My Winter Fun Garden Diaries.
Obviously, where I am cannot have a tomato garden for fall and winter. And I won't be able to start my season until some time in mid to late March. What to do ?
Surprise ! I detected a tiny tomato seedling next to a concrete block, around a small bed near the house next to the weeds.. The previous owner/resident must have had a tomato plant there. Yeah, there was a big clay pot there full of soil/potting mix with dead roots in it.
That was about a month ago. I dug that poor volunteer and potted in a 2 gallon pot ....
I did not even have any potting soil or fertilizer. I used that old potting mix and added some composted horse manure that I found in the pasture. ( A horse named Cache used to graze there. lol). Just recently I bough Alaska Fish fert (5-1-1) and two days ago I bought a can of MG 24-8-16 blue water soluble.
Back to subject. I kept the seeding outside during the days and brought it inside at nights. I had to. We have had 5 nights of frost and freeze so far.
I took this picture yesterday 12-6-16. It is very stocky plant now, not a seedling anymore. Its stem is as thick as the pencil next to it.
MORE:
It is forking out and I think there a bud or truss growing. If that happens to be true, we should have a ripe tomato in about 50 days from now. ( end of January). What kind of tomato ? Hmm. We don't know. It is a mystery. I like mysteries.
It is no more than 6.5 inches tall with about 8 or 9 leaves.
I call this "My Winter Garden ".lol. In my newly prepared garden I have some garlic and mustard green just for the heck of it.
I will keep you posted.Stay tuned !
Sey
Comments (10)
PcolaGrower
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoVery cool Sey, should be interesting to see how things go. I like doing garden experiments, you never know how things might turn out. My lil experiment was my Fall grow, I wasn't even sure if I would get tomatoes, since I started so late for the fall season. Good thing I kept up with it, everything has been working out just fine, been getting lots of tomatoes. This weekend we have a freeze warning, so it will be interesting to see how my plants do. I covered them up and brought out some lights, I'm pretty confident they are going to be just fine.
Here are my makeshift greenhouses
Bought a couple 20x25 4mil paint drop clothes
P.S. I now know I'm addicted to growing things and it's official my neighbors think I'm crazy. Oh well...... the rewards are too good to stop
Related Discussions
return of gardener's diary?
Comments (8)Hi, I checked HGTV's program guide and RG is on thru the month of Jan.. On the 30th, Monday all that is showing is TBA.. so maybe? The last time I inquired they said they didn't know when it would be back on..etc. etc. I loved that show so much and HGTV first said it would be back in July of 05, then they said something else can't remember what. I just miss Erica! Love her and her show and the gardens were all so inspirational. If only we had more shows that really showcased gardeners and their gardens that would be so nice. Especially when we are cold and wintery :) jenn...See MoreGarden tips, garden diary, and challenges?
Comments (20)My neighbor works for Ball International Nursery. They grew some of Yves Piaget's seeds in a 45% composted pine fines, peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and gypsum. the pot was 1/2 gallon, but the rose had at least a dozen blooms, very impressive. That's the same way when I bought a gallon-rose from Home Depot. I pulled that rose out, and the soil was coarse pine barks mixed with peat moss, and osmocote fertilizer. There was at least a dozen blooms on that rose bush, way more blooms than leaves. The growing medium has an effect on flowering. The Russian Grower Gerda who posted the most-blooms roses in HMF told me she applied humus. Pine Fines break down into humus, and roses love that stuff. In my garden, there's a poor drainage clay spot, so I put tons of fresh pine mulch... the two roses Firefighter and Romantica Sweet Promise, both gave me 80 to 90 blooms as 1st year gallon-own-root. There's another spot which I fixed clay with peatmoss, thinking that would hold more moisture. However, Sonia Rykiel and Crimson Glory did bad, despite tons of rain, like 5 blooms for 1st year. I dug those up and found the soil was rock-hard like cement. Pine mulch (pH 4.5) works better than peat moss (pH 4) because it's a larger particle, which aerated my heavy clay. Roots need oxygen. Both Sonia Rykiel and Crimson glory were yellowish, due to soil compaction and less oxygen with dense peatmoss glue-up with clay. In contrast, peat moss worked great for Columbus Rose Park in Ohio ... they fixed their sandy soil with peat moss, with tons of blooms on Graham Thomas & others. Here's a horticulture research entitled "Rose-cultivation with coco-soil versus pumice". Here's the result: "As far as flower production was concerned, more flowers were harvested from plants grown on coco-soil than on pumice, independently of the planting density. On the other hand, stem length and weight were the same in rose flowers produced on both substrates. " See link below: Here is a link that might be useful: Comparative study of coco-coil vs. pumice soil This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Nov 25, 13 at 17:33...See MoreWinter Sowing is fun :)
Comments (18)I just hopped on the winter sowing bandwagon this year. Have two or three containers of a few different types of tomatoes, some asters, poppies, and some other random stuff out there...I'm up to 30 right now, and am waiting on my Baker Creek order to get here (and for the cheap seeds to start showing up at the big box stores) to do some more. I'm a little nervous about my tomatoes (we have spaghetti once a week, and I have to make at least 52 quarts of sauce each season) since this is my first time trying winter sowing, so I have reserved some tomato seeds to do under lights. I have two small kids, so most of my sowing is in Juicy Juice bottles, but doing it with the 2 liters is SO much easier - I cut slits on the sides so I don't have to tape, just push the top all the way down. I'm going to be raiding the recycling center this week for more 2 liters....See MoreMy indoors JMG garden for this winter
Comments (100)It would be fun to try growing a MG on a topiary frame. The leaves may be too large for a good effect, what do you think? The MGs I primarily grow are Ipomoea nil and Ipomoea purpurea when I grow them indoors.Give them natural light by setting the pot near a window where there is good exposure to the sun. Or, you can use artificial light, putting the light on a timer to give the plant 8-10 hours light. You would have to experiment to see what works best for your location. Which morning glories are you growing that are getting away from you (re: invasiveness comment)?...See MoreSeysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
7 years agoUPDATE 12-10
I re potted my mystery tomato into a 6 gallon pot and snuggled it with some fresh pine straw.
I flower cluster is growing. ...
Last night the temperatures dropped to 25F. Tomorrow night will be a carbon copy. Day temps (highs) will be around 45F. So she will stay inside for 48 hours.Sey
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoHow is your winter garden doing ? Mine is gurrreat. I have also 18 garlic plants, out in the cold. They seem to be enjoying every bit of it.
ticodxb
7 years agoSeysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
7 years agoMy Winter Garden Update 12-24-16
The tomato is getting some fresh air and soaking the sun in a beautiful December day. The garlic have seen 24F to 32F many nights.No problem.
Merry Christmas to all.
ncrealestateguy
7 years agoSeysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
7 years agoticodxb
7 years agoSeysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
7 years ago
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7Original Author