Here's the latest on the tomatoes. Some sunshine would be greatly appreciated right now, because I can't remember the last day when it didn't rain. Yeah....that's pretty messed up! But...lo and behold, some sunshine will arrive on Tuesday! Thank goodness, because the pro-mix in the swc's has a small amount of algae/mold growing on the surface. The only good thing about this much rain - is that the swc's have remained full of water, because it just drains right thru the growing media, and into the reservoir. Shoot.....I even made another rain barrel! Ha! Yeah, over 165 gallons of storage, now! Anyway, here's the big tomatoes. The plant located in the front/right of the picture is the sick Cherokee Purple. I'll probably replace it in a week or two.
Photo below - here's a roma tomato plant, that is not in a swc. I know it looks like one, but the bottom bucket is only used to catch the water that drains from the top one. It'll probably be converted next year, though.
Photo below - the other paste tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers. The siphon is still intact, and the rain has been keeping the supply bucket to a good level, too. The opalka plants are much bigger than the romas in the back. Boy...I hope they do well, because homemade spaghetti sauce would be nice this year!
Lastly, here's the sucker that was pinched from the healthy Cherokee Purple plant. It's doing great, and will easily replace the sick plant, if it doesn't survive.
Take care, and happy gardening!
8 comments:
Speaking of tomatoes, today was planting out day for me, way behind your 8b zone, but hopefully my time growing indoors will catch them up to you and your 80 degree weather (it will come back soon enough, don't worry).
Hehe, I spent time on your old blog tonight trying to find your post on your siphon sysem. I love how it turned out. Now you just have to set it up to work with your rain barrels and your long row of SWCs. Speaking of which, a post on your rain barrels would be cool. More incentive for me to splurge on a system. I've got room, just no time or money, hehe.
That sucker plant sure looks great! I sure hope it doesn't act like a sucker and not produce anything (doubtful). For grins while I was planting out mine I pulled a healthy looking sucker off and planted it in the back of my blueberry bed to see if it will grow. That's the only spot in my yard that could handle it if it could, so it's a wild experiment since I didn't start it inside in perfect growing medium. hehe.
I have to laugh at the water going into the reservoir. Think of it this way though, all the fertilizer that washed out is now in your reservoir and will feed the plants this coming week.
Sinfonian - I have something planned for the rain barrels, after the shed is built. It will definitely be worth posting about, then. I would think that a sucker grown to maturity in soil would perform pretty good, and haven't heard of any problems with it.
Daphne - The only problem is....most of the fertilizer probably went out the overflow holes. No big deal, there's more.
I want to see how the sucker does. I've never had any luck with getting them to root.
Cheryl - I've had excellent results with suckers this year. From one big beef plant at work, I was able to root around 15 - to give out to employees.
With all that rain the Tomatoes should take off once the sun starts coming out. I accidentally snapped off my black cherry plant the other day. After reading about you rooting them I gave it a try. Hope it works or I'll have to re-seed that one.
Thank goodness, because the pro-mix in the swc's has a small amount of algae/mold growing on the surface. The only good thing about this much rain - is that the swc's have remained full of water, because it just drains right thru the growing media, and into the reservoir.This is why I have such a quarrel with the term "self-watering" and the claim that you cannot over water. Yes you can over water when the rain is heavy and the light level lower. Plants unlike animals have no intelligence to stop drinking. I've had many plants growing in outdoor sub-irrigated planters and ALWAYS use a soil probe to check soil moisture. There are times when it is a good idea to siphon the water OUT of the reservoir using a siphon (auto parts store). Soil probes should be commonly available in home improvement stores and garden centers but they're not.
Here's a link to soil probe posts on my blog InsideUrbanGreen.org
http://snipurl.com/hz88j
Much good luck. It's great what you're posting about.
Greenscaper - I've put alot of thought into what you are saying, and yes - the soil stays moist all of the time, and under low sunlight conditions, can be a problem. I'll check out your blog, thanks for the link!
Post a Comment