UnseelieWitch235
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2020 4:30 pm

What to do differently next year

Hello,
This summer was the first in many years I had gardened (and even before that I had only vegetable gardened twice beforehand), and I had many differences to my previous experiences. The plot I originally used was removed, and I live in an apartment (on the 18th storey, facing west), so tried out fabric pots. I bought two different "soil" to test out. One was Parkwood 3-1 planting mix (0.3-0-0.1), the other was Fafard Agro mix G5 (0.4-0.03-0.07). With the Parkwood I planted (in separate 25 gallon fabric pots) green beans, a tomato plant, a cucumber plant, cucamelons, celery, lettuce, calendulas, clover and dandelions (for my bunny rabbits). In the Agro mix I grew another tomato plant, cucumber, carrots, and more lettuce. I watered them every morning, and once a week, to once every two weeks I'd add Parkwood transplanter fertilizer (5-15-5) (primarily it was for the tomatoes, but I watered everything except the lettuce and flowers with the same water).
The results were I got some nice cucumbers and lots of flowers (although predominantly males). My green beans were tall and yielded a couple handfuls of produce. My tomatoes also grew tall, and had lots of flowers, but they produced no pollen- I think it was partially the Kitchener hot weather we had. My carrots grew big, healthy greenery, but when it came time to harvest, there were no edible roots growing. The same thing happened with my calendulas- lots of leaves, no flowers. My celery and lettuce grew very leggy (although the lettuce did eventually fill out, there was still about an inch of wavy stem laying on the soil (these were a mix of red/green oak leaves, red/green romaines, and bibbs. I've grown Cos romaine heads before, and they didn't look like that when they were growing). I also found my clover and dandelions to be leggy.
From what I've read, this seemed like too much Nitrogen, and I wanted to make sure if that was true, and if so, how would it be best to proceed next year? Should I use different "soils"? I know I'll use different fertilizer- I was thinking about either using my rabbit's manure and starting up some vermiculture on the balcony, or just purchase fertilizers specific for the plant's I'll grow.
I would greatly appreciate any insight/ help you can give me. Thank You!

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I have been gardening for years and I have tweaked every year. I have been forced to give up some plants and make different choices because of climate change. I also can't afford the rising cost of water. I am looking for more drought tolerant landscaping. I already have started that since I have cut back summer watering by 50%. I am now using about 5K gallons a month vs 11K. Plants that could not handle that are gone.

I have increased the peat moss in some of my potting mixes to 60/40 instead of 50/50 peat lite. I have extended watering even in summer to try to go 2 days between watering. For some plants, this was not a good idea, but they were also plants that needed potting up. Potting up more frequently has actually made it possible to extend watering intervals.

I will water tomatoes less. I had some well rated tomatoes that were large but bland. I found out that it is better to water them less in the days before harvesting. I can go maybe 2 days between watering or just watering more lightly so tomato flavor will concentrate better.

I found that I can water my orchids daily with no media, or water them twice a week. They do fine either way. I only need media on some orchids, but the epiphytes and lithophytes are healthier if I use the root color to guide when they need watering. Honohono need more fertilizer.

I experimented with organic soil mixes last year. I am going back to my regular mix and fertilizer, the results were not as good. I will continue to add organic matter, but the organic mixes posed more problems in my intensively planted garden. Having a harder time getting garden supplies due to Covid 19 aggravated the problem.

I still planted too many of some things, and I could have harvested earlier. I need to time things out better so I don't overloaded at the same time as different fruits and vegetables mature at the same time. I need to work more on successive plantings of some things that have short windows of harvest like lettuce and find more ways to use plants that can provide multiple harvests like chard and kale.

I was forced to reuse potting soil because of Covid 19. I still have to tweak how much fertilizer and how much new soil I have to add to the pots to balance everything. I did find before I repotted the pots drained well, but after repotting, even taking all the soil out, removing roots and putting it back in, the drainage was slower. I had to use a stick to create a drainage path. I don't have this issue if I use new potting mix.

Unless I account for sacrificial plants (papaya), I need to group my plants based on watering and sun needs, and need for protection from birds and pests. Cucumber and squash need to be separated ( squash attracts more fruit flies and they will sting more cucumbers). I need to separate the plants that have chronic issues like scale away from other plants. I need to find a place for the fennel in the yard. It did not like being in a pot. I need a shallow wide planter box for the ginger. It grows laterally, not vertically so a deep pot is wasted and the ginger is still limited when it hits the walls of the pot. In the ground, ginger grows best in mounds, but I grow them in pots instead. I need to put fewer ginger and taro in pots. Too many reduces ultimate size.

