Container Gardening

[freebird5825]

No, the cukes have been very slow growing. I did cut off and eat the largest one (4") last week. It was delicious.
So my cuke experiment tells me the T5 grow lights are great for getting cukes going and growing, but not enough for good production. All of the remaining developing cukes are tiny despite plenty of fertilizer, water, artifiical and natural winter sunlight, and assisted pollination. The vine stopped growing new leaves. No new flowers for over a week.
In contrast, my jalapeno and sweet bell pepper plants (both just forming buds) and herbs are going insane in the same conditions. Go figure.
Next up is growing Russett potatoes in the indoor Earthbox.

Hey, I need something fun to do while Mr B is studying.

20 inch jalapeno plants, 5 in pot, after constant trimmings to keep them shorter and maximize branch development

Russett potato foliage

[veremchuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 So my cuke experiment tells me the T5 grow lights are great for getting cukes going and growing, but not enough for good production. All of the remaining developing cukes are tiny despite plenty of fertilizer, water, artifiical and natural winter sunlight, and assisted pollination. The vine stopped growing new leaves. No new flowers for over a week. In contrast, my jalapeno and sweet bell pepper plants (both just forming buds) and herbs are going insane in the same conditions. Go figure.

I'm not surprised at either the cukes lack of vigor or the pepper's vigor.

Cukes are heat loving plants that thrive in July and August. I don't see how any watering, fertilizing and artificial lighting can mimic the heat and light intensity of those 2 months. I never heard of anyone growing cukes under artificial lights.

Peppers need heat to germinate but once up they tolerate cool to cold temperatures quite nicely despite also liking summer. People grow them in artificial light with success and put them in cool garages at 40-45 degrees and they do fine.

Did you plant garlic in pots in the fall? My garlic is in the ground, I removed most of the mulch on Monday. Many have sprouted and are 1-1.5" tall.

[freebird5825]

The room certainly had the heat. I agree that it was the downfall of the overhead artificial light and not near enough natural light, despite being right in front of a southern exposure window. Oh well.

My garlic is sitting out in my enclosed porch in an Earthbox, covered with a nice thick cardboard box, flattened. I checked it the other day and saw new growth in the protruding tips. The tips had come up about 1 inch before winter set in completely.

As soon as the weather stabilizes, I will be relocating the hardier plants grown indoors out to the plexiglas enclosed screened porch. It serves as a perfect room sized cold frame. The plexiglas panels were built and installed years ago to keep the blowing snow out of the porch.

Peas will be planted outside in an Earthbox, very soon.

Tomatoes, peppers and my fledgling watermelons will be the very last to go outside in the porch.

[freebird5825]

I've been w*rking like mad to get it finished, and indoor spring planting is done!

I planted 39 brilliant red Nasturtiums. I'm using plastic bathroom drink cups (6 oz size?) I had on hand as seed starting containers instead of buying Jiffy peat pots. I will use the nasturtiums for outdoor flower boxes and for some random color spots in my front raised garden once the tulips are done blooming.

I have half mature Roma tomatoes and 3 kinds of pepper plants, and new seedlings of cherry & beefsteak tomatoes and banana, Anaheim, and bell peppers just up. We'll be eating tomatoes and peppers all summer and into fall.

The Sugar Baby watermelon plant decided to bloom in spite of my careful trimming back. If it forms a tiny melon, I'll leave it alone. I have more watermelon seeds planted, due to be up any day.

The Russett potatoes in the indoor Earthbox are now 12 inches tall and growing like mad.

I have cold hardy plum and peach trees on order for the outdoor garden, and some new asparagus plants to refresh my 20 year old bed. The self pollinating dwarf Bing Cherry and Polaris blueberry I wintered over in large pots in my enclosed porch are growing fabulous buds.

I was given 20 horseradish roots and tops last week. They are resting nice and snugly in a window box, with all roots covered with dirt. I will process the roots this week , and get the tops into the ground outside as soon as I get a bed prepared for them.

The produce section of the grocery store will not be getting much business from me this summer.

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 I've been w*rking like mad to get it finished, and indoor spring planting is done! I planted 39 brilliant red Nasturtiums. I'm using plastic bathroom drink cups (6 oz size?) I had on hand as seed starting containers instead of buying Jiffy peat pots. I will use the nasturtiums for outdoor flower boxes and for some random color spots in my front raised garden once the tulips are done blooming. I have half mature Roma tomatoes and 3 kinds of pepper plants, and new seedlings of cherry & beefsteak tomatoes and banana, Anaheim, and bell peppers just up. We'll be eating tomatoes and peppers all summer and into fall. The Sugar Baby watermelon plant decided to bloom in spite of my careful trimming back. If it forms a tiny melon, I'll leave it alone. I have more watermelon seeds planted, due to be up any day. The Russett potatoes in the indoor Earthbox are now 12 inches tall and growing like mad. I have cold hardy plum and peach trees on order for the outdoor garden, and some new asparagus plants to refresh my 20 year old bed. The self pollinating dwarf Bing Cherry and Polaris blueberry I wintered over in large pots in my enclosed porch are growing fabulous buds. I was given 20 horseradish roots and tops last week. They are resting nice and snugly in a window box, with all roots covered with dirt. I will process the roots this week , and get the tops into the ground outside as soon as I get a bed prepared for them. The produce section of the grocery store will not be getting much business from me this summer.

wow, very impressive!!! hope that i can get some things planted soon!

