose bushes, and yellow mum plant were my first subjects....I didn't like the depth of field at full-auto in the other shot of the yellow mums, so I went to the Aperture-Priority mode, chose 100 speed for grain, rolled one compensation wheel to F-11 in the finder, rolled another compensation wheel for a pop-up flash exposure compensation of -.7, (2/3rds of a stop), and here's what I got.....

.....I am floored by the pink rose....I had no idea a vine was there to produce that at all....honestly, that's a first for at least 15 years the plant has been there....anyhow, the depth-of-field is much better with so much more being in focus.....

 

[mulester7]

.....how about I stop crapping this thread talking buckets and cameras, and some garden posts get posted with pictures?....:scratch2:.....

 

[toxcrusadr]

Crap is good for the garden, as long as it's composted first.

 

[spartanmanor]

.....well, I'm learning more about this Nikon digital camera all the time....I just got a new Nikon AF 50mm F-1.4 lens, and I'm experimenting....the tomato plants, the rose bushes, and yellow mum plant were my first subjects....I didn't like the depth of field at full-auto in the other shot of the yellow mums, so I went to the Aperture-Priority mode, chose 100 speed for grain, rolled one compensation wheel to F-11 in the finder, rolled another compensation wheel for a pop-up flash exposure compensation of -.7, (2/3rds of a stop), and here's what I got.....

.....I am floored by the pink rose....I had no idea a vine was there to produce that at all....honestly, that's a first for at least 15 years the plant has been there....anyhow, the depth-of-field is much better with so much more being in focus.....

Nice shot. Which Nikon did you get? I am looking at getting a D90 soon.