Growing Patience on the Porch

Pumpkin blossom

Now that the garden has been put to bed, the plants have taken refuge on the porch.

Update from Mary Washington

Planted in January, the asparagus is thriving!

Our ferny-friend Mary Washington asked that I send along an autumn update.

Compost, and all that rot . . .

One picture is worth a thousand words . . .

If you've ever doubted the value of compost, this picture is very revealing.

The "new" two-pen compost pile.

Container gardening

The heat and humidity in the South are great for growing plants!  Unfortunately, the weeds and grass love it, too, frustrating many who try to row-garden.  Guest blogger and master gardener Amy avoids the weed problem by using containers to grow her fruits and vegetables.

Hi Nancy,

When I had my camera out this morning, I thought you might enjoy some 
pictures of my different containers.  I love containers because I can 
control the soil and the plant is off the ground which saves my knees.  
I do have to water a little more, but to me it's worth the extra time.  
Over the past few years, my husband and I have tried to think out of the 
box on the types of containers to use.  I get ideas from magazines too.  
Here are some pictures with an explanation below.  

Amy

We use a lot of 50 gallon drums (these had soda products in them).  
We cut them in half and drill a few holes in the bottom for drainage.  
After planting season, I take some of the dirt out of the top and put 
that in my compost pile. I use potting mix (sometimes my own) to replenish.

In  picture number #1 you'll notice some grape vines planted in 
tires.  This picture has blueberry plants in tires where we made the 
tire hole bigger (I like this way better).

Makeshift strawberry containers....cinder blocks and an old 
bookshelf found at a dumpster.

Old cedar tree trunk. 

Jake's old 1979 Ford Truck.  I have planted corn in the back of the 
bed and they did quite well until the goats decided to jump on top and 
eat the leaves.  You'll notice I have it fence protected now and I'll 
plant something in it this year, just not sure what yet.

An old washing machine  with some flowers. I planted herbs in it 
last year.

Old cast iron sink......one of antique cheap treasures.

Austin stopped using this feed trough for his goats, so I put it to 
use this spring and planted onions.  I just made sure there were 
drainage holes on the bottom.

Jake made this box 5 years ago.  Yes, the wood is treated, but we 
lined  the inside with plastic before putting dirt inside.  I have 
garlic in it right now that I planted in the fall.

A bucket of lettuce

An example of how I plant my tomato plants.

Great ideas, Amy!  Thank you so much for sharing!

So, how does your garden grow?

Nancy

My Declaration of Agricultural Independence!

Well, the first seeds of the season are in the ground, um, basket.  This is my second season of growing sugar snap peas in a laundry basket.  While the temperatures have been balmy enough--70 degrees in Tennessee in January??????--the ground is sodden, ergo, basket farming!  (If you want to see just how sodden, check out the pictures on my Live a Savory Life blog!)

A previous entry in this blog detailed my adventures in potato basket farming (Mama, Them Tater's Got Eyes!)  Well, the sugar snap peas work similarly, except they need a column of wire in the center.  I just used "hog wire" and hooked it together. 

All of this water has given me time to think about last year's garden.  For tomatoes, I tried Opalka, Goliath (recommended by many in my community), and Roma with very little success.  A cold, wet spring prevented me from setting out the plants until the first of June.  Immediately, the weather turned hot, and night-time temperatures remained in the 80s for most of the summer.  During that time, I learned a valuable lesson:  weeds love night-time temperatures above 80 and those varieties of tomatoes will not set fruit at those temperatures. 

I have come away with a two-pronged plan of attack.  To combat the weeds, I'm mulching with grass clippings (see Thank You Very Mulch). 

As for the issue of varieties, I'm ignoring all those USDA zone recommendations and declaring myself a microclimate!  A microclimate is a "loophole" in the macroclimate--a place that isn't quite like the larger area.

This year I'm trying varieties appropriate for southern Louisiana and Florida to allow for nighttime lows above 80 degrees (which happened last June, July, and August).  I'm trying heirloom varieties Florida Pink and Creole from TomatoFest.  I'm also trying Burpee's old faithful heirloom Mortgage Lifter.

The variety I had the most success with last year was an unnamed currant tomato which lived in a pot on my back porch.  While only 1 cm to 2 cm in diameter, these little gems gave a flavor explosion when bitten into.  I really enjoyed them in salads and casseroles (try them instead of pimento!) last year and am expanding varieties this year:  Hawaiian Currant and Gold Currant.

I'm also playing around with some varieties just for fun:  Italian Tree, Roma VF, and Black Truffle Hybrid.  These will be my early-season tomatoes and may live entirely in pots.

I have other garden plans for the year, but that's a topic for another day.

So, that's the tomato manifesto, um, news from my newly-declared microclimate.  What's happening in yours?

Mama, Them Tater's Got Eyes!

I don't know about your house, but in my house, the potato is a staple of our diet.  Late in the winter I had a few which were sprouting so I decided to try growing them.  I lined inexpensive laundry baskets with gardener's cloth and filled them half-full with potting soil.  I cut the potatoes into chunks with a sprouted eye in each.  (You can let them dry a bit.)  Plant four of each "eyes" around the edge of each basket.  Keep moist but not soggy in a warm sunny place.

They should begin sprouting in a few weeks.

Once they've grown about six inches above the top of the basket, fill the basket to the rim with more potting soil.  Keep moist and in a sunny spot.  Each basket should produce about 8 pounds of potatoes, I'm told.  What fun!

Update!  Here's the crop:

Not bad for a first try!  The potatoes ranged from marble-sized to about 3 inches.  I'm really excited about the next try!