Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
daniel_ny

What are your Top 5/10 advice for a newbie ?

daniel_nyc
9 years ago

I'm sure we ALL could learn a thing or two.

Comments (66)

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    More advice ?

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Buy BIG !!!

    For example: donâÂÂt buy Ready-to-Use Copper Fungicide, 32 oz for $12.16, which is enough for few plants. Much better buy Copper Fungicide Concentrate, 16 oz. for $16.14, which will be enough for MANY more plants.

    Another example: donâÂÂt buy 100 Tomato Trellis Clip for $9.35. Better buy 1,000 Tomato Clips for $27.64.

    Depending on how heavy foliage your tomatoes have, you will need up to 50 clips / plant, so if you buy only 100â¦

    This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Tue, Sep 16, 14 at 13:30

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    As Daniel said:

    Be consistent !
    Stick to and follow your plans. This is so true about spraying, fertilizing, watering ( and in my case pruning).

    We can have all kind of plans while taking shower but one has to execute them. :-)

    ultimately, doing what you think is the right thing is better than doing nothing. Even if you are wrong 4 out of 10 times.

    Learn from your mistakes. Better yet, learn from somebody else 's mistakes. ( I like this one).

  • lucillle
    9 years ago

    Be realistic. It's easy to buy 25 plants but if you only have a small garden, you've just bought yourself a lot of work and maybe misery.
    Be prepared for some expenses your first year. You can make good tomato supports, read and check out how people have done it.
    Learn how to search GW and read, there is a good possibility that the questions you have will be answered. Sometimes I find I can't find all the threads if I search though, if you post and ask, people will help and many times link to threads.
    Spend time in your garden, you can't just plant and forget. Plants need ongoing care.
    Buy Hellman's mayo for your tomato sammitches.

  • bart1
    9 years ago

    Sun, sun and more sun. Plant them in the sunniest spot you have

    You can't overcome a lack of sunlight by fertilizing or enriching the soil or starting the plants very big.........I tried for years in my shaded backyard with very little success. Three hours of direct sun is not enough!! (Now I only grow tomatoes in a plot far away from my house, which introduces a whole new set of problems, but at least I have full sun!)

    Don't over water. If you use mulch or landscaping fabric to keep the weeds down, you may not have to water at all (depending on where you are and how much rain you get of course). For me, this year, I don't think I had to water my tomatoes at all after the first few weeks when they were well established. I use landscaping fabric to keep the weeds down, but it also does wonders for conserving soil moisture.

  • ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
    9 years ago

    My best advice?

    You can read all the books and magazine articles and internet discussions you want and do everything by the book and you still find that not everything is going to go according to plan. Advice is just that, advice. What works for me may not work for you. Do not think you have to have to do everything exactly the way that someone else does. There are few hard and fast rules in gardening, but mostly a lot of guidelines. Don't be afraid to go your own way to find out what works best for you.

    And finally, unless this is how you intend to pay your mortgage, this is for fun. As Aldo Leopold wrote "...Becoming serious is a grievous fault in hobbyists."

  • sandra_zone6
    9 years ago

    1) Get a soil test in the fall, amend your soil so it is ready in the spring.

    2) Take notes every year on what you do, when you did it, whether it worked or not. I always start out great and then the writing fizzles, but it helped me in the beginning.

    3) If it doesn't work one way, try something else!

    4) Be proactive, if you wait, it's typically too late.

    5) This year we decided to track productivity and get rid of the slackers. A pen, blue painters tape, and a drawing of the garden was very helpful. Of course, we only have 16 tomatoes, so it was easy for us to keep track of. New varieties will be tried out in place of the slackers...

    6) What works for someone else, may not work for you. It's a journey to figure out what works where you live, in your weather, with your soil, and each year weather changes affect that.

    7) Don't give up!

  • coconut_head
    9 years ago

    1) Mulch
    2) CRW Cages
    3) don't over water (you don't need to water as often when they are small and if they are mulched
    4) pick at breaker stage
    5) Mulch again, the first stuff you laid down is gone

  • HotHabaneroLady
    9 years ago

    1. Don't get discouraged. Even experienced gardeners have bad years. Like the Montgomery County master gardeners this year.

