The EarthTainer "Farm" - Dec 17 - Goose Creek, MarNar, Early Girl, Mystery Red

[rnewste]

Late Fall continues to be pleasant with days in the upper 60s and nights staying above 40. Just picked a pair of Goose Creek off my 1 remaining plant:



Still nothing like the flavor to me. My Number 1 variety.

Early Girl is still doing fine:



The MarNar F2 plants that I put in about August 15 are now ripening up nicely:





These are more MarNar F2, and I just picked one and saved seed for next Spring:



So, over the past 9 months I have been able to grow out Soren's F1 seed, harvesting MarNar F2 seeds, and starting F2 plants in July; and now today fermenting F3 seeds.

I have a "Mystery Red" plant which grew under the tarp that I set the EarthTainers on. Rather than whacking it some time ago, I let it grow along side and up through one of the cages:



I have no idea of the variety, so it will be interesting to taste it. It seems pretty hardy to have survived all this time.

The trials of the Mammoth Snow Peas are doing well:



And the Avalanche (left) and Oregon Giant (right) seem hardy:



I would like to start seeing some flowers develop as I am really looking forward to stir-fry Snow Peas soon.

The Pepper plants are hanging in there:



....while the Celery continues its never-ending development:





The weather forecast for the next 10 days shows no sign of frost, so it looks like we may get lucky and have tomatoes on the New Year's Day table.

Raybo

[Structure]

Wow. Very impressive. We had a freeze last week that lasted several days. Wiped out everything that was still living.

Thanks for posting the inspiring pictures!

[rnewste]

Structure,

We hit a low of 35 last week, but we are now in a "warming trend" for the next 10 days. Go figure! This is my favorite time of year in Northern California. Just taken sitting on the deck 3 hours ago:



Raybo

[Dewayne mater]

Awesome awesome stuff Ray! Our season frosted out a couple of weeks ago, but, I picked a bunch of green ones and to my surprise, many of them are ripening and tasting good. Easily Sun Gold and Purple Haze are resulting in most similar to summer tomatoes, but the Terhune or Cowlicks (can't remember which) is ripening very well. Big beef - good enough for salsa.

Count me among the jealous of your virtually 365 tomato production! ;-)

Dewayne mater.

[rnewste]

Dewayne,

Depending on the night time lows over the next 2 weeks, I may have tomatoes outside into early January. The inside Victorian Dwarf in an InnTainer has set fruit now, so at worst, I will have maybe a 30 day garden "tomato gap" without any vine ripened fruit:





Next year, I've got to get the InnTainers planted in October to achieve my personal "quest" of a 365 day supply of off-the-vine tomatoes, all year around.

Raybo

[Barryblushes]

Hey Ray,great pics as usual. Ive tried celery twice (in the ground) and it was sooooooooooooo bitter , I couldnt eat it.How many plants do you have in your earthtainer are you growing, and what additives did you put in? Barry

[rnewste]

Barry,

As I understand it, there are two types of Celery. One is bitter, but is good for soups and stews. the other is the type you get in the Supermarket, which is quite mild, and a lighter color of green.

It is this second type that I am growing. This Variety is called "Tango" and I purchased it at Park Seed, as I recall. I just bought another Variety called "Utah" which is similar. I'll be trying both in an EarthBox this Spring (started seeds of both last week using the coffee filter / ziplock bag method).

I am told that you need a relatively constant temperature range for celery to grow properly, and muck-like soil. What is most appealing about growing celery is the intense aroma of it in the garden. I like to go out there and sit next to the plants for an hour or so, drinking in that fragrance.

Oh yeah, and the Organic nature of homegrown without all the chemicals is quite comforting. Just wish I could grow it all year around....

Raybo

[Barryblushes]

Ok thanks Ray for the info.By my count, looks like 12 plants per earthtainer.Im hoping its not too hard to start celery seeds.Thanks again. Barry

[rnewste]

Originally Posted by Barryblushes

Ok thanks Ray for the info.By my count, looks like 12 plants per earthtainer.Im hoping its not too hard to start celery seeds.Thanks again. Barry

Barry,

12 Celery plants per EarthTainer is perfect spacing. This pattern keeps about 6 inches between plants.

For Celery seed starting, the coffee filter in a ziplok bag is the far better way to go, rather than trying to start the seeds in potting mix. You can then pot them up when they are about an inch tall into the mix. Far better success rate!

Also, for the Grow Media, I would not recommend my 3:2:1 Mix ratio, but instead just use straight Potting Mix out of the bag. Celery likes moist, muck-like conditions.

Raybo