Muddy Bucket Farm finished first potup

[ContainerTed]

Here's a collection of tomatoes, one cucumber, some marigolds, and some cabbages. Everything is healthy and I'm lovin' it. We've got two different kinds of beans and some peas all up down in the garden. We've also planted some Okra and red beets. Carrots will be added later. I'll be starting the peppers in the next couple of days.

All the Dwarf Project seed production plants are doing great (I got near 100% germination on all).

The last picture includes two commercial plants my niece purchased for me to grow (for her). She loves Yellow Pear and Beefsteak.

Anyhow, enjoy the eye-candy.

[lakelady]

wow, everything looks great Ted!! What are you using for plant tags anyway? They don't look like the usual white plastic ones.

[tlintx]

I am so jealous, your plants look so healthy and large!

Do you start them in a couple of inches of mix and add more as they grow? Mine are in clear cups also. They are just putting out true leaves and I fertilized them with a little fish emulsion, but I'm not sure what to do next.


Tl

[LDx4]

Lakelady, Ted's tags look similar to what I'm using this year: cut up window blinds ($2.50 for a small blind at Wal-Mart makes many tags).

Ted, I'm curious to know what you used to mark the names on the tags. It looks very legible and neat. I've tried both pencil and Sharpie and I'm not really happy with either.

Lyn

[jerryinfla]

Beautiful -- simply beautiful and so well organized! Well done, Ted!

[ContainerTed]

Lyn has it right. Those are from mini-blinds-split down the middle and cut to length. I used one of the super fine Sharpies. If some of the plants have a bit of droop to them, I had just finished potting up three trays of the indeterminates, the cabbages, and most of the tomatoes in the 9 ounce cups when I took the pictures.

When the plants get to the main garden, I have other pieces of mini-blinds with the name "stamped" into the plastic. These will be tied onto the support system. Yes, it was a huge amount of work, but I don't want to have to carry maps and such to the garden for marking fruit during harvest. BTW, harvest is when I use the large Sharpie to mark the blossom end of the fruit with an abbreviation of what variety it is (i.e. "AFR QN" is African Queen).

I'll still be potting up one more time to have all in the 9 oz plastic cups before they finally get planted.

Thanks for the kind words. This year has been the worse for my springtime allergies and that has made this year's start extremely difficult. My Allegra has been overwhelmed.

Take care

[Vespertino]

You've got one heck of a green thumb! Thanks for sharing the pics!

[GnomeGrown]

Looking very organized and clean.
Great work Ted.

[clara]

Very well done, Ted! But still a lot of work ahead of you! I'm more than pleased that the first potting (seed tray 1,2,4) is already finished, but I made a stupid mistake with tray 3 and had to re-sow nearly all varieties - actually they are still too tiny for their first cups. Hopefully it's not too late to get a decent crop this year from them!

Good luck with your babies! clara

[ContainerTed]

Hey, Clara. You didn't do one of my tricks, did you. You know, get lost in putting the seeds in the mix and lose track of what went where????? Yes, I did that three years ago. I let them come up anyway and then sold them at the local flea market for 25 cents each.

[clara]

No, Ted, if I had done like you, I would have let them grow and had given them to all my friends (they always take what they get from me and they are always very pleased with them).

My mistake was very different: As you may know we had a very long and cold winter, therefore I couldn't put the seedlings (out of tray 1 and 2) into the unheated greenhouse, but had to put them on the windowsills on the ground floor. At some point, all places were occupied (still frosty nights) and as I couldn't carry the trays up- and downstairs due to my bad back and the seedlings of tray 3 were all up (the heater is just below the windowsill and gives me a very fast germination, normally perfect...), I removed the cover and after only one single night, the seedlings were dead or near to death, sigh... probably because of the hot and dry air from the heater below. I could rescue only very few. Then we got warmer weather with no more frost at night, the first seedlings went into the greenhouse where they are doing very fine (strong guys of about 10 - 12 inches now) and I started tray no 4, but after a few days, I thought that I can't live without the varieties that were in no 3 - waiting one more year for them - no! Strange enough, the re-sown varieties have a better germination than during my first attempt (same place, same starting mix) and even those with zero germination at the first time, have come up. As there were some very unusual varieties, I'm more than happy and be sure, I pamper them in the best way I can! If they produce some fruits despite the late start and are good, I have your address... clara

[ContainerTed]

I've gotta say that over the years, I've killed a lot of tomato and pepper plants in a "plethora" of different ways, but I've never cooked any.

Seriously, it's always hard to learn that a lot of hard work has been ended too soon. The worst part is knowing that the only thing left is a few survivors that "may" make it to the garden.

I am generally a "tyrant" who will "rant" if anyone even remotely jeopardizes my seedlings. Too much work now that my age is really affecting things.

Good to hear from you again. Let me know if you need anything. I sent Ami some of those Faworyt and Bulgarian Old Sort seeds. Those two are definitely worth growing. If he's out of seeds, let me know and I'll send you some.

Take care.

[clara]

Thanks for your nice offer, Ted, I'll come back to you after this year's fall, because starting now would be definitely too late.

Last year, I lost a whole tray because my eldest granddaughter (nearly 5 at that time) had wanted to "help" me. She had seen me watering the tray and while I was in another room, she watered it, too... Even one day later, the tray was brimmed, then mold, I gave up... Now when my grandkids are here, they are forbidden to even touch the cover, and no watering as long as the seedlings are not planted outside.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

I've gotta say that over the years, I've killed a lot of tomato and pepper plants in a "plethora" of different ways, but I've never cooked any.

Seriously, it's always hard to learn that a lot of hard work has been ended too soon. The worst part is knowing that the only thing left is a few survivors that "may" make it to the garden.

I am generally a "tyrant" who will "rant" if anyone even remotely jeopardizes my seedlings. Too much work now that my age is really affecting things.

Good to hear from you again. Let me know if you need anything. I sent Ami some of those Faworyt and Bulgarian Old Sort seeds. Those two are definitely worth growing. If he's out of seeds, let me know and I'll send you some.

Take care.

Ted, I couldn't remember where someone talked about Bulgarian Old Sport so did a search here, found an earlier thread that was titled Bulgarian Old Sport and now here you are.

Just saying that Freddy sent seed of some Bulgarian varieties to bothTania and myself but for some he gave one name to me and another to Tania for the same variety.

I did grow out the Old Sort and also SSE listed it and it wasn't very good for me so I'm gald it performed well for you.

Carolyn

[ContainerTed]

Morning Dr. C---. My seed source was Tania. She had it listed as "Bulgarian Old Sort - No Name". It is one of the best tasting I've grown and, last year, was the best in my garden. Every now and then, you find a diamond in the rough.

I listed it with SSE this year. Absolutely a wonderful find.