    2. If growing in containers, use big ones. Like really, really big ones. Five gallon buckets with a single plant are a minimum. I used whisky barrels for my first (containerized) attempt this year and my best guess is they were 25+ but it was still a lot of work compared to my usual in ground tomatoes.

    3. Compost. Over the long term, you can improve your soil and meet a lot of your fertilizer needs with composting. And the do post bin attracts earthworms.

    4. Read and think. That way you learn from others. And day dreaming and thinking about and reading about gardening is part or the fun.

    5. Try something new and different. The world of tomatoes is vast and the only way to get a sausage shaped tomato with stripes is to grow it yourself. So why not try some of those instead of or in addition to yet another globe shaped red one?

    6. Carolyn137 is a minor deity where tomato growing is concerned. Learn from her. :)

    7. Tomatoes look like small plants when they start out and when you see them in the store. But they get enormous really fast, especially the indeterminate varieties. So give them a lot of room.

    8. Tomatoes are like depressed people. Some good support is essential.

    9. Be prepared for questions and imitation by your neighbors. Since I started gardening again, there has begun to be a tomato jungle in my neighborhood.

    1. Have fun! This is a great hobby, so don't worry about it too much.

    2. Grow some other things too. Nothing compliments a fresh grown tomato like some freshly grown oregano or basil. The only plant more fun to grow than a tomato (in my opinion) is a pepper plant. And if your tomatoes have a bad year and disappoint, then you will still have your other crops. That way no year is ever a total disappointment.

    Angie

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago
  • Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
    8 years ago

    Ultimately one's own experience ( = mistake hehe) is the best teacher. But also the smart ones can learn from others mistake. (Thats smart).
    I think gardening/growing tomatoes is somewhat like swimming. You cannot learn to swim until you jump in , struggle and drink some of that chlorinated water.
    I think my best advice still is :
    START SMALL AND LEARN AS YOU GO ON.
    Sey


  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Have a reasonable budget for growing tomatoes: seeds, seedlings, soils, fertilizers, fungicides, tools, trellis, cages, etc, etc, etc...

  • Lisa (z5A, SE WI)
    8 years ago

    I disagree with the budget thing. Yes, you need to be realistic that it could cost a few bucks, but I'm positive that I spent less than $30 my very first year. I got three seedling at $3-4 each, three 1"x2"x8' stakes, and I used scraps of yarn to tie each plant to a stake. That's actually less than $20. You certainly could set aside more money for additional things, but it's not a requirement.

    Yes, I know that Daniel is going to talk about how important fungicide is, but I'm going to say that, as a new gardener, when people start talking about fungicide and fertilizer and soil tests, etc., it can all start to sound overwhelming. If you just want to get started and have a better grasp on how to grow tomatoes, there's no better way to learn than to just get started. THEN when you start reading things about diseases and fertilizers and support methods and all that, then it's just a little less overwhelming. But to get started? Some plants, a place to plant them, and a stake to tie them to. That will get you growing. Don't get intimidated by all the different things people say you *must* do.

  • BahamaDan Zone 12b Subtropics
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    1. Do your research, knowledge is certainly power when it comes to gardening.

    2. Try to pick a variety suited to your situation e.g. early if you have a short climate, something stocky or patio if growing on a deck or apartment balcony, or just something you'd like to eat.

    3. Questions. Ask about everything you don't understand after research. The real life experience of a fellow grower is an invaluable tool that no book can fully replace.

    4. Be realistic in your expectations and remember to ENJOY what you are growing. Appreciating the plant just for itself will make the fruit seem like a nice bonus, and give you a pleasant feeling in the in between.

    5. Feel free to think outside the box and do unconventional things. I would never have come up with wrapping foil around my plant's containers (kitchenware =/= garden use in my head) but it is working magnificently at keeping the root zone of my container plants cooler in my intense sun, and I can see a marked improvement.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Lisa, while I respect your opinion * I * wouldn't start growing tomatoes with a budget of $ 30 / season. Especially if I do NOT have the tools - remember, this thread is for... NEWBIES - the soil NEEDS improvement, NO trellis (a stake might be ok for some dwarf / determinate tomatoes, but NOT for large tomatoes that easily grow 10-12'+ ft high.)

    And btw, talking about fungicide, when the plants ALREADY have the disease - most of the times - it's late, TOO LATE to think a solution !!!

