My First Garden

OMIncorporated · May 12, 2014

Hi everyone! So happy to have stumbled on this forum, I have learned so much from everyone's posts. I have been working on a container garden at my balcony at my office and wanted to share my progress.

I am currently growing:

Tomatoes:

Cherokee Purple
Yellow Pear
Black Cherry
Sungold
Goliath
Hillbilly
Big Rainbow
Djena Lee (started from seed)
Chanasyk Early (started from seed)

Peppers:

Anaheim
Mini Red Bell
Numex Sandia (started from seed)
Jimmy Nardello (started from seed)

Misc:

Eggplant - Fairy Tale

The Cherokee Purple, Yellow Pear, Anaheim and Mini Bell Pepper got a month head start from the rest and already have a number of fruits.

Cherokee Purple

Yellow Pear - although they aren't pear shaped so now I am wondering if they were mis-labeled?

Anaheim Peppers

Cherokee Purple (Left) and Yellow Pear? (right) - the cherokee purples leaves have been curled like that for a few weeks now but it is producing fruit and blossoms so I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about?

Thanks again for the wealth of knowledge provided on this forum

kath · May 12, 2014

Welcome, and congratulations on a successful first garden! Fun to have a garden at work, too. Your plants look great- leaves that roll inward are quite common and can just be a sign of stress with regard to watering, temps, etc. It seems some varieties are more prone to it than others. Best of luck!

kath

MissS · May 13, 2014

Welcome and a great looking first garden. You are doing a very nice job. Keep us posted.

Patti

jmhammRN · May 13, 2014

Nice work. I wish I had a place at work to grow things. Then I could garden there and at home!!!! It would be a nice little break during a hectic day of work to go out and talk to some plants and stir up a little dirt.

peppero · May 14, 2014

Welcome and best wishes for your endeavors.

jon

Salsacharley · May 14, 2014

Good luck getting any "official" work done. If I was in your situation I'd be on the balcony all day.

OMIncorporated · May 14, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Good luck getting any "official" work done. If I was in your situation I'd be on the balcony all day.

It is so hard not to go up and check on them throughout the day, luckily I have Tomatoville to look at when I get those urges haha

OMIncorporated · May 16, 2014

Rut roh - I went up yesterday evening to check on things, and found this on the underside of one of my Anaheim pepper leaves -

What is it????? It was only on one leaf, but after looking more carefully I realized this plant is covered in little green aphids

I'm going to get some ladybugs today, and I pinched this leaf off, but should I get a spray?

Stvrob · May 14, 2014

They look great! As they get larger and the weather gets warmer they will need ever increasing amounts of water. The leaf curl might be a first sign that they are drying out a bit much between watering.

MissS · May 16, 2014

I do not know exactly what that webbing is. Perhaps some kind of spider mite.

As far as a spray for aphids and other bugs, I just use a little gentle dish soap mixed with water in a spray bottle. The mix will suffocate any insects. You may have to repeat this to get things under control.

Patti

OMIncorporated · May 19, 2014

Thanks Patti! I am going to try some kind of spray this evening.

OMIncorporated · May 19, 2014

An update - (I'm not sure if I attached these photos correctly, hopefully it works !)

Photo 1 - yellow pear is churning out fruit, yay!

2- This Cherokee Purple is getting bigger and turning yellow from green

3 - This newest Cherokee Purple has disturbing white spots on it, uh oh?

4 - The yellow pear has some sunburn, and some of the leaves are limp and yellow. Is it time to fertilize?

5 - My sungold already has fruit! But I found these bumps on the stem - am I overwatering?

BucksCountyGirl · May 19, 2014

I can only speak to a few of your issues since they look similar to things I have experienced myself:

The white spots on your Cherokee Purple tomatoes look very much like the stink bug damage I had on some of my fruits from last year. There was not much to be done about them in my garden so I just ended up cutting out the spots on the ripe fruit. It did not seem to effect the texture or flavor of the rest of the tomato.

The white bumps on the stem of your Sungold look like advantageous root nodes (since tomatoes have the ability to produce roots all along the stem). I experienced this a few times when we had very hot and humid weather.

Again, this is only from my own garden experience and I am sure some of the experts will chime in with much more helpful info!

OMIncorporated · May 19, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by BucksCountyGirl

I can only speak to a few of your issues since they look similar to things I have experienced myself:

The white spots on your Cherokee Purple tomatoes look very much like the stink bug damage I had on some of my fruits from last year. There was not much to be done about them in my garden so I just ended up cutting out the spots on the ripe fruit. It did not seem to effect the texture or flavor of the rest of the tomato.

The white bumps on the stem of your Sungold look like advantageous root nodes (since tomatoes have the ability to product roots all along the stem). I experienced this a few times when we had very hot and humid weather.

