Are 5 Gallon Grow Bags Big Enough or Sq FT garden?

[angelique]

Hi All,

I have seeds from a few smaller varieties. I would like advice on where to plant these varieties:

Epoch
Puck
New Big Dwarf
Latah
Sophie's Choice

I have room for these varieties in my sq ft garden and in 5 gallon grow bags. I am leaning towards the sq ft garden because last year many of plants died in the grow bags due to the heat here in Sacto.

In the square foot garden, can I dedicate only one square to any of these varieties? I would definitely be interplanting other types of plants (possibly bush beans basil, nastursiums, etc) between the tomato plants.

Also, any opinions on Epoch and Puck would be great.

Thanks.

Angelique

[mdvpc]

Angelique=Puck is a very small plant, dwarfish. Sophie's is the same, even smaller than Puck.

[decius]

Angelique- One square should be big enough for Puck, New Big Dwarf and Sophie's Choice. The only one of those three which might be a problem is NBD; sometimes it gets bigger than expected. I'm just ordering Epoch this year so I don't know about it, but it is supposed to be a bush type (per the Sandhill catalog), so it should be OK . Sandhill doesn't specify a size for Latah, and I'm not familiar with that variety. i would plant something short in the square next to the tomatoes for ease in harvesting.

Elizabeth

[mdvpc]

Latah is a compact plant.

[amideutch]

Angelique, No way NBD is going to grow in a square foot. I grew it last year and it was as big as Neves Azorean Red and Chucks Yellow beefsteak. No Joke. Ami, doin it on the other side of the pond.

[angelique]

Thanks for all of the valuable information. Any opinions on taste would be great.

[decius]

Michael- Have you ever grown Latah? How was it?

Elizabeth

[mdvpc]

Elizabeth-I did grow it, but it was started very late for my fall garden 2 years ago-started in September or a little later and it produced, but I cannot say I gave it even close to a fair shake. It was a small plant, determinate I think, but didnt get appropriate sun and didnt do much for me.

By the way, I sent you an email last night about seed.

All the best, Michael

[creister]

New Big Dwarf gets pretty big, but I grew mine in a 5 gallon bucket. Taste was great. I really like this one and will grow 2 or 3 plants of this year. Same for Sophie's Choice. Very good tasting, good size and production for so small a plant.

[angelique]

Just curious, can citron compact, lime green salad and stick be grown in my sq ft garden? The bed is only 1ft deep so I think that I might have problems with stick (roots).

[mdvpc]

Angelique-Never grown in a sfq-but surely lime green salad can easily. CC, I think. Never grown stick.

[ddsack]

Stick should do great in a SFG. I grew three in a row at the end of a 4 ft wide bed. Very ornamental and lots of tomatoes, but I wouldn't grow it for the taste, if you're trying to get the most out of your SFG.

[angelique]

Super. I might give Stick a go. I had about 10 seeds left from last year. I started them yesterday. Depending on how many emerge, I'll keep a couple for myself. Last year, Stick was a big hit w/DH's coworkers.

[angelique]

Thanks again. So far, I plan on planting the following in my Sq FT garden:

lime green salad
citron compact
stick
epoch
sophies choice
puck
latah

Should I also add Kootenai?

I also plan on growing, Dwarf Cherry Rose Nasturtiums, 5 varieties of bush beans (9 per sq) and edamame (??? per sq) in the Sq Ft garden. Hopefully, they can all coexist happily.

Since, I have 27 squares are should I add any other short growing veggies/flowers?

In addition to having the sq ft bed, I also have:
1. 4x30' zukes and cukes this year

2. 7x4' (nematode problems/ will try tomatoes again. I added a lot of composted to this bed over the year.

3. 9x3' allium bed (will be used for cukes)

4. a few grow bags (5 gal for peppers, 12 gal for tomatillos)

5. DH will be making me 6 homemade earthboxes for tomatoes.

I hope this info. helps for suggestions.

My tomatoes did horrible in the grow bags last year. I don't plan on giving them another try. I think that I will be brave and try miniture white cukes, Minnosota Midget, Charentais (seeds wer free/why not) and sakata sweet melon in the 12 gallon bags.

[dcarch]

I have my Sophie's in two-quart pots. Because I wanted to see what's the smallest pot I can put them in.

They seem to do OK, I have gotten a few nice fruits, the only thing: I need to water then at least once a day.

dcarch