Hey Brian,

Wow!! Your 'Tainer Farm is looking great!!

Can you imagine what things will be like in July???

I think you need a cage extension - - for your cage extensions....

Raybo

Hey Brian, I was thinking about stacking two cages on top of each other like those you show there. Have you done that before? Does it seem pretty sturdy so far?

Holy cow! Those plants are huge! Exciting. Does the SF Bay season start so much earlier than Portland, or do you think it's because you started from seed? (Or am I just late? just bought starters about 12" tall to put in raised beds + 1st-time grower, attempting 11 tomato plants this year.)
Just now googled + bookmarked "earthtainer" - I'm already excited about next season.
Thanks for posting pictures - they're inspiring.

looking good bdobs! seems like your right on track for an amazing harvest. i've been really impressed with the earthtainer pics here. might have to try them out sometime. we zip tied and double stacked our cages like that last fall on our sweet 100's, it worked good.

our cherokee purples that we started from seed this year but got in the raised bed a bit late also did pretty well considering... we only got about 6 big toms from our plant so far, but they were worth it. we'll see if it survives the phoenix summer heat for a 2nd crop in the fall.
rob

Maters gone crazy!Everything looks great and your yard looks nice and tighty. Questions: How many peppers you got in that Tainer, what kind are they and what size is the Tainer?

Damon

Brian,

Your container gardening looks amazing:) I hope mine look that way soon, I want instant gratification and it surely does not work with a garden so this I guess will teach me patience. You must be out there all the time inspecting all of your hard work. Great Job!!

Dusty

Here is a link that might be useful: my container garden

Brian, aren't you really Raybo's next door neighbor and are just taking pictures over the fence???? :>)

Looking VERY good.

Question about your red buckets (Home Depot??). Is that two buckets, one inside the other to facilitate the water reservoir area????

If it is, I wish I had already thought of that. :>)

Ted

Raybo...
Thanks a lot for the nice words, I was kind of thinking the same thing about the cage extension...extensions :)

Plantslayer...
First year using the cages + extensions. Got the idea from raybo, they seem very stout.
The lower main cages I used are extrememly thick and strong, but the ones I used on top are cheapies from HD. They may bend a little, but with my strong base, I dont think they are going anywhere

Naranja...
I started my seeds on Feb 11th and planted them in the garden on April 11th.
Here they are on plant out day...really not all that long ago.

ThirstyAZ...
I'm kind of a zip tie fanatic :)

Hi Damon
I have six peppers in the Tainer. Two Golden Summer Bells, One Big Bertha Bell, One Cal Wonder Bell and Two Sweet banana peppers. I've never really had much success with Bells, but they seem to be doing great with lots setting on each. As you can see they have lots of foliage, so hopefully sunscald wont be a problem like I have had in the past.
I also have six peppers in a Earthbox doing well too, but they dont seem to have nearly the vigor these guys do.

Thanks for the kind words about my yard, its my love, and I put lots of work into it. No gardner here.
Havnt had as much time as usual with having our first baby in Oct., but she's well worth it :)

That is made out of 25g Rubbermaid Tote

Ted
LOL, no stolen pics from Ray, just stolen ideas :)
Yes, the two containers are made out of two HD buckets stacked inside eachother. Makes them super easy to make as there is no extra support needed for the wicking chamber. i actually ended up using a couple of the same 10oz flimsey cups I used for my starts as the wicking chamber. They litterally took me 15 minutes and about $6 to build

Brian

I hate you zone 8/9 people. lol

naranja:

Starting from seed or store bought doesn't determine when you can plant out. It is determine by how well your potting "spot" is prepared for your seedling, which can get a head start with cloche, cold frame, etc...

Even in Bay Area we have our migro-climates. But plant out date of early to mid April seems to be the consessus from a few Bay Area people.

Contrats on your beautifl garden Brian. I don't mean to try to steal you thunder. I plant my first SWC yesterday using 5 gallon. I went to a few Walmarts and Targets in a few different cities and couldn't find any 54 in Galamos cages, so I decided to just use pvc pipe as my stake and a T join so I can fill water. You have a nice size yard by the way. I can see that patch of grass turning into another Mater farm one of these "days". hee hee. Thanks for the offer on the Pink Bekerley Tie-Dye. I will definitely take you up on that offer, at very least the seeds.

