Ah, the good life

[kygreg]

Roses in the foreground then earthboxes of peppers of which some can be seen on each side of the pic; and then 105 tomato plants spread out almost as far as my old eyes can see; behind me is a park bench on which I can sit and have glass of chilled sangria and listen to tomato blooms opening and the little green tomatoes growing. What else could one ask for? Yes, I do need help

[PaulF]

Ahhhh the good life. And good for you, Greg. May you keep that feeling forever.

[beatpoet]

nice looking garden. Just out of curiosity, whats the reasoning behind burying the 5 gallon buckets in the ground? There's a guy down the street from me who plants his tomatoes the same way and I've never thought to ask why.

[kygreg]

What I tell the kids in my neighborhood is that I am really growing buckets and only put tomato plants in them so people won't think I am crazy. In my case, the buckets are only half buckets - 5 gallon buckets cut in half and the bottoms cut out. I call them bucket sleeves. I dig a hole, fill it with my soil mixture and then tap the bucket sleeve and inch or so in the ground. As the young plants grow, I fill in around them with more of the soil mixture which maybe simulates being potted up. I don't have to add soil ammendments, water, etc to the whole garden. Also they act as a deterrent to a sharp garden hoe, cut worms, and my big feet.

[tjg911]

nice greg!

also what are the pink, green and white things that appear to be at the top of the stakes? the states are black? what are they? black pipe, plastic or steel?

tom

[cottonpicker]

beautiful.............serene............. comfortimg. HANG ONTO IT, BRO!!!!!!!!!

LARRYD

[kygreg]

The stakes are 5.5 or 6 ft T-posts; they are actually kind of forest green colored. My wife doesn't like the post sticking up there through the winter, so every year I have to pull them up and then pound them back in the spring. Luckily I have ammended the clay soil over the years with leaves and mulched them in and so the soil is in good condition and its not difficult to set the posts. The red, green, and white things are my version of strings around my fingers; they are memory aids.

The white things are 3x5 index cards. They are on the front row and the back row only and have the name of each variety in the short row written in pencil (I have found that pencil lead does not fade etc and is actually better than perma markers) and each card is laminated. I can refer to these cards when working with the plants or tracking production etc.

The red and green things are cut off small sections of those stryofoam water tube thingies that I get at the dollar tree store. The green ones are for Potato Leaf plants and the Red Ones are for plants that might produce extra large tomatoes and get special treatment, pruning etc.

I put the green ones on at planting to help me ensure that this plant should be a PL. I realize its a bit anal retentive, but that's the way I do it. One reason is that of the 105 plants there are 103 different varieties. Its only about this time of year that I can begin to remember without looking what variety is in what space. Of course some of the varieties are instantly recognizable by the plant and/or fruit.

[jhp]

Originally Posted by kygreg

One reason is that of the 105 plants there are 103 different varieties.

This begs the question... what variety(ies) did you plant more than one of?

Jen

[BigBrownDogHouse]

Originally Posted by kygreg

Yes, I do need help

That looks awesome!
With a garden like that, the wife and kids would have the house to themselves! I'd be outside every available minute! Great job!

[Mark0820]

Very nice job. Your garden is awesome.

[kygreg]

Thanks for your nice comments. I orignally had intended to grow 2 Black Cherry plants and 2 Mortage Lifter Bicolor - the former because friends and neighbors like them and the latter because MLB had the best flavor last year to me. One of the Black Cherry plants did not make it so I planted a another Sekai Ichi seedling where it was and now have 2 of those. I did this because although the Sekai Ichi I first planted looked great and healthy, when it got about 2 ft tall it started looking deformed and had little curly leaves at the top. It has bloomed so am waiting to see what it does. I may replace it.

[kygreg]

BigBrownDogHouse - that's a cutie holding that plate of great looking tomatoes. What variety are those?

[BigBrownDogHouse]

Originally Posted by kygreg

BigBrownDogHouse - that's a cutie holding that plate of great looking tomatoes. What variety are those?

My cutie(oldest daughter) is holding a plate of another cuties: Aussie's. Each one weighed in at 2 pounds each.
You talk about a tomato sandwich......with a regular piece of bread, that tomato hung off two inches on each side.

[kygreg]

I have grown Aussie in the past and got some nice ones, but none that size. They look awesome.

[jhp]

BigBrown, how did the Aussies taste?

Jen