I should consider watering tubes in the pots or making more self watering containers to reduce watering requirements especially with plants that have high water requirements.

Pots are getting more expensive and harder to find. I am probably going to use more alternatives like 5 gallon buckets and rubbermaid tubs. They don't last long, but are more widely available.

Tucson
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2020 10:33 pm

Oh, gosh. Every year is different, but with climate change, this summer was ridiculous. No tomatoes, no cucumbers, no squash, no basil, etc. The long beans, teparies, cantaloupe, and okra did well. I decided to cut down the beans, and put in more seeds for tomatoes, cukes, squash, and basil during the last week of August. They're all coming up nicely, now that it's below 110 degrees F. So next Spring, I'll only put in the two beans, okra, and cantaloupe. In August, I'll plant the peppers, tomatoes, squash, cukes, and basil. I've stopped a lot of things I used to grow in the past. Just too dang hot.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

To Witch235. I have had all of your issues at some time. I could be too much nitrogen, but tall leggy plants are more often caused by not enough sun. If you live in an apartment and are gardening on a balcony, that could also cause plants to be leggy if the balcony is not an open railing or your apartment balcony is shaded for part of the day.

Tomatoes are wind and insect polinated so it may be a varietal thing especially in summer. If it gets more than 88 degrees, you need to have a heat resistant variety or tomatoes will not set well. All tops and no roots on root crops usually is an imbalance of nutrients.

I think you fertilized too often with 5-15-15. Transplanter fertilizer is not supposed to be given repeatedly. I don't know what the components of your mixes were. The fertilizer in them was only a small amount. I would use a starter fertilizer in your mix. 10-10-10, 1/2 cup per 20 inch pot or 1/4 cup per 5 gallons. You could use any balanced fertilizer but I prefer slow Nitrogen. 10-10-10, 8-8-8, 6-4-6, preferably low numbers. I have osmocote in my mix as well. 14-14-14, a handful per 5 gallons of potting mix. For the most part, I only supplement with nitrogen while plants are actively growing, but only once or twice in 90 days. Nitrogen should be stopped once the plant matures. I supplement complete fertilizer only for long crops like peppers, eggplant, perennials, and herbs which will last for years and tomatoes which for me will last 6-9 months. They would be supplemented after 60 days with a complete slow N fertilizer once a month. If you are using organic fertilizers you would have to supplement more often. Fish emulsion for the early growth stages. Bone meal or K-phos for root crops. Plants have different fertilizer requirements so you will have to adjust fertilizing based on their needs. Root crops need more potassium to form roots. Some herbs don't like a rich soil.

Remember, also that some plants are sensitive to temperature, day length and light quality for blooming and bulbing. You also need to make sure your plants aren't crowded, crowding will make the plants compete for light and they will get taller to get ahead of everything else and not bloom until they get to the top. Root vegetables need a deep pot.

Lettuce usually needs to be thinned 8-10 inches apart if you want them to form heads. Same with root crops, the roots can't be crowded or they won't have anywhere to grow.

If you are growing a gynecious cucumber, half your flowers will be male, so as long as you got a good harvest that is o.k. I grow parthenocarpic cucumbers. They are primarily only going to have female flowers and I don't want them to be pollinated because they will grow unevenly and be seedy and seeds produce more bitterness and gas. I grow Suyo because it is parthenocarpic and is very heat resistant. I have recently started to grow Soarer which appears to be parthenocarpic as well and has better disease resistance to mildews than suyo, has a smaller diameter, but it is not heavily ridged. Parthenocarpic cucumbers will not yield as well as gynecious ones. Cucumbers should be planted in succession. Production usually peaks at around 6 weeks once the plants start blooming. Beans and peas are the same and they don't need as much nitrogen.

I suggest if you want to plant intensively you should still use the square spacing plan.

https://www.growveg.com/guides/how-to-f ... egetables/
https://ncefnep.org/participants/tips/t ... gardening/
https://harvesttotable.com/vegetable-pl ... container/
https://balconygardenweb.com/easy-conta ... gardening/



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