Update: Beginning of December

It's snowing tonight, and I'm still eating tomatoes directly off the plants.  We're down to about 35 containers of primarily tomatoes, then garlic, and some with strawberries, basil, and spearmint.  The fruits on the strawberry plants are struggling, but everything else is doing very well.  There's only one container that's five gallons; all the others are smaller.  All are now indoors.

A note on the Cherokee Purple tomato---
First, I thought it was a "bush" plant; it's not...it's "vine" (indeterminate growth).
Secondly, though the fruits were slow in coming, they are delicious.  They're being grown in containers ranging from a 2.5-gallon pail to small dog food bags to a large coffee can.  All are producing, but only a few fruits at a time... which is okay with me.

There's a greenhouse tomato called the "Moneymaker".  It's okay in terms of taste, but I rank it below the Cherry tomato and the Cherokee Purple.  Those two have the best taste in my garden.

I attribute the moderate success of the garden to the following:
1.  potting soil with a bit of perlite and mulch (mulch both mixed into the soil and as litter on the soil surface);
2.  Epsom Salt solution for magnesium, coffee grounds for a variety of nutrients, watered-down lowfat or fat-free milk for calcium, and a buried half banana for potassium & other nutrients;
3.  pruning of tomatoes...especially the lower branches & any dying/dead leaves anywhere on the plant;
4.  no over-watering of the containers;
5.  and finally, a very light spraying of the tomato container soil surface with well-diluted white vinegar...once in a blue moon.

See previous posts for details on the points above.
...................................................

The piece on composting is being postponed until late winter or early spring.
...................................................
Happy Container Gardening, and Be Well

Loaded With Gardening Information

Below is an email thread, a conversation amongst myself and two people I consider to be Master Organic Farmers.  They were responding to my last post here, "Progress Report", and to my comments.  I think you'll find the discussion valuable in relation to gardening in general.  [I suppose it makes sense to start at the bottom of the thread, but either way, you'll get it.]
...............................................................

Thanks, Dixie, for your thoughtful reply...as usual, a treasure trove of info.  You and my friend, Alex (in CA), are Master Organic Farmers in my eyes.

My plants (not just tomatoes) definitely are not under-watered; however, your guess about being "babied" is right on the mark.  [Blog readers:  "babied" here means grown indoors.]  The tomatoes have not been properly hardened...that's a big part of the problem.  Although, in my various experiments, it's not really a problem.    [Blog readers:  for those who may not know--- "hardened" or "hardening" of plants is explained at the end of this post.]

As to container size, a couple of those you saw in the photo (coffee can & small cup) are not the final homes for those plants.  Also, on a few plants, I'm going to see if the plants will produce any fruit when they are basically rootbound.  As I mentioned to Alex, I don't really care if my 'maters produce poorly...not even if it's only 1 - 3 fruits per plant.  The ones in the dog food bags and small buckets are in their final containers...just to see how they do.  I have only one in a 5-gal bucket...it was the first one to fruit.  I consider that the minimum size container for a tomato plant.  But the challenge for me is to find some combination of sun (indoors), organic fertilizer that's homemade, and watering schedule---all in a smaller container---that will produce a modest amt of fruit.  For me, that's the fun part of indoor gardening.  Essentially, I'm trying to discover a new way to raise tomatoes on a very small scale.

As to winter, you're right...that will be a challenge beyond all challenges.  Although, in the 3 winters I've been here, there was a lot of sun in my one "sun room".  We'll see what happens.  If it can't be done yr-round, I'm betting it can be done at least 3/4ths of the yr.

Thanks again for taking time from your busy schedule to reply.

p.s.  Kudos to your Hubby for building a greenhouse.  Am trying to convince my son in CA to do that.  We had one in the State of WA; that's definitely the way to have a small garden.  

............................................................

