Tomatoes In Milk Jugs April Update

I wanted to catch you all up on how those tomato plants I sowed in milk jugs are doing.

It has been at least 10 degrees cooler than normal for the past 2 months which is bad enough, but add to that record rain falls and record cloudy days for both months and that adds up to some slow growing when it comes to my tomatoes.  They are still alive and growing slowly and once the weather perks up (hope hope) they will take off like rockets.

Cold nights, chilly days, hail and a lot of rain and still growing.

You can see the hail damage on the leaves from those times I wasn't able to get them covered in time.  I sort of have this "either you will live or die" thing going on in order to relieve a lot of anxiety that I used to have about growing vegetables.  Besides, I get tired of running outside to pop the covers back on them and honestly...I'm not one for plants that need babying.

True leaves still look okay so I think we're in the clear

There is some better looking growth coming on which is encouraging and relieves any anxiety I may have when I remember that I spent more on seeds this year.  I guess I have been just a little worried they would die from our wintery spring weather.

With better weather today and this weekend I will be transplanting them into their own little pots before their roots become a tangled mess and plan on keeping them under our front porch with its sunny southeast exposure and warmer cement and brick heat sink action and hope it will help them grow better.  I hear tomatoes don't grow unless its 57 degrees but these have been growing in spite of the low temps all be it very slowly.  Well, I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way, before I forget, I wanted to let you know I plan on am setting up plastic covers to help warm the soil where they will be planted so I can get them in the ground before the Fourth of July.  Wish me luck and stay tuned.

Here's the link to how to do yourself.

Milk Jug Update and Other Garden Observations

For those of you who have been keeping up with my milk jug science project I have some updated photos to share.  These were taken a couple days after our freezing temperatures last week.

They should make it just fine.

Different varieties have different cold tolerances...this is a good thing to know

I got lazy and didn't bother to pull them up close to the house and figured...live or die.  I am happy to report they did just fine and are now sitting out in one of the raised beds.  Though their tops don't look like they are doing much, those roots are growing and I can't wait until I can finally plant them.

The flower stems of brussel sprouts are very yummy and tender.

While I was poking around out back I discovered blooms erupting on my left over brussel sprout plants.  (Oh yummy!)  They were tender and sweet and juicy...I love garden grazing.

Volunteer potato showing up in the garlic bed means there is garlic smashed potatoes in our future.

Across the isle from my grazing spot a bonus potato plant poked its head up in the middle of the this years garlic bed.  There seems to always be one I miss.

New growth on Lavender in early April

Across the yard new growth on my Lavenders which gave me a lovely flutter of hope.  I have Lavender plans.

My favorite Rhubarb

Then I saw the rhubarb. I have two types of rhubarb in my garden. One I spent good money on that turned out to be the puniest green stemmed variety known to man and which sports more blooms than I ever knew possible for a rhubarb and the other, a fat stemmed luscious ruby red version that I am still waiting to see some produce from.  Why do the things we really want seem to take so long to get established?  Oh well, all good things are worth waiting for.

That "other" rhubarb plant in bloom

Oh and before I forget...I had pulled up a start of the favorite rhubarb that I thought had died last year and ITS ALIVE!  Maybe there is hope for my rhubarb patch yet.  WOO HOO!

Slugs have begun to munch at Patty's Garden Buffet

In a corner stock pile of containers I saw this.  I had tossed these variegated Iris in a pot last fall hoping to get them in the ground but here they are...growing in spite of my neglect and have now become the main course on the slug's garden buffet line.  I best be getting the slugs baited or these babies will be ribbons in a few days.

Golden Bay shines this time of year.

On the way out to the garden the golden Sweet Bay, always shining, called to me like a siren song with its glowing gold foliage.  I have the plain green variety too but when I saw a photo of this plant in a cobalt container...it was just too much.  It has been my siren ever since.

Wanda Wanda beautiful Wanda

As I was leaving the back yard I spotted my little 'Wanda' Primula blooms sparkling in the shade of our fence.  (Oh my heart be still.)  I love these little beauties and it seems they like my garden too.