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 .....I was given 20 horseradish roots and tops last week. They are resting nice and snugly in a window box, with all roots covered with dirt. I will process the roots this week , and get the tops into the ground outside as soon as I get a bed prepared for them......

Just a word of caution if you haven't grown horseradish before.....it can easily take over!!! So put it where you can control it. When you go to harvest it, make sure you get ALL of the root out!!! Even a small piece left in place will take over in no time.

I grew it for a few years, and then FOUGHT it for several years after that! Just when I thought that I had dug it all, and won the war......it popped up somewhere else!

So just be vigilant and cautious!!!

[veremchuka]

Absolutely true - putting horseradish into the ground will insure it's existence long past TEOTWAWKI! It should make it to when the sun goes super nova in a few billion years, yeh it'll keep coming back at least a few billion!

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veremchuka Absolutely true - putting horseradish into the ground will insure it's existence long past TEOTWAWKI! It should make it to when the sun goes super nova in a few billion years, yeh it'll keep coming back at least a few billion!

Yep....cockroaches, Twinkies, and horseradish!

[freebird5825]

Thanks for the horseradish warnings.

The guy who gave the roots/tops to me suggested sinking planks of wood vertically into the ground to contain it. I have an old garlic bed with sunken planks that will work perfectly for this. If it escapes the planked off area, I'll just mow or weed whack it.

I plan to make a new garlic bed using some well rotted compost and soil-less growing mix. My tumbler compost bin has been sitting dormant (no new stuff added) for 3 years, so it will be in fabulous shape as a side dressing for this year's crops.

My backyard garden will become easier to maintain now that I will not be row growing back there. I'm reading Ed Smith's The Vegetable Gardener's Bible to refresh on methods of non-chemical weed control. I've been saving cardboard boxes and will use those as mulch. I don't trust newspaper, no matter what they say they are using for ink.

Now all I need to do is get Mr B interested in gardening. Fat chance of that happening.

[james7]

Cardboard boxes as mulch? I've been using fruit and vegetable peelings and table scraps with much success.

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by james7 Cardboard boxes as mulch? I've been using fruit and vegetable peelings and table scraps with much success.

Yes, on page 82 of Smith's book, he recommends using pieces of thick cardboard as a sunlight blocker to kill off patches of persistent weeds that can't be controlled by normal manual weeding methods. The rain will flatten the cardboard and eventually the cardboard will decompose into the soil after 1 season.
As far as I'm concerned, the less printer's ink on the cardboard, the better. I will cut and remove any printed letters with an Exacto knife.
I will anchor the cardboard with ground clips or rocks so it won't blow away.

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 Yes, on page 82 of Smith's book, he recommends using pieces of thick cardboard as a sunlight blocker to kill off patches of persistent weeds that can't be controlled by normal manual weeding methods. The rain will flatten the cardboard and eventually the cardboard will decompose into the soil after 1 season. As far as I'm concerned, the less printer's ink on the cardboard, the better. I will cut and remove any printed letters with an Exacto knife. I will anchor the cardboard with ground clips or rocks so it won't blow away.

I have one garden bed that I originally planted with wild flowers. But after several years there was more bindweed growing than flowers, so I did the cardboard mulch deal. A friend of mine worked at an auto body shop, and hauled over several huge cardboard boxes that car fenders had been shipped in. It was very heavy corrugated cardboard that was about 5/16" to 3/8" thick. I covered the entire garden bed with 2 layers of it, and then threw about 2-3" of wood mulch over it to hold it in place and make it look nice.

I've turned that area into a spot for a container garden. It's full sun all day from about 8:30am 'til sunset, and the whole mass of containers last year were planted with lantana. If I recall, the name of the lantana was "Sunset"....hot pink & yellows!!! The lantana looks great there, the bees and butterflies love it, and it even gets watered once in a great while.....it's exceptionally drought tolerant, and a long way from the hose!!!!

Anyway, the layers of heavy cardboard quickly remedied the bindweed problem.......without any chemical herbicide!!!

I also put a couple layers down over a lawn area where I was building a raised veggie bed. Didn't need to dig or remove the sod at all!!! It one of my newer, favorite gardening supplies.....and it's FREE!!!!!