Again, this is only from my own garden experience and I am sure some of the experts will chime in with much more helpful info!

Stinkbugs, ahhhhhhhhh!

I posted this in the Diseases/Pest forum and someone said the same thing. I'm going to go up and try and find some this evening. I feel like I would have seen something, but at the same time I missed all the aphids on my pepper plant so obviously I'm not the best at noticing these things haha.

Thanks for your feedback!

Tracydr · May 19, 2014

The aphids, you can treat by hosing off the plant with a forceful spray everyday for about a week. Within that time, good bugs usually show up to help.
I deal with aphids on my artichoke every year. This year, I planted sunflowers near the artichoke. I had the best spring, almost aphid free! The sunflowers were loaded with aphids, which didn't phase them. This and the big, yellow flowers, attracted lots of good bugs to the party.
I also have lavender, rosemary, petunias, geraniums, basil and oregano planted in that bed.

May 12, 2014	#1
OMIncorporated Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 15	My First Garden Hi everyone! So happy to have stumbled on this forum, I have learned so much from everyone's posts. I have been working on a container garden at my balcony at my office and wanted to share my progress. I am currently growing: Tomatoes: Cherokee Purple Yellow Pear Black Cherry Sungold Goliath Hillbilly Big Rainbow Djena Lee (started from seed) Chanasyk Early (started from seed) Peppers: Anaheim Mini Red Bell Numex Sandia (started from seed) Jimmy Nardello (started from seed) Misc: Eggplant - Fairy Tale The Cherokee Purple, Yellow Pear, Anaheim and Mini Bell Pepper got a month head start from the rest and already have a number of fruits. Cherokee Purple Yellow Pear - although they aren't pear shaped so now I am wondering if they were mis-labeled? Anaheim Peppers Cherokee Purple (Left) and Yellow Pear? (right) - the cherokee purples leaves have been curled like that for a few weeks now but it is producing fruit and blossoms so I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about? Thanks again for the wealth of knowledge provided on this forum

May 13, 2014	#3
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,152	Welcome and a great looking first garden. You are doing a very nice job. Keep us posted. Patti __________________ ~ Patti ~

May 16, 2014	#10
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,152	I do not know exactly what that webbing is. Perhaps some kind of spider mite. As far as a spray for aphids and other bugs, I just use a little gentle dish soap mixed with water in a spray bottle. The mix will suffocate any insects. You may have to repeat this to get things under control. Patti __________________ ~ Patti ~

May 19, 2014	#13
BucksCountyGirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Holland, PA/Zone 7A Posts: 692	I can only speak to a few of your issues since they look similar to things I have experienced myself: The white spots on your Cherokee Purple tomatoes look very much like the stink bug damage I had on some of my fruits from last year. There was not much to be done about them in my garden so I just ended up cutting out the spots on the ripe fruit. It did not seem to effect the texture or flavor of the rest of the tomato. The white bumps on the stem of your Sungold look like advantageous root nodes (since tomatoes have the ability to produce roots all along the stem). I experienced this a few times when we had very hot and humid weather. Again, this is only from my own garden experience and I am sure some of the experts will chime in with much more helpful info! __________________ - Kelli Life's a climb...but the view is fantastic Last edited by BucksCountyGirl; May 20, 2014 at 09:35 AM.

May 12, 2014	#2
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Welcome, and congratulations on a successful first garden! Fun to have a garden at work, too. Your plants look great- leaves that roll inward are quite common and can just be a sign of stress with regard to watering, temps, etc. It seems some varieties are more prone to it than others. Best of luck! kath

May 13, 2014	#4
jmhammRN Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Edmond,OK Posts: 100	Nice work. I wish I had a place at work to grow things. Then I could garden there and at home!!!! It would be a nice little break during a hectic day of work to go out and talk to some plants and stir up a little dirt.

May 14, 2014	#5
peppero Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: selmer, tn Posts: 2,944	Welcome and best wishes for your endeavors. jon

May 14, 2014	#6
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	Good luck getting any "official" work done. If I was in your situation I'd be on the balcony all day.

May 14, 2014	#9
Stvrob Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,413	They look great! As they get larger and the weather gets warmer they will need ever increasing amounts of water. The leaf curl might be a first sign that they are drying out a bit much between watering.

May 19, 2014	#15
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	The aphids, you can treat by hosing off the plant with a forceful spray everyday for about a week. Within that time, good bugs usually show up to help. I deal with aphids on my artichoke every year. This year, I planted sunflowers near the artichoke. I had the best spring, almost aphid free! The sunflowers were loaded with aphids, which didn't phase them. This and the big, yellow flowers, attracted lots of good bugs to the party. I also have lavender, rosemary, petunias, geraniums, basil and oregano planted in that bed.