Happy Gardening!


Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Tomatoes In Milk Jugs? Seriously?

I hate paying the retail prices for plants I can grow myself don't you?  What was that you say?  You don't know how to grow plants so you always buy your tomatoes?  Well I hope this post will change your mind.  You don't need a greenhouse, you don't need lights or heating mats or other costly stuff to grow your own tomatoes.  If you have empty plastic milk jugs, some duct tape and some potting soil...oh and the seeds of course, you can grow tomatoes at yourself.

First the seeds....here are my tomato varieties this year...Gardeners Delight Cherry Tomatoes, Ananas Noire, Cuore Di Bue and Japanese Black Trifele...oh and Pineapple ground cherries.  I am total a sucker for yummy sounding descriptions and beautiful rich colored photos I have a hard time settling on varieties because they always come out with new ones.  I hope this works...now where are those milk jugs.  Oh and if something goes wrong and this doesn't you'll get the advantage of learning from my experience without any of the pain.

Seed packets at the ready.

Backstory:  When I first heard about this method of growing tomatoes from my good friends Barb and Don who live across the Columbia River and at a higher elevation from us I was very curious and actually sort of skeptical.  They've done this for years and told me it produces the stalkiest, hardiest plants they have ever had.  I was like the rest of us who have been used to traditional greenhouse grown tomatoes or those grown in the kitchen window with the lanky spindly stems and was a little suspicious but last year gave it a try for the first time.  It didn't make much sense to me until I remembered what I had read in "Four Season's Harvest" by Eliott Coleman about how they grew peppers and remembered what I had seen in the greenhouses while working for a plant grower.

A pepper plant that does not have some breeze blowing across its will have a weak stem.  Wow...just like our muscles need exercise!  That was so cool!  The cooler weather keeps the plant from growing too quickly too and makes the cells in the plant tougher and less like the skin of a baby which is exactly what those plants grown in green houses are and why they need to be hardened off.  They are a bunch of greenhouse coddled babies.

I am not one who enjoys coddling my garden so I was seriously hooked into trying this method out.  Last year I did it for the first time with great success.  Even the cooler than normal summer didn't stop my super duper tomatoes and they all grew very well.  Those stems were really buff!  I'd never seen stems that strong.

Buff Baby!  Lookin' good!

Instructions:  Grab those milk jugs and follow along.

I use a good sharp serrated knife instead of a hot knife...no fumes.

Cut triangular holes in each of the three shoulders of the jug and then cut 4 of the same in the bottom for drainage.
The next step is to cut around the middle so you have a way to get those plants out...OOPS!  What have a done!?!
 

OOPSIE!   I cut it all the way off.

Well...thank God for duct tape is all I can say.

A note to self...Do not cut!

That's more like it.

After cutting them all I filled the bottoms of each with regular potting soil leaving about 1" space to the top so there was enough room for a top coat of seedling mix that will go over the seeds.

Seedling mix is not as heavy as potting soil and easier for seeds to sprout through.

Seeds sown, containers marked and watered in.

I put a plant tag in each container with the variety name on it and then mark on the outside of each container what is inside so I don't have to open them up to see which is which.  Be sure to use a UV stable marker when you do this.

Now its time to close the sides with duct tape.  (The next time I buy a roll of this stuff I'll get it in colors I think...we have enough gray around this time of year.)

Love that duct tape!

So I repaired my boo boo on the one container with duct tape, taped the top and bottoms closed and set them on a large jellyroll pan up on the freezer where the warmth will help germinate the seeds more quickly.

Warm and cozy, now to wait.

Once they start to germinate they get to go outside on the front porch in the sunshine.  The only other thing I'm going to need is one of those clear plastic tubs but that part comes later on. Stay tuned!

Oh and while you are waiting head on over to "Thanks for Today" where they are once again doing the "Gardener's Sustainable Living Project" and enter to win one of several prizes. Gardener's Sustainable Living Project 2011

Winter Sown update #2 They all sprouted!