  • digdirt2
    8 years ago

    That milk and eggs belong in the fridge and aspirin and TUMS belong in the medicine cabinet not the tomato patch.

    That banana peels and egg shells belong in the compost pile not the tomato patch.

    That container mixes have no soil microweb (unless you add it) to digest organic additives so the plants can use them so use pre-digested liquid supplements.

    Dave

  • Lisa (z5A, SE WI)
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Daniel, I'm trying to not scare people. Soil doesn't NEED improvement. Things grow in regular soil all the time. Perhaps it grows better, or much better, in improved soil, but it's not as though all your plants will fail and die if you don't improve the soil. I dug up a patch of lawn, loosened the dirt down about a foot or so, and threw three tomato plants in. Yes, I tied them to an 8 foot stake. When they got to the top, they flopped over and came back down. Not the end of the world. For someone who had never grown tomatoes before, I thought I was doing pretty awesome. If I'd been told that it would NOT have worked without soil tests and ammendments and expensive trellis systems, I would not have bothered until I could afford it and spend more time. That wouldn't have been until this year, and I'd have missed three years of spectacular harvests from my lovely unamended soil. Don't make it harder than it has to be. If someone just wants to dig up some dirt and grow something, it's not WRONG. It might not be ideal, but I bet they'll get more tomatoes than if they got too overwhelmed and did nothing.

  • Lisa (z5A, SE WI)
    8 years ago

    But now I realize I'm way off target and this is for people searching for advice and not for people who need coaxing. My apologies for the derailment.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Lisa, can we see pictures of your tomatoes ?

  • digdirt2
    8 years ago

    Lisa you have a valid point. It is possible to make the process so over-complicated, so complex that it would scare newbies away from even trying it. That sure isn't our goal. But on the other hand many newbies take it to the other extreme. They neglect to do any research, much less attempt to provide, the most basic needs for even minimal success, most of which are free. That is their choice but they also have to be willing to live with the consequences.

    The problem arises when they aren't willing. They discover what they did doesn't meet their unrealistic expectations. What they did didn't work. Ok, that happens to all of us so we accept that, learn from it, and move on.

    But rather than accept the fact they made serious mistakes and learn from them, now, long after the fact many post wanting detailed help fixing/curing the problems that have developed. And they often want it to be a cheap fix, an easy fix that doesn't require a great deal of effort on their part, and one that is guaranteed to produce tomatoes. We all know that simply isn't possible but one need only browse many of the posts currently running here to see the truth in that claim. Some take it a step further and insist that all the time, effort, and information provided to them does not reflect badly on their initial decisions in anyway.

    Put simply, trying to close the barn doors after all the cows are out doesn't work. You lose cows. So trying to teach up front how to keep the cows contained in the first place, even if it may sound overly complex, is far more helpful in the long run than telling them after the fact when it is too late to fix why their container is way too small, why the barnyard dirt in their pot is killing their plant, why their plant needed some fertilizer, why their plant needed some sort of support, why their tomatoes have blossom end rot, or why their plant actually needed to be planted in the first place , etc.

    Neither approach is ideal but we do the best we can with what we have to work with.

    Dave

  • BahamaDan Zone 12b Subtropics
    8 years ago

    You two are both right in a sense Lisa and SameName, I always tell people gardening is as simple or as complex as they want to make it and this rings true for beginners as well.

    Yes the toms will grow 'better' in amended soil and with additional preparation or care (and yes it is better to learn good cultivation methods before starting rather than to try and adjust a less than ideal method) but they will also grow with a 'plug and plant' method, just not as well. I would hesitate to tell someone they 'cant' grow tomatoes without spending lots of money as this is not true for every gardening situation, and depending on what the expectations of the grower are they may quite happy with the rate the maters grow and produce in unamended soil. We also have the lucky set whose yards naturally have great soil and need little to no amending. Last thing is there are relatively cheap ways to grow and still get good production, if you're willing to be resourceful, container gardening for example.

  • ilodato
    8 years ago

    I agree with Lisa- for a newbie, just plant and water and learn from mistakes/research. & get better every year.


    I will say that I am growing a TON of tomatoes this year (20-30 plants) and spent under $15. I have tons of tomatoes that are ripening and we are eating them nightly. Unfortunately last year I tried to grow them in pots and that was a big, huge no-go.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    ilodato wrote: > ...for a newbie, [my advice is] just plant and water...

