What is your biggest veggie garden experiment in 2010?

[hendi_alex]

Mine is trying to grow tomato plants in much smaller containers than usual but with drip irrigation that will be set to cycle on for 10-15 minutes several times per day. These 23 plants would have been tossed as excess, as all of my normal planting areas are occupied. So far these in the containers look better than most of my in ground plants. I'm thinking that they also may be less prone to disease, but time will tell. This first link is a short video of the planting arrangement and that is followed by a few detail photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aghenderson/4612395827/

Each plant gets a drip emitter like the one below:


Here are a few photos of fruit set.

[gixxerific]

I would say buckets and lots of them for me. I have potatoes and tomatoes and carrots and onions in buckets just to see how they do. Like you said all my bucket plants are doing better than the in ground plants. But some of them were started way early inside.

i see you have cages around the bucket tomatoes I haven't gone that far yet. 4 of my tom buckets hold spirodonovskie which is a dwarf plant so for now they have a single metal stake to hold them up but that's all.

Buckets are great for not sacrificing things I'm down with that. I did chuck 4 toms this morning in the compost pile then I put one in a bucket and have 2 more I'm thinking about.

Your plants are looking good there Alex. Nice going.

[hendi_alex]

What sized bucket, what source?

[Ozark Lady]

Buckets! I have 9 barrels, these were 20 gallons now cut in half. It takes a wheel barrel to fill just one of them. I used these years ago, and everything planted in them died. So they have been storage for cloches, etc. Nothing that would hurt them.

This year, I am out of space in the beds, so they are pressed into service, again. My husband just reported the tomatoes in them are dead. Well, he didn't look close enough, 3 of the 9 barrels are dead. The other 6 look good to great. And the 3 with dead plants, I have lots to replace those with. So, I will replant those 3 barrels, and keep trying.



I am not good with container growing, but no time like the present to learn. I know they look wet, it has rained all day!

Oh I hope my sharpie name tag, on a former cloche stays on there!

[navajo]

Well, I am trying the E-Bucket self watering system this year for the first time. I have 2 Roma tomatoes and a Pineapple Sage in E-Buckets and am comparing them to raised bed Roma and Sage plants this year to see how they do.

Hope it works!

[hendi_alex]

A friend of mine uses self watering containers. Don't know the brand but they are pretty large, about 10 gallon and are rectangular. He produces a pretty good crop with them each year, usually planting two tomato plants per container.

[farmerlon]

I guess most folks would not consider it an "experiment"... but, this was my first year to grow all of my own transplants (tomatoes, peppers, etc...) from seed. So, that was an experiment for me.
Worked out great!

[garden5]

Mine would have to be growing the plants under a light, starting some onions from seed, and growing eggplant.

Hope all of everyone's experiments work out.

[sciencegal]

Last year I grew potatoes in two potato bags which turned out well considering that I accidently got a long season potato when I'm definitely short season. I had never grown potatoes before, so I made a few other mistakes like not giving the roots enough room at the bottom. This year I got a purple viking early season potato which just got planted this weekend.

Due to that success, I'm trying tomato bags this year. I've got four different varieties of early season tomatoes in four tomato bags. I'm trying to find a tomato that will produce well here. I started the transplants, which I grew from seed, last week. I cover them at night since it still gets down close to 32, then goes up to 75 during the day. The tomatoes all look like they are happy, so far.

[hendi_alex]

Could you describe your potato bag? I planted potatoes in moderately sized containers last year and the plants did o.k. but not great. I just used new potatoes from the grocery store for my starts.

[hendi_alex]

Farmerlon, I think that is great. I held off for years, starting my own seeds and then eventually took the plunge. Once you have confidence to start your own, it opens an entirely new world of plant selections. IMO is definitely an experiment where a person has to experience success in order to develop confidence for expanding the range of gardening. I'm now dabbing/experimenting with growing my own perennial flowers. They are just so expensive when buying or ordering transplants. So far I'm having pretty good luck. Last year started saving more of my own seeds, and in some cases they give even better results than the bought seeds. Also, continue to try and expand my plants through cuttings and other propagation.

[sciencegal]

Could you describe your potato bag? I planted potatoes in moderately sized containers last year and the plants did o.k. but not great. I just used new potatoes from the grocery store for my starts.

It's a thick felt material that holds over 60 quarts of soil that I got from Gardeners Supply Tomato Bags. They are the same as potato bags but square. They keep the soil warm, air prune the roots and have good drainage. They also sold seed potatoes but didn't give the length of season which is why I ordered the Russian Banana fingerlings which are really long season. BTW, I saved a bunch of the tiny ones which have all sprouted if anyone wants them.

I know you could get potatoes from the store, but I kept reading that you should use certified seed potatoes and I need an early season variety of everything I grow. I think Yukons grow okay here.

[sciencegal]

I'm now dabbing/experimenting with growing my own perennial flowers. They are just so expensive when buying or ordering transplants. So far I'm having pretty good luck. Last year started saving more of my own seeds, and in some cases they give even better results than the bought seeds. Also, continue to try and expand my plants through cuttings and other propagation.

While out trail riding last year I saw a wild flower called a Snowball Verbena. I collected some seeds which I saved all winter and just planted them. I hope they grow, it's a beautiful plant.

[hendi_alex]

I read on line that verbena seeds can be very slow to germinate, as long as a month, so be very patient with them.

Sciencegal, my previous post had a typo "tomato" where it should have said 'potato'. The post has been edited, would appreciate it if you would edit the quote. Thanks! But from your post I take it that you are in fact using tomato bags to grow your potatoes. Sounds like an interesting experiment. I hear very mixed reviews from when tomatoes are grown in the bags.

[sciencegal]

Actually, I grew potatoes in potato bags and I'm attempting tomatoes in tomato bags. The only difference I can see is that the tomato bags are square (and larger) and the potato bags are round. However, once I filled the tomato bags with soil they look round, not like the nice even square ones advertised.

I didn't see tomato bags offered last year when I got the potato bags. The reviews on Gardeners Supply on the tomato bags seems to indicate that everyone is trying them for the first time this year.

(It's really hard to type tomato tomatoes potato potatoes 10 times in once paragraph and not get them mixed up )