What I learned this year

[HCWithAltitude]

What I learned so far this year (2015):

- don't be lulled into complacency by nice weather before Mother's Day. I have known this one for years, but the 4" of snow on Mother's Day was...annoying to say the least.

- experimentation is good.

- all the plants I grew from seed are much bigger and hardier now than the few I bought from the organic garden shop, even if those seedling were bigger than mine to begin with.

- the tomatoes & peppers are +much+ happier in self-watering containers on the deck. My vaguely controlled experiment of planting the same varieties grown side-by-side from seed has already born fruit. My container tomatoes are 12-18" taller than the ones in the ground at my community garden plot, and all of them have many flowers & green tomatoes. The ones at the plot are just coming into flower.

- Neem Oil is my friend.

- don't plant watermelons & cantaloupe before June 15, no matter how nice it is during the day. Need to start them under the lights later than I did this year.

- must try a new variety of cauliflower next year - the seedlings I started this year are still kinda wimpy compared to their broccoli cousins, who are like 5 times the size already.

- next year plant the carrots & radishes in the raised bed.

- Worth knows everything about irrigation.

- it's a good thing I didn't put in that irrigation this year, as I'm totally changing up my plot plan for next year. All tomatoes & peppers in containers on the deck, plot will have more beans, squash, cantaloup, watermelon, pumpkins, and one raised bed will be for strawberries.

- I can plant 3x as many peas much closer together next year. Don't believe the package directions.

- consider a sunshade for the peas.

- the thing where you're 'just going to go out for 15 mins to water'? Ha! Not a chance.

- wear the highest SPF sunscreen. We live much closer to the sun. See above.

- the gloves can only protect your hands from the 140 degree water if you WEAR them. Oh wait, wrong hobby. The gloves will only protect your hands at the garden if you WEAR them.

- if I find a variety I like, buy more seeds right away before they can be discontinued. Going to end up paying a pretty penny those now-hard-to-find seeds, aren't you?

- late night heirloom seed shopping can be dangerous, but is way cheaper than any other kind of late night shopping. $5/pack is nothing.

- the self-watering container experiment was successful. They survived the winter outside just fine. Not bad for $6.25 each and a little work. Playing with power tools is always fun.

- no one at the community garden cares that my gardening hat isn't fashionable.

- you people here at Tomatoville are a bad BAD influence on me. My spreadsheet for next year’s plan already has 21 tomato varieties on it. Not to mention heirloom melons and and and...

What have you learned this year?

[pauldavid]

You have learned a lot this year!
I have learned that too much rain is a bad thing.

[squirrel789]

Originally Posted by HCWithAltitude

- the thing where you're 'just going to go out for 15 mins to water'? Ha! Not a chance.

That's my favorite!

I learned:

- When it's not raining too much, I can spend hours checking on just a dozen plants without even realizing its now WAY past bedtime.

- Your growing medium in a container should always be versatile enough to handle whatever sort of atypical weather nature throws your way, like too much rain.

- That when it rains too much, and your medium retains moisture, your plants don't want to blossom or set fruit correctly.

- If you prune your plants aggressively in a large container it helps keep fungal infections at bay longer when it rains too much, but you'll need to buy a ladder.

- It's way better to plant fewer plants in your container next year so you don't have to prune aggressively if it rains too much.

- Not to talk too much about keeping fungal infections at bay or else one will probably strike, after it rains too much again.

- Too much rain can teach you a lot of things not to do next year, but Tville teaches you what it does to your plants, why it does that, how to help fix it and so much, much more

Sorry if that's a bit too much about the weather

[Gardeneer]

Wow ! HCW, and squirrel 789, You have learned a lot in just one season. lol
Joking aside, we live, make mistakes and HOPEFULLY learn from it. Smart people can also learn from somebody else's mistakes. Thats smart. hehe.

To me learning sometimes requires venturing into new territories, trying new things, having open mind, willing to take calculated risk.

I have learned not to hold my breath and be ready to face the worse in choosing a new variety, fertilizers, fungicides ...

-- hoops and low tunnels work.. I should have built one.
-- start as many as you have plce for them to plant. I have a hard time learning this lesson. But at least I am improving. hehe
-- keep notes , ( what , when , how ..). I am trying. Have a fungicide, fertilizing schedule notes.
-- Instead of telling yourself " I gotta do this, that ..". Get out there and just do it. This is another hard lesson to learn. working on it. hahaha

Gardeneer

[bower]

So far this season, I learned:
- that I should get all my greenhouse supplies in the fall, because they may not be available when I need them in winter/ early spring
- that my garden compost full of straw is not as rich as a fully finished product, and not broken down by the worms in the container soil as quickly as I thought
- I learned what sweat bees (halictid bees) look like, and that they overwinter in the ground
- that not a few of the anonymous insects in my garden are kinds of bees I didn't know about
- that my compost pile habits could equally be described as "building wild bee habitat", which is a fine fit for the 'bee sanctuary' but has to be kept in mind before bringing the compost into the "pollinator-excluded" greenhouse

Also learned:
- I hate promix, soggy crap
- celery can be overwintered in the greenhouse, and so can aphids
- I learned that some things about tomato colour genes can be seen in the flowers

[Labradors2]

Bower, what do you prefer to Pro-mix? I really like the PM-for-veggies (in the lime green bag) that I buy from Cdn Tire and Home Hardware. In contrast, the whopping great big bales of PM that I bought for my cold frames last year don't appear to have any nutrients and my lettuces haven't done at all well.

