City-Slicker Texas Terrace Container Tomatoes

[Vespertino]

I've upgraded from a NYC apartment with no outdoor space (and a brown thumb, but I blame the north-facing windows) to an apartment in Texas with a western-facing terrace. Delighted that actually have an outdoor space I've dedicated my free time to cramming every inch of that terrace with something green.

Considering my lack of space, hot & dry weather, and forgetfulness with watering I decided to use earthtainers for the tomatoes. All other herbs/plants will be planted in SIPs once they're large enough. With a few exceptions I've grown most of my plants from seed.

My first tomatoes are 2 "Red Brandywine" potato leaf variety- bought from a store. I'm not sure if these are true "brandywines" or not, but as long as they taste fantastic I don't really mind what the true name is.



Here they are a little older:



And finally in the earthtainer!



First brandywine blossom and fruits beginning to set:














I used the electric toothbrush +spoon method to pollinate the blossoms since there's not a single bee to be seen yet. Luckily most of the blossoms (not many yet) have set fruit, but I've had about 4 blossoms drop off the plant. I don't know if that's because of the unusual, repeated cold snaps we've been getting in DFW or if I might be have made a mistake with the soil or fertilizer.

I'm growing some lavender hoping that when they bloom they will attract some pollinators to my patio. But for now there's not enough flowers for any bee to find interest.

I decided to grow my sungolds from seed. I don't have any lights, or a heating pad, I just late nature take it's course- which so far means my sungolds are a wee bit small. Here's some pics of their growth:







I'm planting the sungolds in the second earthtainer this weekend and giving away 2 plants. One of them (not pictured) is a runt, which isn't doing so well.

More updates later! woo!

[Deborah]

Nice ! I'm a patio gardener too and I think this looks great !

[Vespertino]

Thankies! Deb, do you have pics of your patio plants? Id love to see!

Right now I'm worried about my one sungold runt- I might be too much of a newb to save him. He didn't seem to know which direction was up once he sprouted an looped around a few times before finding the sun. After that he was stunted. I put him in a SIP to keep him watered.



Then I noticed the other night that the underside of the leaves were turning purple- possible phosphorous deficiency! I noticed the soil in the SIP (made from a soda bottle) was very damp, had algae growing in it and had a thick sulfury-rotten egg fart smell. So I put him in a new peat pot with a dryer mix and a shot of liquid fertilizer. From there it was into the seedlings tray with the clear cover on top to keep him warm.

The next day he was all shrivelled and wilted to the ground. I thought he was done for. I'm guessing the box got too hot and humid. so I removed him to let him cool off for the night- just in case. Now he looks better! The underside is far less purple and the leaves firmed up again!!!




I was so sure i lost him but he bounced back!! The sick little runt has some fight left in him yet!

[lakelady]

Yay for you on the patio garden! Don't feel bad, I had a couple of runts this year too, for some odd reason, just a few that were great in years passed, this year look sickly. I keep hoping for some nice hot sun to kick them into gear.

[tlintx]

Is it possible your SIP mix was off? I've noticed my peat/perlite mixes stay wet awhile, and my seed starting mix takes a good week to dry. Don't know if it's the humidity or what.

On the plus side, I thought I spotted mold on one of my seed trays but it turned out to be dryer lint. My seed table is directly under the vent.

Good luck with your Sungold, it's a very highly touted variety!

When I saw your post title I thought we'd be discussing these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/CITY-PICK...5#.UX3OwuG9KSM

Tl

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by lakelady

Yay for you on the patio garden! Don't feel bad, I had a couple of runts this year too, for some odd reason, just a few that were great in years passed, this year look sickly. I keep hoping for some nice hot sun to kick them into gear.

Is it just me or is it natural never to give up on the little runts? Being so new at this I wouldn't know a lost cause if I see one, but I don't mind taking care of the little guy. We had a hot day today, and he's looking a little better!

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by tlintx

Is it possible your SIP mix was off? I've noticed my peat/perlite mixes stay wet awhile, and my seed starting mix takes a good week to dry. Don't know if it's the humidity or what.

On the plus side, I thought I spotted mold on one of my seed trays but it turned out to be dryer lint. My seed table is directly under the vent.

Good luck with your Sungold, it's a very highly touted variety!

When I saw your post title I thought we'd be discussing these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/CITY-PICK...5#.UX3OwuG9KSM

Tl

Yes, it's very likely that my mix is off. I was using a germination mix but it's turning out to be too wet for the SIPs, it's almost swampy. I'll try mixing in more pearlite or use a different potting mix with more bark/mulch in it. In the meantime the little runt is living in a cheap-o peat pot with a square-foot gardening mix and seems much happier with the change. He's still a bit purple but I don't think I can fix that until I get a different liquid fertilizer with a higher ratio of phosphorous (probably next weekend).