Nice Johnny, that guy should take off...well, if the weather warms back up again :)
How are you other guys doing? I know you were having problems earlier

Brian

I love your tomatoes and the way you grow them.
Can you give me any advice how to post pictures on here?
It just doesnt seem to work for me. I have a new mac.
Thanks!

OPen a free photobucket account
upload your pics there
When looking at your album, run your curser over the thumbnail of the pic you would like to post.
A drop down box will appear, copy the area that says "HTML CODE", then simply paste that in your reply

wala

Brian,

I love seeing your pics...where are you located? I am in Marin and planted out about 2 weeks after you so I hope to see the same some big tomatoes soon like you have!! i am also growing sungold which is one of my biggest plants and big beef.

this is my first year gardening and i really hope to be able to grow some plants from seed next year (but i am due in july so i may have my hands full with a newborn also ;)

also, what type of peppers are you growing? i am growing an ace bell pepper but it looks so pathetic compared to yours.

i attached my blog if you want to see my sad pepper.

Here is a link that might be useful: marin gardening blog

Brain congrats on your daughter, I just had my first April 3, Noah is his name. And you have inspired me to make a couple 5 gallon SWC's so here they are. I used what I had laying around my shop. There are not shortage of 5 gallon buckets here as I'm a drywall contactor so I have hundreds of them. I kinda made up the design as I went. Pretty simple actually, one bucket and a lid = 5 gallon swc. The picture tells the story of how they were constructed. I think I'll put some peppers in these as I have way to many tomatoes (26 of them, mostly in the ground).

Damon

Damon, that will work. I have two very similar, but if you have hundreds of buckets, consider putting one bucket inside the other. The gap between the two serves as the reservoir. There are some videos on Youtube showing how to construct one, but once you think about it, it isn't complex. Of course, maybe you know that already and did this for fun. I built my two like yours because I wanted to try it, and because I figured I'd get two instead of one!

Thanks for continuing to share Brian. You are ahead of me in fruit size!!! Darn it! I think our plant out and plant size roughly match, but I guess I'm too close to the coast. Those low nightime temps prevent fruit set...

Guys,

I had my first bout today with Powdery Leaf Mildew (or Downey Mold) today. Seems this is afflicting our area again this season:

{{gwi:32057}}

Last season, I didn't jump on it right away, and it eventually killed off a couple of my tomato plants prematurely. Beware if you (or your neighbor) has any of these darn Crap Myrtle trees, as they are Hosts to the disease.

What I have found effective is a product called Serenade. I buy it at Orchard Supply (the Concentrate bottle) and put it into a Windex bottle to do a foliar spray.

{{gwi:32058}}

Raybo

Hi Tammy
I'm in Martinez on the Carquinez Staright.
Congrats on your new arrival to be :)
We went to the Steam trains and Merry-go-round in Tilden park yesterday and had a blast.
For anyone in the area, its a great day. $2 for a ride on both the trains and the Merry-go-round, plus lots of beautiful Redwoods and picnic areas.

I'm mostly growing Bell peppers. I named most of them a few posts back. I'm also growing 6 in an Earthbox, more Bells, sweet Bananas and a few hot peppers to add to the July Salsa

Congrats Damon. Truly a life changing even eh???
I cant wait to share gardening with my Kara, and I'm sure you feel the same for Noah!
Diggin your 5G bucket constuction.
Still bitter about the Sharks..grrr!!

Thanks for the words Structure! Dont worry man, if I get a ripe one before you, I'll be sure post post a pic with it sliced and sprinkled with salt and pepper :)
Where are you at on the central Coast? My folks are in Pismo, and I spent my first 8 years in SLO

Ray to the BO
I have three Crape Myrtles in my front yard, never had that on my maters but I'll be on the look out. I have seen it on them though.
This recent cooling trend we've been experiencing can't help

Brian

Brian

Your baby is beautiful. Those cheeks. I have a 20 month old son and he motivated me to start my vegetable garden. I wanted him to have fresh fruits and veggies and understand the work it takes to grow them.

He LOVES helping us garden and has his own garden set including wheelbarrow, hoe, shovel, rake and sprayer.

He even has his own strawberry plants and knows to pick the berries when red.

The garden has brought our family so much joy already.

I'm in SLO. About 15 mins walk from downtown. I look forward to the first fruit blush. The race is on!

Tomatoes and new kids must be a thing...our daughter is 5 months. I've dialed back the mountain biking and work to spend more time at home...but a guy has to have his hobbies!

