I planted the potato bin this evening with the seed potatoes I chitted way back when. I am glade they are in finally after being delayed so long due to the bed refilling. I have decided to hedge my losses and only fill the bin 4 boards high this year. If potatoes form up to the fourth board then next year I will fill in all the way up with soil.You may also notice that new garden spigot at the side. It is a freeze proof one and I am currently installing it. All I have to do now is hook it up on the inside. Can't wait to get that done!
Here are the red fingerlings I have growing in a large container, about 24" I believe. They have sprouted nicely and in about a week I will be adding more soil. In addition to the bin & potted potatoes I am also going to try 3 compost bags planted with a seed potato in each. I have the bags but I am now waiting for the seed to sprout. I will show them as soon as I plant them.
Here are most of the 16 tomatoes I am growing this year. They have really gone crazy and are about two feet high. They are a little spindly because I have them spaced to closely though. Thankfully I can plant them out in the soil now so that should happen any day now. I will be burying at least half of their height below the soil.
I couldn't forget about Mister Early Tomato and of course its fruit is focused dead center. The fruit is bigger then a gold ball now and he had 3 blooms out when I took this photo. I have my fingers & toes crossed that it will ripen by the first week of June.
Here are the peppers, sorry about my crappy photos this evening, it was getting dark when I took them. The large ones in the back are Big Chili II & Jimmy Nardello's. In the front row we have Ancho's towards the end of the poly tunnel, Sport Peppers in the center square pot and the Purple Peppers on the end from Annie's Kitchen Garden. The purple peppers were a little slow to germinate but are coming along nicely now.
The last Solanum for this evening are the Eggplants, these ones are Rosa Bianca. They have a bit of yellowing but should do great once they are planted out and it warms up some more. I hope the eggplants do better this year, last years crop didn't even grow in the cool wet season we had.
To end this Solanum post I will share a photo of the 3 topsy turvy's that came today. I wanted to try the self watering ones like this one but once you order three, add shipping and tax they were almost 70 big ones, crazy. So I found these topsy turvy's on eBay and bartered a good deal from a Canadian lady. I will be hanging them off the redundant chimney and I should get that done tomorrow I hope. Cheers to upside down planting!
Mr. Early is looking great! I was feeling kind of smug with myself having a tiny fruit formed on my "Stupice" tomatoes already ... but now I am appropriately humbled by your much larger first edition... and all in a much colder climate. Well done!
ReplyDeleteEverything is looking great, Dan. I'll bet those tomatoes will be happy to get out in the garden! Your purple peppers are larger than mine, even though mine are older. No tomatoes here yet, but all of the toms I grew that survived have blossoms. I think that's about nine plants out of 45!
ReplyDeleteWhat varieties are you planting in your topsy turvy's? i got the one from vesey's (i was ordering a greenhouse vent-opener anyway), and am wondering whether to test-drive determinate vs. indeterminate. All the rest of my tomatoes are in the greenhouse or in the patio (we get late blight here, so all are out of the rain!)
ReplyDeleteIt's all growing so fast Dan. I too have one of those topsy turvy bags. The jury is totally out on them. Good deal you got!
ReplyDeleteLooking good, Dan....I'm real interested in how those upside down planters work for ya. I've heard that determinates work pretty good in them, but indeterminates do not.
ReplyDeleteAll you need to do with those tomatoes is to strip off the bottom leaves and transplant them as deep as you can. They they'll grow root all along the vine and you'll end up with a great healthy plant!
ReplyDeleteYay for your tomatoes and peppers, Dan! The potatoes look great too, though I have never tried to grow potatoes, so I don't know what they are supposed to look like!
ReplyDeleteThe Topsy Turvy is doing great at my house, so I hope you have a great time and much success with them!
I'm hoping you get some good weather for your eggplant. I started to harden mine off today. We are getting a heat wave and I'm thinking they will like being outside for it.
ReplyDeleteKitsapFG - Thanks! I am going to start two early tomatoes next year and even earlier, maybe the third week of Jan.
ReplyDeleteGranny - I think I am going to grow the puple peppers in a large terracotta pot. That should give them some added heat to really get going.
Toot11 - I am growing black cherry, black zebra & chocolate stripes in the topsy's, all smaller fruited ones. EG just commented that determinates do better in them.
Tina - I hope they do well, they will certainly save space if they do.
EG - I hope the indeterminates do well because that is all I have except the early plant. I am try two cherry & one small fruited one in them. I am guessing the key to them is lots of water and fertilizer. I will keep you posted on them.
Chiot's Run - Isn't it great how you can bury the tomatoes deeply, it solves all life's problems :-)
DP - I will look forward to watching your topsy grow.
Daphne - I am hoping too, tomatoes didn't even grow very well last year with all the rain. We are getting the same heat for the next few days. It is nice to feel heat again.