    Really, is THAT simple growing tomatoes ???

    > ... and learn from mistakes/research. & get better every year.

    It will take many, MANY years for a newbie to learn a thing or two.

  • rgreen48
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    There's at least 2 sides to this subject. First is the subject of this thread... advice.

    Second is simple... It's not rocket science. Seriously... just plant, water, and learn as you go...

    I am most personally aligned with the second camp. Just do it already lol. However, if a person is even reading this, then they are already looking for advice. That means they have either already planted, or planning to plant and are the type to research ahead of time.

    Is research necessary? Nope. Plants just want to grow. However, there is a lot to learn from research. Knowledge and experience are great teachers. On the other hand... 'necessity is the mother of invention.' Often times, innovation comes from fresh minds finding spontaneous solutions to problems.

    So, while it's good to learn and follow the sage advice of others, it's also true that the sage advice of others can be so confusing and diverse that people easily become overwhelmed. Just look at most of the threads on this site. I'm sticking to the metaphors so... there are many ways to skin a cat.

    Sure, the myths need be destroyed, but not all 'folk wisdom' is wrong.

    Making roboticly trained disciples is not the path to innovation, it is the way to stasis and morass. Be there with your advice when people ask, but not everybody will do it your way. And even if those problems have already been solved to your satisfaction, new gardeners are not wrong for trying new solutions to old problems. Look at all the ways you do it different from your parents and grandparents. Were you wrong for trying new things as they laughed at you for being obstinate?

    Basically... there are false paths and different paths. To advice givers: my advice is learn the difference.

    To a novice: my advice is listen and learn, but be yourself and keep an open mind.

  • fireduck
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Really think dig pretty much said it all. My approach has been in life...try to learn from others' mistakes. I have a son who needs to learn most everything the "hard way". He has been banged up quite a bit in his life. I do notice that many of us tomato growers encounter the same problems.

  • Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
    8 years ago

    How much advice doe a "newbie" needs ? hehe


    Sey


  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    A LOT, imo.

  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago

    Plant tomatoes in a new place each season, if possible.

    Stake them. Don't wait until 'later'. Put the stakes in BEFORE you plant so that you cannot 'forget' (get around to it).


  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Use long stakes so that your plants can grow tall. Tie the plants up as they grow, with soft ties, preferably with lady's panty hose. (Do not use men's panty hose.)

  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago

    Start early. Have the plants ready and raring to go. (This should be the first or second point.)

  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago

    Plant in a well-drained spot. Water at least daily. Keep moist but not wet. Water in the morning, preferably.

  • gorbelly
    8 years ago

    Don't forget to enjoy yourself if you're doing this as a hobby and not for survival. Gardening should be fun and relaxing. It's not the end of the world if you didn't pick the optimal varieties or do everything perfectly your first time out.

  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago

    Be in the zone. Don't rush out from the kitchen screaming, "I must plant my tomato seeds!"

    Yesterday I got into the zone accidently by reading a little on here. Then daughter and I went outside to look for a spot to plant our seeds. And there was a part of the side garden, fenced off from the dog area as I had been painting the fence last summer.

    It's not perfect by any means but it's a nice place to be, and the hose reaches easily.


  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    ilodato wrote: > ...for a newbie, [my advice is] just plant and water...

    foreignlady wrote: > I guess getting a decent vegetable harvest takes
    a lot more planning that just putting some plants in the ground!

    John wrote: > This is the first time I have tried to grow
    vegetables and it is a lot more difficult than I thought.




  • Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
    8 years ago

    In this day and internet age, newbies are lucky.

    There are plenty of planting guide and care info in this forum and elsewhere. My advice is :

    --- forget starting from seeds ! Buy plants from nurseries !

    --- Start slow and small and find out how much you can handle. Then expand your horizon as you go along the following season(s).

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Sey wrote: > Buy plants from nurseries !

    Buying plants from nurseries has some advantages and disadvantages.

    While the advantages are obvious, here are a few…

    DISADVANTAGES:
    - It will cost you money. More than if you grow your own seedlings.
    - Nurseries, most of the time, do NOT have the varieties you want.
    - Many times nurseries have the plants LATER than you would like to plant.
    - Sometimes what’s written on the label is NOT the variety you get
    - Sometimes plants have DISEASES that you bring in your garden.
    - Most of the times, the plants you buy in a nursery, have ROOTBOUND.