Hi Scott,

The sun is probably hard on your tomatoes because they are in containers and using up their water faster than you can water them. Looking at your pics, your containers are pretty darn small for tomatoes.Tomatoes are thirsty plants!  When you think that a healthy tomato plant’s roots can go down 4 feet deep in the right soil, then your tomatoes are going to be limited by how far their roots can reach. Tomatoes like uninterrupted growth. When their roots hit the pot that contains them, they stop or slow down growth; the roots have to go down for the stems to go up. When I am starting tomatoes in the greenhouse in spring, I will transplant into bigger pots as soon as I see the roots have hit the bottom of the pot. Having too small of a pot will limit how much water they can drink and of course they will wilt in the sun.

 

I grow everything under the sun! Literally! A half acre of veggies all in the direct sun at 7600’. I do put shade cloth on things right after they are transplanted  to prevent shock and some cool weather lovers( lettuce, kale) enjoy shade beyond that time, but tomatoes are certainly not shade-lovers! They need all that intense sun to do their thing. Hours and hours of it. The high elevation sun has never been a problem for my tomatoes, but then I have not often grown in containers. I would never use shade cloth on tomatoes.

The problem here is more the cool nights, especially after the monsoons set in. It’s hard for them to set fruit when the temps are in the 40’s. So I have gone to indoor growing for my ‘maters. They grow 8 feet tall and put on loads of fruit in the little greenhouse that Sunny built. I’ve got about 75 plants in there , determinate and indeterminate, cherries and paste and huge heirlooms. I do also have some outside, in direct sun for 10 hours,  but they do not do as well as the indoor ones by far. But my “indoors” gets about 10 hours of sun right now.

 

If your tomatoes are wilting in the sun, then they either have not enough water or they are being too babied and havent been hardened off enough to take the sun. Anything that spent most of its life in the shade would wilt when exposed to the high elevation sun here.

 

If your plants are not getting enough light in the middle of summer, I wonder how you will grow through the winter???? We grow tomatoes in a greenhouse in winter but it’s a stretch. You would definitely need grow lights and even then......questionable.

 

Enjoy your experiment!

Dixie

..................................................

I hear you, Pard, & mostly agree; however...

1.  I don't care if they produce much.  I have about 30 tomato plants (only a small portion were in the photos), with more seedlings popping up every week or so.  Am shooting for almost yr-round tomatoes.  No weeds, insects, birds, or wind indoors...except for a tiny black fly that's on the soil surface in most of my containers.  Am killing that with much-diluted white vinegar.

2.  Most of mine are vine, not bush 'maters; they're kinda spindly anyway.  [As I said before, when I planted mostly Cherry tomatoes, I had no clue that Cherries mostly were indeterminate...or that "vine" tomatoes even existed:]

3.  The closest thing I have to a control are the 'maters on the covered back porch...about 4 hrs of direct sun per day.  So far, they're doing about the same as the indoor ones.  Although, at this altitude (7600 ft), the sun is so intense that it plays hell with them...not beyond the wilting point, but right at it.  I have to shade them as best I can, usually by moving them farther back, closer to the wall of the house.  Even then, they need gobs of water to prevent wilting.  When in direct sun outdoors, they get limp as a wet noodle...even with max water (but never over-watered).  I don't know how my friend, Dixie, can have tomatoes in the sun for 8 hrs here...even if she has a shade cloth (or whatever they're called).  Compared to say, 5,000 or 6,000 ft, the sun here blisters (not literally) plants like crazy.

..............................................

Healthy tomatoes require adequate light.I'm sorry to harsh your mellow, but the tomatoes are spindly,and will not produce much.If they were outside, in a window box, they could do so much better.Your nutrient sources are adequate for the low demands of low light plants, in a real world test, things could get interesting;)

We just canned 11 gallons of juice for my 12 Oz daily glass of mater juice.We can 50 gallons of juice made with a Victoria juicer powered by a 1/2" variable drill.The quality of the Roma tomatoes this year is like paste. It just piled up on the collector under the strainer.Very little juice, just solids.Making sauce will be easy this year:) 

I wish you had an outside test for a control, for quality, size, and flavor.