Well, must be all this Spring stuff going on. My new Seedling" born April 25:

{{gwi:1324163}}

Oops, that should be (Grand)seedling!!

Raybo

This is my little hybrid Noah. He is already routing for the Giants as you can tell. And sorry Raybo, but this little people require alot of fertilizer.

Damon

Good to know Kara will have plenty of quality Garden loving gentlemen her age to choose from....well in about 35 years from now :)

bdobs,

....better start worrying about 18 years from now....

Raybo

Thanks for remembering Brian. They were recovering from the cold nicely and then last week slow down with no weather change. It turns out I made two blunders with them. 1) I planted out too early, March 23, and 2) I didn't give them enough water. Next year, most likely I will plant out around April 7. I only gave them half a gallon of a water a week where before I used to give them 2/3 gallon every 4 days. My water meter told me it was moist. I finally just used my gut feeling and stuck my finger in the dirt which turned out to be dry. So I am now mulching and putting them on 2/3 gallon every 4 day regimen again. Hopefully, I didn't do any permanent damage.

Frustrated with myself and seeing your nice 5 gallon buckets, I decided to create my own. I don't have a reciprocating saw so my wife was laughing her butt off at me trying to cut a big hole using small drill and then "connecting the dots" :-(. I found a 3 inch Atrium Grate which turns out to fit the bucket nicely and also stayed put all by itself. It's sturdy and has a place for the top bucket to "rest".

Here's a picture and also one of the retaining wall which my wife took. I was too ashamed to take the picture. lol.

Tammsf:

Nice cages ;-). I am in the same boat as you are. I am inland so nights are colder than Raybo or bdobs.

Congrats to all the Dads and Grand dad. My wife loves the pictures. Too bad my seeds don't germinate as good as my tomato seeds.

Cute kids, all. I have a daughter who will be 4 in September and a son/monkey/monster who will be 2 in August, so I know your joys & pains too well. =)

Whoever posted the mold pic, I saw some of what I thought was the same thing a few weeks ago. I figured out that it was just bird poop though...lol

Johnny
Thats hillarious as I cut my holes for the wicking chamber and for my lids by drilling a bunch of closely spaced holes and connecting the dots for the cutout with my box cutter too :)

3" Atrium grate??? Whats that? I ask cause that looks to be a great small size for the wicking basket.

Also, are those Texas Tomato cages? Look real nice. Those would be sweet if integrated into a 'Tainer

Brain

Hi Brian:

I will take some better pictures of the green 3" Atrium Grate when I get home tonight. They have it at OSH and Home Depot for $3 in near the PVC section. They have a 4" one as well, so I think that would work well for the tote earthtainers. Being smaller, circular, and thicker, I think they are even more study than the retangular ones. Maybe two 4", one for each "plant" ??? But it might too shallow. Right below the orange bucket you see that it has "steps". So the bucket sits tight on it with no need to tie it. The picture I took above was after I already filled it with moisten mix. Now to think of it, that was pretty stupid of me as the grate could have fallen off. I want sungold in the winter so bad, I am trying to somehow find a way to bring the 5 gallon in doors. hee hee.

Those are definitely Texas Tomato Cages. I bought a set of 24' this year. Hmm, maybe she would make customized texas cages just for the tote boxes. What kept me from making the tote SWC are : cost of cage ($14 at yamagami's), cement backyard, except for a patch of grass for the dog, and having 10 huge black plastic pots, which fits the 24" Texas cage perfectly.

Johnny,

How do you make sure that the 3" Atrium Grates don't fall off the bucket? Are they attached somehow? In addition to making some Earthtainers, I'm thinking of making some from your design also. For the last few days, I was trying to figure out what to use for wicking, and your idea looks good.

Thanks, Gary

Brian and Gary:

Here's a better picture. The height between the buckets is 3.5 inch. The 3 inch grate is 3.75 inch tall. .25 inch may not sound much, but it's not going to slide anywhere. Also, the weight of the mix should push the bottom of the first container lower into the grate over time. The top "ring" of the grate is .75 inch tall. I didn't attach the grate because once it goes into the second container, I didn't intent to move it much.

How it stayed put even after I filled the container is two fold, with a bit of dumb luck. The landscape fabric kept the weight from pushing down on the grade. I actually have to push the mix further down after I saw that it didn't reach down the grate all the way. I used a regular drill to cut the hole for the wickering chamber. I didn't care to smooth it out so the hole has some teeth.