    But still, buying seedlings from a nursery is a viable option, especially for newbies.

  • gorbelly
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Sey: --- forget starting from seeds ! Buy plants from nurseries !

    As a backyard hobbyist and not someone growing to sell at market or sell seed, I find growing from seed very fun and satisfying. I consider nursery plants a backup option if something happens to the seedlings. I grew from seed and also grew some plants from a nursery that were gifted to me. And I have to say, I had way more fun tending the plants I grew from seed.

  • Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
    8 years ago

    Growing your own seedlings is a whole new/different ball game.

    As a newbie one should first learn growing in the garden. Once you are well versed with that then go ahead, start from seeds.

    All of my gardening years ( about 20 years ) I have started from seeds just 4 seasons. The rest of the time I have bought and planted nursery plants. Next year I will do just a few from seeds and will buy mostly nursery grown plants.

    Starting from seeds can be both fun and headache. Also you wont save whole lot of money ( Counting seed costs, starting/potting soil, fixtures, electricity..) UNLESS you plant a lot of plants ( 50 ? more ?)

    That is the reason I suggested to forget starting from seeds.

    Sey

  • gorbelly
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    [Sorry this turned out to be such a long post.]

    I have a couple sunny south-facing windows, so it wasn't a big deal. I did it at minimal cost (i.e., used cans/bottles/disposable cups, homemade newspaper pots, etc. for seedlings, old gallon milk jugs and big kimchi jars to give seedlings extra light out on the roof on non-polar-vortex days) and grew some tomato plants, some gherkins, squash, peppers, and a whole bunch of herbs and greens this year with very little difficulty. I also had a few backup plants from the garden center. Were the seedlings I grew ideally stocky? No, but they all survived and thrived once in the garden soil, except for the backups that got thrown out because there was no need for them.

    If you wanted to start from seed and you start small,
    even if you don't have a window with great light, couldn't you probably
    get an overhead shop lighting unit and T5 bulbs for not that much money
    and rig low-tech ways to raise it as the seedlings grow?

    To me, it seems like, more than avoiding growing from seed, the important thing for the newbie is to start small, whether you grow from seed or not. For example, don't be trying to grow 20 or more tomato plants your first time out, since you don't even know whether you'll enjoy the experience, and whether you start from seed or buy plants, it will be a lot of money and emotional investment wasted if you get frustrated or bored a few weeks in or lose the plants to disease or pests or inexperience.

    If you stay small scale and are creative about recycling household items and don't mind a little clutter around the house around your sunny windows, costs can be pretty low.

    The big expenses would seem to be the physical garden beds/containers and soil/amendments and treatments for the plants. So maybe I might recommend growing in cheap, large containers one's first couple times out unless you know you enjoy gardening and want to do it every year, i.e., repurposed stuff you have sitting in the garage or basement or cheap storage totes with drainage holes drilled in them, homemade ollas made with dollar store clay pots instead of self-irrigating planters, etc. I guess a lot of the decision revolves around how much repurposeable stuff and basics (power tools and other hardware, scrap material, etc.) you already have lying around.

    Of course, I think growing from nursery plants is a solid strategy. But if growing from seed sounds fun, and you are being conservative with the number of plants your first time out, it seems to me that there's no really compelling reason not to try growing at least some from seed. Most of that work happens during cold weeks before you can be out in the garden doing much anyway, so it's not like it conflicts or takes away from growing out in the garden.

    Anyway, perhaps people should ignore me and listen to the more seasoned guys on this, but I thought I'd put it out there. Sometimes, I think you seasoned folks have a tendency to take your growing much more seriously and lose sight of the fact that many of those of us starting out doing it because it's fun to try new things and learn from them, even if they end up being failures, and that we operate on a level that doesn't benefit from economies of scale so are willing to spend $25 on some seed and starter mix to play around with growing from scratch (hey, it's cheaper than a night out at the movies and delivers plenty of entertainment and interest, even if it is unsuccessful). I also notice that sometimes the advice, while well-meaning and generous, can get a little dogmatic in tone and fixated on chastising people for their mistakes instead of focusing on how things can be done better next time.