Oh I am so happy I just had to show you!  I am twittering like a momma bird over her babies today.
The winter sown seeds I sowed a few weeks ago have all sprouted.  These were sown back on February 17th and it has been a cool and very wet March here so it took a bit more time than normal.  The little tubs have had no cover though I did have to bring them inside for one night because temps in the 20s.  Otherwise they have sat happily on the front porch just minding their own business and doin' their thing.

Usually a bit erratic to germinate, even the Parsley looks good 

This will make a lot of dinners

YIPEE!  Even those leeks I paid too much money for have sprouted!

I'm saved from the shame!  They sprouted!

Red Russian and Dwarf Scotch Kale is doing great.  I'll have some plants to share.

Endives are not doing as well yet as I had hoped...but there are a few babies.

Bok Choy and Brussel Sprouts lookin good! (yummy)

Florence Fennel just crashed through the soil surface and is growing really fast!  WOOT!

It's time to get busy and prepare their beds and thankfully our weather is not going to be as wet as it has been.  They grow fast at this stage and won't have the luxury of winter's pace from here on.  The thing I want to avoid is a lot of tangled roots so transplanting will be easier.

Oh by the way...my tomatoes are sown in their milk jugs too.  I'll be posting on those very soon!

Winter Sown Seeds Update

So a few weeks ago I started some vegetable seeds in recycled milk jugs and butter tubs.  Winter sowing is one of those ways gardeners keep from going completely insane when its snowing outside and winter seems like it will never end.  Its a great way to get a nice early start on early season veggies too and save a bundle by growing your own.  I have instructions on how I use the milk jugs in my previous post.

So today it was a spring-like mid 50 degrees kind of day with high clouds and no wind...oh joy!  A perfect day to play outside in the garden.  Me I grabbed my camera to get these photos to share with you on the progress of my veggie babies.

Probably about 10 days to transplant

Endive germination is slower than I had expected.

Bok Choy getting its roots under it.

 These tubs have been outside all but one night when it dipped below 20 degrees.  They were placed on top of our freezer where its a bit warmer to get them to start germinating.  As soon as one seed sprouted, out they all went onto the front porch where they get the sun most all day.

Ruby and Green Streaks Mustard...oh yummy!

This is a little disappointing, nothing up yet. 

The other swiss chard variety doing good

These better grow.  They were pricey seeds.

Dependable collards are doing fabulously

And I found a fly to ID while I was shooting the pictures.

It won't be long and it will be time to sow the tomato seeds in these milk jugs...that is another blog post so stay tuned.

Happy Gardening!


Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Sow Early: Winter Sowing for the Veggie Garden

It was a gorgeous sunny day out today and I had just enough caffeine in me to set me into a whirl of activity.  Ok...I went a little nuts at the nursery buying seeds but hey, the front yard is getting an overhaul anyway and the way I look at it, if I have plants that need to be planted then at least there will be something besides weeds taking up space this year.  The thought makes me pretty happy actually as I've long wanted to start growing more edibles in the front yard and I have been saving my milk jugs and butter cartons for a couple weeks to sow seeds into so today was the day to get going sowing our veggies.

I was not going to buy anything more than a package of parsnips and parsley seeds

I have tried a number of different methods for cutting into plastic milk jugs but my all time favorite is my little serrated kitchen knife...the same knife I use to slice tomatoes with.  It goes through that plastic like butter once you get it started.  I've tried hot knives and Xacto knives and found both to have draw backs that the serrated knife doesn't have.  By the way its an old fashioned serrated blade.  The new fangled so-called serrated blades don't seem to work as well either.

This knife was made in heaven I'm sure of it.

How to cut the milk cartons came from a great website http://www.wintersown.org/ .   Trudi Davidoff, the founder of the site, has done a fantastic job of providing inspiration and a place for community so if you want to learn more go check it out.  I first stumbled upon the winter gardening concept several years ago at GardenWeb.com back in the day when Trudi was moderating the winter sowing forum there.  Her passion for this type of gardening and seed saving was inspiring.  The woman is a gift I'm tellin' ya. She has a generous spirit and a gift for encouraging others.  We could use with more people like her in this world and in these times.  So back to what I'm doing with that knife and the milk jugs.