...........................

...........................

For anyone reading this Blog who may not know:
1.  The "control" in an experiment is the NORMAL situation; and,
2.  "Hardening" of plants simply is gradually acclimating them to a new habitat or situation.  [So, for example, when moving seedlings outdoors, the first day leave them out for perhaps only an hour or two, the next day a bit longer, the day after that even longer, and so on.]

Happy Trails, and Be Well 

Progress Report

See the 1st two photos in the left-hand column here---

[Google keeps moving them around, so one might be in the left column & the other in the right column; in any case, it's the 1st two posts not counting the Art at the top of the page.]

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106763144425245415836/posts

The 1st one shows a dog food bag planter & various vine (indeterminate growth) tomatoes.  The 2nd one shows my 1st two fledgling tomatoes (the fruit) of the season.  Be sure to read the Description above each photo.

Container gardening is fun & rewarding...& all you need to augment the potting soil is a banana, coffee grounds, Epsom Salt, and a little diluted low-fat or no-fat milk.  Those five items plus some plant litter on the soil surface should supply all the nutrients your plants will need.  A little compost is good, too, but not particularly necessary if you use potting soil.

I haven't yet made & posted the YouTube video ("Part Three...Container Gardening") mentioned in the previous post on this Blog... am working up to it... it's a genuine hassle for a No-Tech guy like me.  :)

Happy Trails, and Be Well

Part Two: Gardening Containers...

4.  Clean out an empty plastic jelly jar and follow the steps in 2. & 3. (previous post).  Cleaning is a snap:  put a dash of dish soap in the empty jar and fill it with hot water.  Let it stand for about an hour or so.  Then empty and rinse thoroughly.  In most cases (as with most plastic food jars), you'll need to punch the holes in the bottom along the edge of the bottom.  That's because a jar of food that's relatively heavy usually has somewhat of a dome inside on the bottom...for container strength.  In other words, the outside of the bottom is concave, and the inside is convex.  We want the drainage holes in the lowest portion of the bottom, which is along the edge in this case.  When making those holes with a knife, once the tip of the knife has pierced the plastic about a quarter to one-third of an inch or so, twist the knife a bit.  That will widen the slit, thus making for better drainage.  [A sturdy pocket knife is best for this; twisting will warp/bend some steak knives completely out of shape.]  Be careful not to stab yourself; this operation is the most likely time that you'll do it.  If you have an electric drill, that's a good option.  Use safety glasses.

5.  Dry dog food bags for small dogs or puppies (and dry cat food bags) that have only 3 -5 pounds of food in them usually are lined with plastic, or are made of mylar, or are waterproof in some other manner.  Those bags make great gardening containers.  Cut holes in the bottom of the empty bag, then use the bottom half of a gallon milk jug or something similar for containment of excess drainage.  The bottom half of a milk jug is the perfect size for most of these small pet food bags.
.............................................................
Among other places, currently Venezuela and Argentina (to a somewhat lesser extent) are experiencing an economic and/or financial collapse.  One of the main things in short supply, especially in Venezuela, is food.  The whole world is in the midst of an economic downturn.  Despite the Propaganda to the contrary, the USA already is in a Recession... and most probably headed for a Depression.  Take up Container Gardening; it will help.

Be Prepared, and Be Well

Gardening Containers for the Precariat, or Soon-To-Be Precariat

Perhaps Brits, because of the economist Guy Standing, may be more familiar with the term, "the Precariat", than are the rest of us in the world.  It refers to a growing group, "those leading increasingly precarious lives", thanks primarily to Globalization, Financialization, and the Rule of the Plutocrats.  Currently, most of us are either already in or about to be in that group.  That's one reason I've created this blog.

In order to post more often, we're going to shorten each piece; so for example, this article will cover only two or three of the many gardening containers you probably already own.  More containers will be listed in succeeding posts.  As I am a very slow, hunt & peck typist, that will enable me to post articles every other day or so.  :)
Let's begin.