    So I guess my main advice (which, full disclosure, is not worth as much because I'm a newbie) to people thinking about their first garden would be:

    1) Keep things small-scale. If you're growing tomatoes from seed, maybe just do around three varieties. Maybe keep the total number of plants at 6 or less. It might make things easier if the majority of those are cherry varieties, since they generally need less patience, and even if you have big problems, the number of fruits means you have more of a chance of getting to taste some of your work.

    2) Don't buy stuff if you can rig up something from stuff you already have. Even if it's ugly and looks jerry-rigged, it's better than wasting a bunch of money for stuff you may end up never using again. You can always invest in fancier, quality stuff when you're more committed to gardening and you know you'll be getting lots of use out them.

    3) Read around the internet and get a book on tomato growing before you start (for me, this is a really fun part of the process, though--maybe others don't find this part as fun).

    4) Maybe grow in large containers your first time out if you're not sure gardening is going to be a recurring activity for you unless you already have prepared growing space/beds. In hindsight, I should have done this, too, even though I know I love gardening and want to do it regularly, as I am in a new house and lost some time because I actually needed to create garden space from lawn. I could have grown in containers, had more growing time, and been more leisurely about the work of digging/building my beds.

  • Val
    8 years ago

    Thanks to everyone who took such time posting. This has been an enjoyable read.

    I've got three 25 gallon planters that I will be using next season. So... what soil should I put in the planters?

    In my two years of gardening I have enjoyed starting small: seeds for zinnias and sunflowers and herbs, growing choleus and heuchera from cuttings, so I've no problem starting seeds in the house. I presume potting soil works to get the seeds started???

    Is there a specific fertilizer that is better than any others?

    TIA.

  • rgreen48
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Val, you, of course, may use any medium you decide upon. But if I may, I would suggest a a "seed starter" mix. Along with the issues of porosity, potting soils can harbor and support fungi. Established seedlings can usually ward-off such problematic issues, but those newly germinated cannot. If all you can get is potting soil, it can work, but it will mean quite a bit more attention on your part, and seed starter is easy to find or build yourself.

    As far as fertilizers, the choices cannot really be narrowed down until you decide if such personal preferences - like growing organically - is important to your lifestyle and methods.

    I don't really do containers, so I'll not post on that issue. Good luck.

  • gorbelly
    8 years ago

    If the potting mix you have on hand is soil-less (most are), it should be perfectly fine for starting seeds. In the winter, I prefer the damp paper towel method for most seeds because it's almost always faster (except for seeds with naturally very long germination rates, which often rot before germination if you use the paper towel method).

    You'll probably get a lot of different opinions on the mix for your planters. It kind of depends on what you're doing, too, i.e., self-irrigating planters need a specific kind of mixture, some veggies might need special amendments, etc.

  • Val
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Thanks. Being organic is not a criterion. Nice tomatoes, primarily, and less work, secondarily, are the bigger concerns. And I will be watering from the hose.

  • daniel_nyc
    Original Author
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    gorbelly
    wrote: > I prefer the damp paper towel method for most seeds because
    it's almost always faster…

    Me too.

    Starting Seeds in Coffee Filters (or Paper Towels)



  • gorbelly
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Val: And I will be watering from the hose.


    Here's my plan for the tomatoes I'll be growing in containers next year: I will probably start with a mixture of 2/3 to 3/4 potting mix and 1/3 to 1/4 compost, depending on how much compost I have, throw in some ground eggshells or gypsum when planting, and water in a granular tomato fertilizer from time to time once the plants start flowering. I may experiment by using a homemade olla on one of the containers to see what that does, since fluctuating moisture levels is sometimes an issue in containers and I don't want to set up drip irrigation.

  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Oh just thought of one while sipping my coffee and catching up on unread comments.

    Tomatoes hate wind. Loath and detest wind. The cherry tomatoes can tolerate it a lot better but we also want the big tomatoes so we need to provide shelter in some way.

  • tete_a_tete
    8 years ago

    Oh, and you guys who can rely on rain and sometimes don't even have to water, learn to love your fungal problems. (Only kidding.) You don't know how lucky you are with having that rain.

  • nighthawk0911
    7 years ago

    It's a trap go back!!! Take up fishing or golf instead.

  • coconut_head
    7 years ago

    LOL Nighhawk