[Vespertino]

Today was a little frustrating. I hoped to build my second earthtainer only to realize I forgot to buy a net pot. Home Depot and Lowe's didn't have any, so I have to make a pilgrimage to Marshall Grain. My sungolds will have to wait, but I can't procrastinate much since they're starting to grow the beginnings of flower buds (at last!!).

And I seem to be losing a battle against Aphids on my Ducher rose .


I have an insecticidal oil spray I use whenever I see them leeching off a stem, but just when I think they're gone (and I stop spraying) they come back. I'm very nervous since my balcony is cramped quarters and I don't want the aphids jumping from my rose to the tomatoes.

Here's another pic to show how little space I have:



On the bright side my brandywine tomatoes seem to be alright, I'm worried since some of these set in very cold weather.



I'm also seeing a bit of blossom drop. Because of the repeated, and unusual temperature drops I'm wondering if that's messing with the blossoms. I had a bunch of blossoms that were starting to mature when DFW was hit by the last two cold snaps. After that the blossoms seemed "stuck", they didn't mature or blossom open when the weather warmed up this week. Instead some are turning yellow and dropping off before they even had a chance to open.



We're in for another cold snap this Thursday, I'm going to wrap the plants in a plastic bag overnight and hope that helps. If I still have this problem with blossom drop during warmer weather I'll have to start troubleshooting on where I may have gone wrong.

On the bright side my pineapple mint and borage are doing well. My thyme was taking forever to grow so I broke down and bought some from the nursery. I was hoping to grow everything from seed, but it's turning out to be too ambitious of a project for a newbie like me.



There are 2 new blossoms on my brandywine, and they have a date with an electric toothbrush tomorrow.

[tlintx]

You are definitely utilizing your floor space!

Have you thought about going vertical? There are lots of options for going up, from hanging baskets to PVC pipe planters to cedar ladders.

I'm a little obsessed with vertical right now because I'm trying to get a lettuce wall going despite the heat. I'm like the opposite of a zone pusher -- I'm a zone lagger.

I had the same experience with thyme and basil from seed. Came up quick, then just sort of sat there about a 1/4 off the soil. I finally planted them anyway rather than abandon them.

[Vespertino]

Yeah I have a few things in the works to get some plants off the ground. I've got 3 flowerboxes (for herbs) I'll be using rail brackets to hang on the inside of the terrace, and I'll be making a ladder planter shelf (for the borage and some lavender). Sadly I'm not allowed to drill holes to have hanging baskets, so there are some things I just won't be able to do. Another complication is the tomato plants themselves: the terrace faces west, and that side will host the tomato plants- which will eventually grow big enough where they may screen off much of the light and make it difficult to grow much else. But I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

On a sad note, my two lavender seedlings (i had a very poor germination rate with those- bad seed packet maybe?) died along with my greek oregano and tarragon seedlings- for the second time in a row. I'm having trouble with getting some of my herbs to thrive after sprouting, which is why I just bought some thyme. It looks like I'll be adding oregano, tarragon and lavender plants to the shopping list.

[lakelady]

you are doing great! So nice to see you utilizing the little balcony space, and the chair to watch your babies grow is a nice touch!

I always try to save the little guys ...wait with bated breath and make a few tiny changes one at a time until I hit on what might be the issue. I have a teeny tiny Mule Team that is 2 months old with 1 set of true leaves. lol...poor guy is just hanging out. Looks okay, just preemie. I keep hoping the hotter weather, and off he'll go. Won't be saving any seed if he does survive just in case it's defective. I have some herbs I'm trying to grow from seed too and other than parsley, every thing else is in slo-mo. Have you thought about a pallet garden on the balcony?

[tlintx]

I love the idea of a pallet garden, but for me anything leaning is a no go.

Rosemary seems to do well here in containers, by the way, as long as it's not too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold, too sunny, or too shady. Why yes, I have killed a few, how did you guess?

Sorry to hear about your herbs! Mine aren't doing much either; I think that's probably why people usually buy them.

Tl

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by lakelady

you are doing great! So nice to see you utilizing the little balcony space, and the chair to watch your babies grow is a nice touch!

Thanks! And you certainly guessed the purpose of the chair. It seems whenever I'm sitting in it I'm tending to my little babies.

Originally Posted by lakelady

I always try to save the little guys ...wait with bated breath and make a few tiny changes one at a time until I hit on what might be the issue. I have a teeny tiny Mule Team that is 2 months old with 1 set of true leaves. lol...poor guy is just hanging out. Looks okay, just preemie. I keep hoping the hotter weather, and off he'll go. Won't be saving any seed if he does survive just in case it's defective. I have some herbs I'm trying to grow from seed too and other than parsley, every thing else is in slo-mo. Have you thought about a pallet garden on the balcony?

