2016 Alameda, CA, Container Garden

[garyc1234]

I've written in some other posts about my container garden, but decided to track the progress here. Since it's already the end of July, I'll be backfilling a bit. I'm basically a newbie, but I did do something similar around 7 years ago.

I live in Alameda in the SF Bay area. Frankly, there are micro-climates everywhere in this region. The weather we get here is not necessarily the same as folks who live near San Jose. Since Alameda is really a small island, near the ocean, we get really temperate weather all year long. Even in the summer, it rarely breaks 80's, and the weather is usually around high 70s during the daytime, and mid-50s at night. It also rarely rains during the summer. There is really no frost here, but it rains a lot during the wintertime, which basically ends the gardening season for most.

My backyard is basically concrete (large tiles, really), which was why I'm doing a container garden. My house faces East, unfortunately. Therefore, my backyard doesn't really receive sunlight until a little before noon, and there are still some shadows where the sun is blocked by nearby houses (or my own house!). There is a thin walkway where I can put one row of containers, which will get sun for most of the day, since the sun won't be blocked by my house.

Here's what I decided to plant this year (and in retrospect, what actually germinated).

1884
Amazon Chocolate
Ananas
Arkansas Marvel
Berkeley Tie Die - Pink
Better Boy
Big Beef
Black and Brown Boar
Black Cherry
Black Crimson
Black from Tula
Black Krim
Black Plum
Black Seaman
Brandy Boy
Brandywine - Sudduth
Brandywine - Unknown Strain
Brandywine OTV
Brandywine Yellow - Platfoot
Brandywine Yellow - Unknown Strain
Carbon
Caspian Pink
Cherokee Chocolate
Cherokee Purple
Chocolate Stripes
Chukhloma
Country Taste
Cowlick's Brandywine
Druzba
Earl of Edgecombe
Eva Purple Ball
Gardener's Delight
Georgia Streak
Gold Nugget
Goose Creek
Green Giant
Green Zebra
Hawaiian Pineapple
Hazel Mae
Hess
Italian Heirloom
Jetstar
KBX
Kellogg's Breakfast
Marianna's Peace
Matina
Miami County Potato Leaf
Msia
Mortage Lifter - Estlers
Mortage Lifter - Quisenberry
Mortgage Lifter - Radiator Charlie
Neves Azorean Red
Omar's Lebanese
Pantano Romanesco
Paul Robeson
Pineapple
Pruden's Purple
Ramapo F1
Rebel Yell
Rutgers
Snow White
Sungold F1
Supersweet

[garyc1234]

This was something of a late project I decided to do this year. Therefore, I did not even sow seeds until March 11th. Most of the germination did not occur until around April 2nd. I basically had one seed starter container. I didn't use any special seed starter, but just used old potting mix I had from years ago. I put them in the container in my garage. I put some blue tape on one corner and labeled it, A1, and the bottom right corner F12. Therefore, each row was labeled A-F, and each column 1-12. I put these in a spreadsheet so I knew which seeds were planted where.

As you can see from the photo, since I used old potting mix, I got weeds! No biggie, I just pulled them out when I saw them or when I potted up. For my growing light, I only used a single fluorescent long bulb, which wasn't ideal because the seedlings got leggy, trying to get light. It worked well enough for me however. After my initial planting, I found out there were some more tomato varieties I wanted to grow, so I ordered seeds for those also. After I potted up the first set of seedlings, I did another round with new seeds, and some where no seeds from a particular variety germinated in the first round. In all, I did 3 -1/2 rounds like this. This was okay for me because I didn't have that much time each day to spend gardening or potting up. Obviously, this won't work for gardeners with a short planting season, but I'm hoping for a longer one where I live.

[garyc1234]

Here is my current garden/jungle as of yesterday. I have a mixture of plants in 3 gal SW pots (from Walmart), 4, 10, and 15 gallon containers. I also have around 7-8 plants in self watering 5 gallon Home Depot buckets, 8 plants in 4 Earthtainers (Raybo's older design), 5 plants in 15 gallon grow bags, and 1 plant in an Earthbox. I have some small tomatoes growing, but nothing close to ripe yet. For my potting mix, I used Miracle Grow Potting Mix. At the top, I put a ring of TomatoTone, and then another small later of potting mix. I had a decent amount of potting mix from past years, so for many plants, I would mix in some other potting mix with the new mix. I also had some compost, which I also mixed in some containers, but at a small rate. Unfortunately, I didn't track what mix went in what container. For labelling, I just put some blue tape with the tomato type on each container. (These labels were actually the same ones used when I potted up the initial seedlings.)

[garyc1234]

For some reasons, my photos were badly rotated, so trying again in a new post.

[Salsacharley]

Very nice! Looks like you've eliminated lawn mowing.

I bet you have fun filling those containers. How's your heat this year?
Your plants look very good.

[ReginaAnn]

Nice garden Gary!! Keep us posted. Looks great!

[MissS]

Very nice. I bet you are having a great time tending them. Your going to need some room between them so that you can prune.

[Shrinkrap]

Nice! Here are some of mine, in Vacaville, a few weeks ago.

[garyc1234]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. The heat this summer has so far been very moderate. The highs are only in the high 70s. Even next week, the forecast is for the highs to only hit 75.

I definitely need to add space between the plants, so I can water and prune. Unfortunately, I'm starting to see powdery mildew on some of my plants, so I need to spray neem oil before it gets out of control. The lack of spacing between the plants also does not help this situation at all.

Shrinkrap, your tomatoes look great! Which varieties did you choose?

[Pamela58]

Great looking plants!

[Shrinkrap]

E

Originally Posted by garyc1234

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. ......
Shrinkrap, your tomatoes look great! Which varieties did you choose?

From memory

New Big Dwarf
Dwarf Adelaide Festival
Boronia
Dwarf Chocolate Lightning
Dwarf Purple Heart
Dwarf Fred Tie Dye
Dwarf BrandyFred
Dwarf Golden Heart

[Shrinkrap]

The others.

[Runescape]

Impressive list and nice looking plants.

[PhilaGardener]

Your plants look great!

[Randall]

Looks great!