[powerplay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goonie I have one garden bed that I originally planted with wild flowers. But after several years there was more bindweed growing than flowers, so I did the cardboard mulch deal. A friend of mine worked at an auto body shop, and hauled over several huge cardboard boxes that car fenders had been shipped in. It was very heavy corrugated cardboard that was about 5/16" to 3/8" thick. I covered the entire garden bed with 2 layers of it, and then threw about 2-3" of wood mulch over it to hold it in place and make it look nice. I've turned that area into a spot for a container garden. It's full sun all day from about 8:30am 'til sunset, and the whole mass of containers last year were planted with lantana. If I recall, the name of the lantana was "Sunset"....hot pink & yellows!!! The lantana looks great there, the bees and butterflies love it, and it even gets watered once in a great while.....it's exceptionally drought tolerant, and a long way from the hose!!!! Anyway, the layers of heavy cardboard quickly remedied the bindweed problem.......without any chemical herbicide!!! I also put a couple layers down over a lawn area where I was building a raised veggie bed. Didn't need to dig or remove the sod at all!!! It one of my newer, favorite gardening supplies.....and it's FREE!!!!!

I bet watching Craigslist for someone getting rid of moving boxes would be another free source of gardening cardboard.

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goonie I have one garden bed that I originally planted with wild flowers. But after several years there was more bindweed growing than flowers, so I did the cardboard mulch deal. ... Anyway, the layers of heavy cardboard quickly remedied the bindweed problem.......without any chemical herbicide!!!

The beast in my backyard garden is yarrow, coming from a box of wildflower seed mix I planted years ago. It has also spread into the lawn next to the garden. I will rescue a few blue lupines from the wildflower section and cover the entire area with cardboard. I hope it all dies off. As far as the lawn goes, it's Roundup time.

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 The beast in my backyard garden is yarrow...........As far as the lawn goes, it's Roundup time.

Unless you don't want the lawn either, use "Weed B Gon" instead of RoundUp! RoundUp is a non-selective herbicide, and will kill whatever it comes in contact with. Weed B Gon is a selective herbicide that won't kill the grass.

[veremchuka]

Yarrow is a wildflower that is used by beneficial insects such as lace wings, lady bugs, hover flies, tiny parasitic wasps and probably more. Killing yarrow may result in more problems attacking your vegetables that those beneficial insects are doing for you.

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goonie Unless you don't want the lawn either, use "Weed B Gon" instead of RoundUp! RoundUp is a non-selective herbicide, and will kill whatever it comes in contact with. Weed B Gon is a selective herbicide that won't kill the grass.

Good advice thanks

At first I didn't care about a little yarrow in the lawn, but it is crowding out the grass. It's green, it make great ground cover, but not in the lawn.

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veremchuka Yarrow is a wildflower that is used by beneficial insects such as lace wings, lady bugs, hover flies, tiny parasitic wasps and probably more. Killing yarrow may result in more problems attacking your vegetables that those beneficial insects are doing for you.

Hmmmm...now you have me thinking.
When I fully transform my backyard garden into a fruit/horseradish/garlic/aparagus factory, I will need some way to keep weeding to a minimum. My hands cannot take hoeing or hand weeding without paying for it for days, weeks....ouch.
Perhaps the cursed yarrow can be used as a green mulch. It has very shallow roots, and does overtake any free space it encounters . I had originally thought about using clover as a ground cover, but then realized bunnies just LOVE clover.
And I will not have to lay down black plastic mulch. If I have to walk over the yarrow to get to my regular stuff, no biggie. I can always weedwhack it down if it gets too crazy.
I think you just gave me a great solution.

[freebird5825]

Update on the Garlic in the Earthbox in the Enclosed Porch (GEEP ) Experiment...it rotted.

[veremchuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 Update on the Garlic in the Earthbox in the Enclosed Porch (GEEP ) Experiment...it rotted.

Do you know why? Too much watering? Freeze thaw over winter? I assume the EB has drainage holes?

BTW, in the prior post you mentioned garlic and using yarrow as a green mulch. That is not a good idea because garlic (and onions) do not compete well with weeds.

The things you mentioned are in permanent beds but garlic needs to be planted each year, it's not a perennial. I'd put garlic off to the side by itself and mulch it with shredded leaves, pine needles or straw. Shredded leaves are free but can blow away in windy March and April. I save the straw from last year's tomatoes and put down a 1" thick covering after planting and add 4" of shredded leaves on top of the straw when the ground starts to freeze. Come early March I check for growth and then remove the leaves with a pitch fork leaving the straw as the mulch during the growing season. Straw is like pickup sticks and gets all intertwined with itself and winds don't move it unless it's 50 or 60 mph! Garlic will push up through the straw.