Prepping the large swc's for planting out next weekend has really kept me busy, because all of the saved soil from last year had to be amended with perlite, of course. Jude loves helping of course, because as the soil is mixed up in a tote bin, I pitch any little twigs or roots up into the air, and she snatches them before they have a chance to hit the ground. Anyway, here's 4 large swc's located in the expanded area between the shed and the little playhouse. A total of 8 tomato plants will be planted here, but I haven't decided which ones...More than likely, they'll be 8 different ones, because i'd like to try several new varieties this year.
Photo below - here's the cucumbers that were planted in the swp's constructed from cat litter buckets. With 4 gallons of soil within, they should have no problems growing 2 plants each. A few misplaced seeds are trying to poke through the plastic, but slits have already been cut for the first ones that have germinated. Oh well, i'll have to reach under the plastic mulch with something and clip the renegades...
Photo below - We have corn!!! Jude did a great job watching them for me, and now one of my little owls is keeping everything safe from birds and such. It has to be moved everyday so the wildlife thinks that it's real, though. Anyway, 15 plants were put into each one, and the soil moisture level was measured at 5 on the meter from Lowes. That'll be really good for corn...
Photo below - here's the 16 gallon swc constructed from the bottom part of the original shop-vac from about 20 years ago. It's planted with "Cool Green" honeydew melon, and the soil moisture content checked in at around 4.5 on the meter. Again - that's a good value for melons....
Photo below - here's the 18 gallon swc on the other side of the trellis that's planted with Congo watermelon. The little sprouts are just beginning to emerge from the slits in the plastic, and should be running up the trellis in just a few weeks. As you can tell, only 4 melon vines will be grown this year, because I kinda got carried away with the planting number last year.
Of course my homemade 6:3:1 soil mix is in all of them, and Osmocote controlled release fertilizer is the way i'm going with corn, cucumbers, and melons. The tomatoes will receive various other ferts, because i'd like to do trials on the ones that can be purchased from most big box stores. It should be pretty interesting!
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
9 comments:
Melons! How long does it take to germinate? I'm thinking of trying them this year. I like the owl. Looks almost real! Happy Gardening!
So nice to see everything sprouting in your swc! Soon your yard will be a jungle once again.
I will be setting up my swcs over the next week or so and getting them ready for my transplants. I have to make sure they are level this year.
You have so many SWCs it is amazing. I have to laugh at Jude helping out. They are good at keeping the varmints away though.
So do you prefer the swcs to building additional garden beds? How do you decide which plants go in the swcs and which go in the regular garden?
Chandramouli_S - melons germinate in about a week, if kept reasonably moist.
rachel - oh yeah, level swc's are good, and a couple of mine lean just a tad.
Daphne - I know, it's alot of swc's! Oh, if you think that was funny of Jude, just wait 'til Wednesday's post. You'll laugh your head off!
ribbit - that's a hard question to answer....probably swc's....
I let crop rotation and seed-saving dictate what goes where..
Man, that's a lot of containers! You've put a lot of hard work into them, EG. I'll bet you grow twice as much as I do this year :-)
Hi! I'm following you on Bloglines...curious as to how you made the SWCs in the first photo (the big rubbermaid totes)...it doesn't look like there are two together. We followed your bucket SWC video and made our first last night...we used two 3 gallon buckets from Walmart (total price under $8) and put two tomatoes in it. Love your blog, thanks for posting all of this great advice and knowledge!
~Shannon
Wow, warm season crops! The season is really getting underway again.
Granny - thanks. Yeah, i've made quite a few, but still won't grow as much as you do.
Shannon - Hi there! Thanks for reading about my gardening experiences. The large rubbermaid tote swc's have a perforated barrier in them, similar to the one I made awhile back that was light blue. (There's pictures on here). I recommend 4 gallon containers as the minimum for cherry tomatoes, and 5 gallons for beefsteak varieties. I hope your 3 gallon ones do ok. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.
Dan - yeah, it's really warm here right now, and no frost in sight!
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