The thing about using the milk jugs is that they make wonderful little green houses.  People in cold climates and those of us in moderate climates can get a lot of growing done without the need for a greenhouse by using this method.  Milk jugs are easy to cut holes into for ventilation and so some rain will help to water the seedlings as they grow making the fussing over watering way less.  The other thing is that the seedlings don't need to be hardened off and are stronger, stouter plants instead of the spindly little things that are produced when we try to grow starts in the house and sometimes in green houses.  These reasons makes me like this method a lot.

To get started you need to cut vent holes in the shoulders of the jug and the same in the bottom for drainage.  I almost forgot to cut the holes in the bottom on these but don't you.  It's really important that the seedlings get good drainage or they will rot or drown, both of which are not the results we are looking for here.

The jugs have 3 good spots for air circulation vents at their shoulders

The 3 holes I nearly forgot...that would have been very bad.

The next thing you need to do is cut around the middle of the jug starting at just below and to the side of the handle, cutting all the way around and stopping just other side of the handle.  Do not cut the top off completely, severing the top from the bottom.  You need to keep the top attached just enough to be able to fold it back on those days when its warmed enough so the seedlings can enjoy a little more sunlight.

Cut with enough attached to be able to bend it back.

Finally I decided that not only would I write out plant tags for what was sown in the containers but I would write on the outside what was on the inside...that could come in handy at some point.  The first time I wrote in regular Sharpie marker...this will more than likely fade, so I decided to do a little science project to demonstrate the difference between UV stable markers like the Sharpie industrial types and the regular markers.  We'll see how long the regular Sharpie ink lasts.

Regular Sharpie marker is doomed to disappear with sunlight.

Now to wait and see.

The jugs need some planting media in them so to keep the cost down a bit, instead of filling the containers with seedling mix which is pretty expensive, I fill the jugs part way with regular potting soil which costs about half of what seedling mix does.  I don't recommend garden soil for this as it is too heavy and when you go to separate the seedlings their roots will be more apt to tear than with the potting soil.

Note that there are two tags so I don't forget what's sown here.

Next I scatter the seed on top of the potting soil.  I don't worry about spacing.  Most of what I am sowing doesn't really care.  The ones that are sensitive to transplanting I will direct sow in the garden so you can just scatter the seeds randomly unless they don't appreciate being transplanted.

Seedling mix is a screened lightweight media that seedlings can grow through with ease.

Next I cover the seed with seedling mix to the depth of whatever the instructions say.  So if the seed is sown to a depth of 1/4" that is how much seedling mix I put over the seeds...simple simple.

Still need  a piece of duct tape on each of the cut sides but you get the idea.

Secure the top closed using duct tape and set in a warm location.  Along the foundation of a south facing wall works great.  Don't put the lids back on the jugs as this is part of the ventilation system for your new mini greenhouse and how the plants are watered when it rains.  

Duct tape, duct tape, la la la...

Sitting in the sunshine on a February day.

Cement is a great heat sink to help keep the plants a little warmer.

The containers pictured above in the black pan were sown the same manner as milk jugs were and will stay on my southeast facing front porch which gets good sun and is covered so I can manage their watering better.  Another good thing is the cement and bricks act as a heat sink keeping the temperature there warmer than out in the yard.  By the way, the tub I found at Dollar Tree and I can easily cover it with a board if the temperatures are thinking of heading below freezing.   It also work great for watering seedling containers from the bottom, which is a really good idea as most hoses will quickly dislodge seeds with the force of the water coming out of the nozzle unless one uses a mist setting on the hand held sprayer.

Here is a list of what I sowed today if you are wondering.  Leeks, Swiss Chard, Endive, Florence Fennel, Parsley, Mizuna Mustard, Kale, Collards, Bok Choy and Brussel Sprouts.  I'll be starting some annual and perennial flowers and my tomatoes and peppers this way too.  I'll let you know how it goes so stay tuned as there are a couple more tricks up my sleeve I'll be sharing with you.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.