I hope your little ones take off and grow soon I keep wondering if I did something wrong with my little runt or if he might be defective.

what other herbs were you growing? I've had a terrible time with half of the ones I've tried to grow from seed, the worst is chevril- no beginner's luck with that.

The pallet gardens are really clever, I love those but I need something a little steadier since I can't anchor it to the walls, and I need something free-standing. So I figured I'd build a step-ladder thingy.

Originally Posted by tlintx

I love the idea of a pallet garden, but for me anything leaning is a no go.

Rosemary seems to do well here in containers, by the way, as long as it's not too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold, too sunny, or too shady. Why yes, I have killed a few, how did you guess?

Sorry to hear about your herbs! Mine aren't doing much either; I think that's probably why people usually buy them.

Tl

Yeah, herbs have been 50-50 for me so far, then again since this is my first season gardening I'm probably making a ton of newbie mistakes and catching them too late. One suspected mistake is that the jiffy peat pots I'm using are too small and wick moisture away too fast. Since it's getting warm and sunny again and it seems like the soil inside is swinging between bone dry and soaking wet when I water them each day. I might switch to plastic growing trays next time.

I picked up a variety of rosemary that might work well for you, it's called "hill hardy" and it's drought and cold tolerant! The variety was introduced by Madalene Hill, a Texas herbalist. I picked one up in Feb and it's done just fine in the cold and the heat- I haven't managed to kill it yet!

[Dewayne mater]

Vesper - impressive work, especially given your limited space! Do you know your dates of plant out? You definitely have more fruit set than I do though we can't be 10 miles apart at the max. So, I'm trying to run down the different variables that could account for that. One is I used new tomato tone as my fertilizer because I had it. I've read on Tville that it is really inferior to other products under the new formula and won't use it again. Also, I see you use the toothbrush/spoon pollination method...that must be working well. I have really only had significant blossoms in last 7-10 days, so I think I may be a just little behind you. Well done.

Dewayne mater

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Vesper - impressive work, especially given your limited space! Do you know your dates of plant out? You definitely have more fruit set than I do though we can't be 10 miles apart at the max. So, I'm trying to run down the different variables that could account for that. One is I used new tomato tone as my fertilizer because I had it. I've read on Tville that it is really inferior to other products under the new formula and won't use it again. Also, I see you use the toothbrush/spoon pollination method...that must be working well. I have really only had significant blossoms in last 7-10 days, so I think I may be a just little behind you. Well done.

Dewayne mater

Hi Dewayne! Glad to hear that yours are starting to bloom up, I'm sure you're going to have a good amount of fruits setting very soon. The cold weather hasn't been kind to any of our plants, and it seems like everyone here in TX has had a bit of a slow-down with their plants. Mine had a few blooms before the last 2 cold snaps, it wasn't much but I think getting them fertilized with the toothbrush is what saved the day. Somehow they fruits managed to set in the cold, but they were TEENY and plant growth was sluggish until the weather started to warm up again.

I bought the Red Brandywine PL in February and planted it in the Earthtainer late March, I want to say around the 20th?

Since I'm very new at tomato gardening, my first instinct is to say that I probably lucked out and got a high-quality plant. It's from Baby's Greenhouse (sold at Marshall Grain), and I picked the stockiest ones I could find with big leaves. Since it was cold out for TX I'd bring the plants inside (before they were in the earthainer which is too heavy to move) almost every night- those were very spoiled plants. I'd fertilize every other week using Lady Bug Brand's "John's Recipe" fertilizer.

If anything else has made a difference, it's probably due to the earthtainer and the mix.

The mix used is Lady Bug Brand Square Foot Gardening Blend with pearlite (5 parts mix, 1 part pearlite). The Lady bug Sq Ft mix uses coir instead of peat, I read afterwards that coir might keep the mix too damp, but so far my tomatoes seem happy with it. I read one of Raybo's posts about a friend of his using 18 gallon earthainers having good success using 2 cups of dolomite lime (non-hydrolized) and epsom salts in each container. So I followed suit (slightly less salt, about 1 &1/2 cups) since I was using the same size container. I sprinked a little "Nature's Guide Tomato and Pepper Food" throughout the mix and filled a trench in the middle of the earthtainer with it (check out the earthtainer construction manual, it's a little hard to describe).

So far I have 4 fruits set on one brandywine, although I think only 3 are going to mature (there's one really tiny one that doesn't seem to be growing). I took these photos today:



And there's 3 on the other, similarly one of them is probably too small to make it and I'm only expecting the 2 larger ones to mature.



I hope that info helps! And I'm also sorry if it's too much info, since I'm new at this I was tying to recount everything I did.