Growing Tomatoes on COB Basrah, Iraq
One of the downsides to being deployed is being away from my garden. While my "expeditionary garden" will never take the place of my lush backyard in upstate New York, I decided that I would not go the entire year without some sort of gardening activity.
I started researching growing tomatoes in Iraq about a year or so ago but information was scarce so I just went with what I read about growing tomatoes in AZ and NV and looked up average monthly temperatures in Iraq. I decided to keep it small (just over a square foot I think) and limit myself to six plants at the very maximum. I must confess that the water bottle irrigation system I constructed was not an original idea but cribbed from the below posting. It seems to be somewhat effective in keeping the soil moderately moist but I still give my planter about two liters every night and one in the morning.
My mother sent me some Miracle Grow potting soil to mix with the mostly sterile sand/soil that is around here. Being a diehard organic gardener, I wouldn't normally use enhanced soil but you can't be too picky around here and plus, there are not too many options for amending soil on COB Basrah.
I knew that hardening off seedlings in 100+ heat would be tough so I just planted everything in the ground. I always wanted to grow watermelons but have never succeeded in upstate so I put some Sugarbaby seeds in that my mother sent along with some Black from Tula seeds I saved from last year. This was in mid August with daily high averaging 110-120. In less than four days the melons had sprouted and started to take off. The BFT seeds took a little longer and then sent up a couple sickly seedlings that died within two days. Poor things were probably expecting a late April day in Syracuse. I figured that the other seeds had most likely died in the soil and so I had my girlfriend send me some Large Red Cherry seeds from last year. I figured they would have a better chance for maturity before the weather gets too cold in late Nov/early Dec. Again, a couple weak seedlings that died soon after. Finally, I took my remaining seeds and planted them in cups inside, hoping I would be able to harden them off when they developed their true leaves. I continued to water my planter and put about an inch of coffee grounds on top of the soil for my melon plants. I also increased the amount of water I was giving to them. I don't know if it was the grounds, the water or the fact that the highs are now below 110 but now I have about ten nice looking seedlings growing among the three melon plants that I have decided to keep. Of course now I am unsure of which ones are BFT and which are LRC but I suspect the BFT seedlings are the ones with the purplish stems (at least that is how I remember BFT seedlings looking). I will limit myself to three tomato plants and whatever cilantro seeds are willing to grow in the shade of the tomato and watermOne of the downsides to being deployed is being away from my garden. While my "expeditionary garden" will never take the place of my lush backyard in upstate New York, I decided that I would not go the entire year without some sort of gardening activity.
I started researching growing tomatoes in Iraq about a year or so ago but information was scarce so I just went with what I read about growing tomatoes in AZ and NV and looked up average monthly temperatures in Iraq. I decided to keep it small (just over a square foot I think) and limit myself to six plants at the very maximum. I must confess that the water bottle irrigation system I constructed was not an original idea but cribbed from the below posting. It seems to be somewhat effective in keeping the soil moderately moist but I still give my planter about two liters every night and one in the morning.
My mother sent me some Miracle Grow potting soil to mix with the mostly sterile sand/soil that is around here. Being a diehard organic gardener, I wouldn't normally use enhanced soil but you can't be too picky around here and plus, there are not too many options for amending soil on COB Basrah.
I knew that hardening off seedlings in 100+ heat would be tough so I just planted everything in the ground. I always wanted to grow watermelons but have never succeeded in upstate so I put some Sugarbaby seeds in that my mother sent along with some Black from Tula seeds I saved from last year. This was in mid August with daily high averaging 110-120. In less than four days the melons had sprouted and started to take off. The BFT seeds took a little longer and then sent up a couple sickly seedlings that died within two days. Poor things were probably expecting a late April day in Syracuse. I figured that the other seeds had most likely died in the soil and so I had my girlfriend send me some Large Red Cherry seeds from last year. I figured they would have a better chance for maturity before the weather gets too cold in late Nov/early Dec. Again, a couple weak seedlings that died soon after. Finally, I took my remaining seeds and planted them in cups inside, hoping I would be able to harden them off when they developed their true leaves. I continued to water my planter and put about an inch of coffee grounds on top of the soil for my melon plants. I also increased the amount of water I was giving to them. I don't know if it was the grounds, the water or the fact that the highs are now below 110 but now I have about ten nice looking seedlings growing among the three melon plants that I have decided to keep. Of course now I am unsure of which ones are BFT and which are LRC but I suspect the BFT seedlings are the ones with the purplish stems (at least that is how I remember BFT seedlings looking). I will limit myself to three tomato plants and whatever cilantro seeds are willing to grow in the shade of the tomato and watermelon plants. It will certainly be taking square foot gardening to an extreme but I have always been reluctant to pull seedlings. I will take some pictures of the tomatoes when they get their first set of true leaves and I am confident they are actually going to make it. In the meantime, here are a couple preliminary pics.
Planter Box/Protective Wall:
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Watermelon Seedlings:
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Where I got the bottle irrigation idea from:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_grow_flowers_on_a_military_base_in_Iraq/
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nordfyr315Original Author
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nordfyr315Original Author