Gardening

[hepcat]

I love zone 9. I've got peppers and tomatoes in the ground doing well, and a zucchini with leaves so strong you could practically set your coffee cup on them. Carrots are coming up, but the cucumbers I were germinating bit the dust. I'll wait a couple weeks and get some starter plants, though. I've also got green beans, a watermelon, and various lettuces ready to sow. Oh, and I just picked up some some crook-neck squash. We're going to eat well this summer if it kills me.

[famita]

Hep-post some pix! I'm so jealous that I have to wait at least one more month!

[Critical]

I totally envy you, hep! I can only do stuff in planters and, since it's all on my front porch, I can't do too much AND I have to worry about people helping themselves. No one took anything last year, but you never know. I'm hoping to start much earlier with my tomatoes this year. Because of the way my neighbor's trees are situated, I don't get such great light in April. I'll probably start planting in early May. Can't wait for fresh tomatoes! I may even try something else this year, too. Does anyone have suggestions about what would do well in pots? I'm in zone 9 too ().

[waywyrd]

Back when I lived in an apartment, I grew all kinds of stuff in pots. Tomatoes, peppers, even pots of beans, squash and cucumbers. I had one shallow, wide dish that I grew salad greens in, also. It's a pain to have to water every day - the heat here in summer is ridiculous, and dries out pots quickly - but the fresh veggies are worth it. I'd give just about anything you like a shot, Crit!

[hepcat]

I don't have too much experience with pots but I did lettuces in a planter last year late in summer and they did just fine.


My camera needs charging but these were some of my starts a week and a half ago.

[BritLit]

Something great I discovered a couple of years ago for growing things in pots or planters: moisture crystals. They're very inexpensive, come in bags at garden stores, look like little styrofoam beads. Just mix them in with your soil before planting: they hold the water "in" until the plant needs it, prevent the soil drying out.

[inthegarden]

hepcat your plants look great! How lucky you are to already have fresh veggies on the way. Have you ever tried straight neck squash? I can pick it smaller than the crook-neck, the seeds are not as big, there is not as much waste and it is easier to use when I bake it stuffed.
The tomatoes I started from seeds in January all came up...150 plants... I've never had that happen before. They are all in my much too small greenhouse waiting until its warm enough to plant. I've already put my neighbors and family members that garden on notice to not buy tomato plants cause I've got plenty to share...

Moisture crystals do work great in planters, a bit of caution if you have never used them before, take a small amount of the crystals and soak them in water before you mix them in your potting soil. This will allow you to get the right amount of soil/crystal mixture in your planter. I had a client call me one morning, she had added the dry crystals to her potting soil filled her planters, planted her flowers and then watered, the next morning the crystals had expanded and pushed some of her flowers out of the planter. You can find potting soil with the crystals already mixed in, just damped your soil before you plant.

[hepcat]

Straight squash is a good idea, too. I kind of wish I'd put in some sort of hot pepper but I was thinking it wouldn't be sunny enough so I passed them over.

[queenb]

As long as the container is big enough for the root system, most any garden veggies do well in pots, although I don't think you could plant enough beans or corn in one to bother with....

iTG, it's the first year all of my daffodils, flowering trees and so forth have made it without freezing in about 5 years. This is the prettiest Spring we've had in Georgia in a long, long, time. We've actually had enough rain, and no late cold snaps. I put a couple of tomatoes in one big pot a few weeks ago, and a few squash seed in another. That way,when, not if, the cold snap came I could drag it inside But that hasn't happened. I'll plant my 'real' veggie garden in another week or so.

[queenb]

The little squash I was talking about on the last post are now about to give me my first 'mess' of the years, and I have dozens of pea sized tomatoes--and one the size of a golf ball on the tomatoes I put out early. My broccoli should be ready next week; I was afrain it would get too hot for it, but no. I had to cover the plants at night a couple of times at night, but I will be doing this again next year. Everything I planted a bit later is growing fast, but isn't big enough to talk about yet. Inthegarden, a yellow squash has absolutely no chance of getting big enough for the seeds to be a problem in my yard . They just taste too good when they are little!