As Thomas Jefferson once said, "look to your soil"! Our sandy soils need to have compost or other fertilizers worked in, and I suspect that even in pots, a good garden soil with compost might improve the overall yield. I have an earthbox, and would recommend it for tomatos and roses. Kohlrabi and bulb Fennel are two things I have success with (in the ground) that I did not notice have been mentioned. Mint, parsley, onions and greens, such as collards, mustards and kales, and yellow or purple pole or bush beans. Broccoli and cabbage do well. But none of it did anything at all for me, till I fixed up my Soil First. Also, I spray with liquid nutrients and organic pest controls, such as hot pepper wax, bt for worms, and pyola oil for general insects. Oh, and shield-all is a product that controls tomato diseases. It is not as hard as it sounds, since i mix it all up in a small spray bottle with plenty of water. I leave that in the garden, and whenever I am out there, it is easy to keep after the spraying. Gardens Alive! sells all the above stuff, and also Gardener's supply is another reliable company I can recommend from experience. The best advice was not to get discouraged! Each year seems to be different, and I never know what will grow and what will die. This never stops me from trying, and I always get Something from all my efforts here in North Miami, where it has been said that our Winter growing season is like a Northern Summer, so many Northern seeds do well here.

Without doubt, timing is much different in Florida. For one we have a much larger window of opportunity. In the northern tier of the U.S. the growing season is 90 days. The more south the more it modarates. PLbrown, you paraphrased me and left out the but timing is important part. Jane..I need seeds of those forever tomatoes. I've had hot peppers last 2 years. And I have an orchid that stays in bloom. I want veggies that grow like weeds and weeds that grow like veggies.

Day 22 Update! Peppers and lettuce: The same peppers and lettuce from the previous shot. They're in the second-worst part of the UFO grow chamber -- far from the UFO in the center. Nonetheless, the peppers are doing beautifully. I've got a whole tray of them looking just like that. The lettuce, only so-so. They're putting out leaves at a good rate, but two of them never did stand up like I was hoping they would. Next up, the monsters: Okay, these pumpkins are getting a bit scary: The larger of the two now has three tendrils on it, and leaves the size of my outstretched hand. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to keep them in here before they decide to crush everything else in their path, but I'll keep them in as long as I can ;) I realized that last time I forgot to photograph my eggplants. They're doing just shiny: So, now for my crazy okra: If you'll recall, one germinated tall like a freak, but with a strong stem, and dark green leaves; one germinated short with dark green leaves; and two germinated short with pale, chlorotic yellow leaves. I credit this to using old seed. I'm pleased to report that all of them are doing great. The tall one is now working on its second true leaf, while the two chlorotic ones are starting to turn green. All three of the small ones have just started on their first true leaf; I expect they'll look like the tall one (minus the crazy height) next week. My Ronde de Nice squash that just germinated? I transplanted one, and surprisingly, the transplant is doing better than the non-transplant! Now for the one that was my biggest concern last time: my watermelon. If you'll recall, its first true leaves had turned crisp and stopped growing. Well, I'm glad to report that it has not one, but two sets of normal, healthy true leaves now! Here's a shot of some of my miscellaneous squash and melons. Not a complaint from me about a one of them; they're all growing very healthy. My cinnamon basil was looking healthy enough that I felt it time to thin it out into individual pots. The remaining plants in the original pot are below: So, what's my primary concern this time? I'm starting to suspect that I'm getting more growth in the UFO chamber (red, grow) than in the Christmas chamber (blue, veg). I'm not sure yet, though. Now, that is to be expected to some degree, since that chamber is higher wattage (~105W vs. ~85W), it may be more than that. It's really hard to tell, though, because I moved my most mature trays to the red chamber and kept the youngest trays in the veg chamber. However, I do have one good comparison point: basil. I have a basil pot in the veg chamber that's exactly the same as the basil pot in the grow chamber -- same soil, same size, same plants, and same planting time. So, next week I'm going to photograph and measure the two and see how they compare. But overall, another good week :) The plants pretty much take care of themselves (since the LEDs are pretty cool, the soil takes a long time to get dry, so I rarely even have to water). Hence, I've been busying myself readying my outdoors for the new plants, for once it gets warm enough. I'm going to be training my vining plants to strings suspended from guyed poles this year, via vine clips; should be neat to see how they do.

Nice plants! If you want to add some extra support, you could buy some 8 foot sections of 1/2" thick rebar and drive one next to each plant to use as a stake. They need to be driven at least a foot into the ground to remain stable. Just get some twine or nylon string and loosely tie the escaping branches to the rebar, and you should be able to get a few extra feet of vertical growth before they flop back over. I think that would be the least intrusive way to add support to your plants at this stage if you choose to do so. Happy Gardening! Michael