Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies and garden pics)

[MsCowpea]

(Hopefully ‘fixed’ the upside down issue)

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[TheDante]

Nice pics! I really need to research more about Florida´s weather

oh btw... loving Charles Wilber´s book. It arrived today. Thanks for recommending it to me

[PlainJane]

Looking so lush and healthy!

[MsCowpea]

Plain Jane, yes, everything looks fantastic. Thanks for commenting. It is a Great time to take photos. BUT I have started taking off diseased leaves On about 10 plants out of 200 (?). Sigh. And I had already sprayed copper to get a jump on the inevitable. Oh well, let the battles begin but they sure look pretty now.

Karen, so glad you like Wilbers book. Anyone into composting would love How To Grow World Record Tomatoes. Or anyone just into armchair reading about an interesting technique.

[encore]

nice plants, just wondering how you get them to grow upside down? lol---tom

[TheDante]

bless ya tom! shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Was afraid to ask too… I just flipped my laptop!

MsCowpea , please know that I am only teasing and being cheeky is all.. still love your pics and sharing them

[MsCowpea]

Are they really upside down? They are right side up to me.

[eyegrotom]

Yes they are upside down to me also

[PlainJane]

Right side up to me.

[MissS]

She posted them so that Whwoz could see them.

They are upside down for me as well.

[eyegrotom]

She posted them so that Whwoz could see them.

They are upside down for me as well.

That's a good one

[Ginger2778]

Nice looking plants, Elaine, but knowing you, I had no doubt!
Whatcha got covering your Earthboxes, and how are they secured? I would love to get rid of their excessively priced mulch covers.
The zinnias are so pretty. You do nice work girlfriend!☺

[MsCowpea]

Thank you Marsha. Love to have you come over when I am back in town. You would find it interesting as I am into
growing tomatoes different ways with different inputs. I also like growing greens just as much as tomatoes, maybe more .Asian greens, lettuces, etc.

For earthbox covers I use old bags from the potting mix. And just tie string around them. But you wouldn’t have all those bags as you reuse longer. I frequently put the plants in before the cover (as they are big) then I have to cut slits in the plastic and slide it up around the plants. I find what I do a PAIN in the neck so can’t really recommend it. I think I have tried everything over the years including Garbage can rubber bands, 1/4 inch elastic Knotted to fit. , clips that go around edge of earthbox. I liked those but they rusted too quickly. Maybe the real earthbox covers are worth the expense—if only they could be reused a couple times. Wonder if you could rinse them in bleach solution? In the past I just threw them away not thinking about it.

Have you seen the youtube video where they put plastic over the top and then tie a knot in each corner? That looks interesting.

Here are 3 of your African queens from the Master gardener sale. Thanks for growing all those plants. (is the pic upside down?)

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[Ginger2778]

They look fantastic! Very healthy. Thank you so much for supporting the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden.
I need to tell you what the soil test from Primiere horticulture came back with, and some of the advice from the tech support man, which was actually quite sound, and I wasn't yet doing. I can't get over the production this year.
And..... I discovered one more likely reason for all the death/failure to thrive in my seedlings. They switched the city water from chloramine to chlorine exactly when I was transplanting 2 week old healthy seedlings to their 3.5 inch pots. I carefully unpotted a few of the dying seedlings, and the stems were slick! Next year I'm going to use well water from our sprinkler system.
The photo is upright.
I need to take some photos. Yes, let's get together and visit each others.
I think I have your phone number, can I call you in January?

[MsCowpea]

Marsha, absolutely. The thing is my seedlings were so poor and wouldn’t grow either. Sickly. Never had that happen.
I didn’t think they would ever grow but Derek saved a bunch and they recovered once in the ground or big pots.

Hi Karen, I like ‘cheeky’ peeps. The problem is if I flip my iPad the upside down pics would still be upside down. That wouldn’t correct them.

[Barb_FL]

Elaine - your garden looks fantastic. The initial pictures were upside down but your last picture of the African Queens was rightside up.

I tried different methods for the shower cap including compactor bags (Home Depot $10 for 30 of them), I did the clips, connecting zip ties to wrap around, and even one year did bunge cords ,and last season I went the lazy person's method of just letting the cage keep it secure. All was well except weeds grew into every earthbox. (I have weed barrier everywhere but It is crazy windy where I live and just enough lift to let those weed seeds in). This season I went back to the shower cap and am happier. On Black Friday, I bought 50 more when they had their sale and free shipping. Still a rip off.

What are your cages?

Please talk about your grow mediums you mentioned.

[MsCowpea]

Barb, thank you. I am out of town but will post more about different mediums we have tried when I get back.
Our cages are concrete reinforcement wire. Holes are drilled in the earthboxes and cage secured with electrical zip ties. If it is super windy and the plants are big they can tip over but doesn’t happen to frequently. We would then brace with concrete block or anchor them together somehow.

I did compactors bags too. Nice heavy bags. I also have red mulch plastic and silver mulch plastic-sometimes I cut them to fit but they are very thin.

[TheDante]

@MsCowpea
Love your garden patch…. this might be a silly question, all your toms are grown in some form of a container, it appears that you avoid growing them in the ground/soil/compost?

My guess is some kinda pest in the soil?

Our main pests are field mice (voles) despite having 4 cats! I grew several tom plants outdoors in the ground and the voles seem to leave them, whew!

btw, would it be ok if I address you as Elaine too?

And the pictures at the top are now definitely right side up and oh, how many tom plants did you grow in these pictures?

[MsCowpea]

Hi Karen, probably around 50/50 Inground/containers. The 3rd picture down (see first post) looks like containers but they are just mini raised beds, open completely on the bottom. They are drainage pipes, which were about 10 feet long , cut up. Ditto, first picture, only bigger. NOTE: ARCH ENEMY STROLLING ON THE GRASS. Loves, loves, loves all brassicas and
Lettuces. Hates tomatoes! One time had 17 in my yard.

Round ‘raised beds’ have only been planted out in tomatoes for years and years, needed a break this year. They allow me to conduct Experiments. Plus I like them.

SECOND PIC : INGROUND. (Few days ago)

THIRD PIC: GREENS 2018?

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Elaine

[TheDante]

PEACOCKS! You have them running amok in your garden patch! up to 17 of them!

Thanks for the laugh Elaine.

I wouldn´t have thought they find tomatoes not up to their palate.

They are gorgeous creatures! My favourite birds are the Robin, Hummingbird and Pitta - click on the video below the page and check out their gorgeous colours too

https://www.hbw.com/species/blue-winged ... oluccensis

Used to have the wooden boards for our raised beds too, but they harboured slugs especially during wet days and with time, the wood disintegrated quickly too. Raised beds can easily be set up without these wooden sides - thanks to Charles