Linda

[bower]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

Bower, what do you prefer to Pro-mix? I really like the PM-for-veggies (in the lime green bag) that I buy from Cdn Tire and Home Hardware. In contrast, the whopping great big bales of PM that I bought for my cold frames last year don't appear to have any nutrients and my lettuces haven't done at all well.

Linda

Linda, I started out with some "all purpose seeding and potting mix" - according to the bag, contains peat, limestone and perlite. It contained vermiculite too. And spoor of fungus gnats. Smelled, no reeked like the underside of a windthrow spruce. I like that smell where it belongs... in the forest.
Then I got some "organic pro mix with mycorrhizae" from my farm buddies. Not as smelly as the first one but appeared to be just peat and perlite (and mycos). Not quite as soggy but still not very nice. Also came with fungus gnats - we all had em.
Neither had any nutes, had to use liquid ferts.
My seedling area is cool to cold.... ergo don't need to water often, but with this stuff, impossible not to get them too wet and staying wet for a long time.
The stuff that I like much better is a local product, a mix of peat and very nice quality compost made with fish waste. No longer available. I know the folks, they told me there's ;just no margin in it. They still have the compost, maybe I can mix my own with some ordinary peat (but not that stuff under the ol spruce.... never!

[Kikaida]

- Fabric Pots = royal P.I.T.A in the desert heat
- Fox Farm liquid ferts = Over priced
- There are two kinds of wilt = firm and floppy
- Start indoors on February 1st (I would be rolling in tomatoes if I did)
- Everything shuts down or slows to a crawl at 90+...Fruits? Ripen? Ha!
- Pretreat everything, don't wait for problems
- My area is mite paradise and I hate them
- Russet mites turn stems brown
- If not under control immediately, pull and toss plant
- Black Krim is not very hardy
- Shade cloth = 50% to 90f, 70% to 100f
- Stake while the plants are small to not damage roots
- Improve my staking
- Stay away from dyed mulch
- Mulch is essential
- Earthbox or variant next season
- Control plants away from the crop are good indicators on what your are doing right or wrong
- Control plant that will not be sprayed good for attracting caterpillars away from crop
- My hopes were a little too high for my first season, gonna do much better next year
- White spiders are my best garden friend
- This board is amazing

[Dangit]

I have learned everything I know about gardening this year. This is because of my switch from in ground planting to all container. The main take away so far is to watch the plants carefully and make adjustments as I go. Having the plants up off the ground helps with this. My veg planter soil is waist high, so it's easy to get up close and see what's happening.

Keeping detailed notes from day one has been a big help. It helps me to better monitor the results of any action I take.

The self watering feature has made a huge difference here in the land of 0 rain. I wish I had gone this route earlier.

If we have fresh vegetables, we eat more fresh vegetables.

Kikaida, You mentioned 50% and 70% shade cloth. How did you arrive at those numbers? Do you switch them out as the weather changes? I have my entire garden shaded with 40% and it seems to be working out well. It hasn't gotten really hot yet though. Since we are only a few miles apart, I'm very interested to know your thoughts on this.

Thanks

Dangit

[wildcat62]

---Spray plants for EB before I ever see a trace of it---
---Big Beef is a solid producer---
---Keep a close eye for cabbage worms---
---Need taller cages & stakes---
---Don't need near as many squash/zucchini plants as I normally plant---
---And they need to be spaced out away from each other farther---
---Tenderette is a very productive bean---
---Need to plow a bigger gardening spot---
---Concrete wire makes great tomato & cucumber containers---
---This is a great website---
---I love gardening---

[AlittleSalt]

I learned that there is a lot more to learn.

[pauldavid]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I learned that there is a lot more to learn.

Good one! Me too.

[Deborah]

I learned FINALLY that at 62 and a small woman I just cannot handle anything heavy anymore. Pots can't be bigger than I can get my arms around and no higher than about 10 inches. I'm a container gardener, my garden is my art, and I put more thought and more money on the beautiful containers than I do on the plants that go in them. Bags of potting mix can be only 1 cubic foot. Sigh...

[UFXEFU]

.I've learned it's more fun to start from seed than buy plants at the feed store.

[Kikaida]

Hi Dangit, the nursery near me recommended the 50% to start out with. I basically put my self in the plants shoes and under the 50%, it was tolerable up to around 90ish degrees. When the upper 90s started, I felt much less comfortable under the 50%. So I setup half with the 70% (60-70%). It felt noticeably cooler under the 70% and the plants were less wilted. Looking up at the sun, it is still very blinding and the plants aren't stretching. I still managed to get fruit to set into the 90s...they are growing very slow but I don't think that's due to a shortage of light, its just the heat. And for me, slow growth is good right now. The plants would become unmanageable for my attempt at a fall harvest.
-
Without the shade cloth, I had leaves burn to a crisp at 94 degrees.