1.  Take an empty gallon-jug plastic milk carton, turn it on its side, & cut it approximately in half.  With a sharp knife, cut a slit just below the bottom end of the handle.  Then either continue cutting around the jug with the knife, or insert any regular pair of scissors into the slit and do the same.  The top half (without the cap) can be used as a mini-greenhouse.  You'll need two bottoms.  With the tip of the knife, cut holes in the lowest portion of one of the bottoms to facilitate drainage of excess water.  Nest that one inside the second bottom, which will serve as secondary containment of excess water.  Even though the bottoms basically are the same size, they are so flexible that the nesting is done easily...the inner bottom will crimp in places so that it fits into the outer one.  This new "pot" would be one to use on your first transplant from a germinating tray or a small cup.

[I don't mind that my containers have the old labels on the outside--- vinegar, Creamland Dairy, or whatever.  If you're into both form and function, you can always paint the outside of the homemade pots, or attach decorative cloth to them, or do something similar.]

2,   Take an empty two-quart plastic vinegar bottle and follow a similar procedure as described above.  The primary difference is that your container is not cut in half; the cutting takes place about two-thirds of the way up toward the top...where the jug starts to narrow.  If it has a built-in handle, the first slit would again be just below the bottom end of that handle.  Punch holes in the lowest portion of the bottom again, but this time you'll have to find a lid, or saucer, or tray of some sort to use as a catch basin for excess drainage.  [I've never tried nesting two of these pots, but maybe it's possible.]  This is another home-made pot that would be good for your initial transplant of some seedling out of the germinating tray or small cup (after the true leaves have developed).  Again, the top portion of the original container can be used--- without the cap --- as a mini-greenhouse...for seedlings recently germinated, and perhaps in an area that's sometimes a bit too cool.

3.  Do the same procedure with any size Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise jar...the smallest ones can be used as germinating cups, the largest ones used for your initial transplant from a germinating tray or cup.  This time, though, unless you have some heavy-duty scissors, all the cutting will have to be done with a sharp knife.  Those jars are a much heavier plastic.  Wear gloves and be especially careful not to stab yourself...cutting a round container with a sharp knife can be tricky.

More to come.

Happy Trails, and Be Well

Brief Introduction...and Stimulation

At the site individualsovereignty, I've been on blogspot for a little over nine years.  That site is devoted to politics, economics, and government.  As you can see, I'm changing horses.  We're going to explore how to significantly improve our lives...one container at a time.  Please join me.

Not counting sprouting (which I've done for decades), I've been doing container gardening for only a short time.  Nevertheless, because I now have about 50 plants in containers and perhaps because of my background and experience in related matters, we're going to learn a ton of useful information here.  Plus, if you're new to gardening, you'll find the "work" (really, FUN) very mentally and spiritually refreshing.

We'll begin with a short, general overview of the whole process and then go in-depth on topics such as seeds, soils, mulch, containers, organic fertilizer (mostly home-made), more containers (ones you've already paid for), transplanting, and watering.  The great thing about container gardening is that you essentially eliminate two of the biggest pains relative to gardening:  weeds, and insect pests.  In addition, you virtually eliminate (in most cases) wind damage, rain damage, and hail damage.  Any worry over the weather is 99% gone.  We'll learn how to garden at the absolute lowest cost...both stress-wise and monetarily.

I have two videos (more to come) on my YouTube Channel about container gardening, but it's difficult to go into very much detail there because people expect relatively short clips.  If interested, do a YouTube Search for:  Scott Haley container gardening.  [If you use only my name, you'll get a gazillion clips on Haley Scott, a female actor & singer:]  On this venue, we can go into much more detail.  I'll do my best to post a piece at least three times a week...barring unforeseen circumstances.

Take up gardening.  This kind of it can be done by anyone living anywhere.  It will boost your spirit, clear your mind, and save you money.

Happy Trails, and Be Well.