Anne's 2021 Dwarf Garden

[aclum]

Thanks Whwoz!

The plants survived their ordeal from yesterday with no apparent problems. They actually seem to have grown a bit - but I'm pretty sure that's just my imagination (or wishful thinking) !

Last year, because of COVID, I got the garden in really late - bumping into the intense summer heat just as the plants were blossoming and the season was sort of a bust. So this year, I planted early and now I'm bumping into how to cope with the lingering cold nights.

We're supposed to be in the low 40's tonight and dipping down a few hours into the high and even mid-30's over the next several days so I'm debating just bringing them back indoors for the duratition. (I hate lugging the plants in and out every day and we won't have nights consistently in the high 40's or above for about another week). I'd much prefer to just leave them out with protection but not sure how low my set-up would be good for beyond. say, about 45 degrees which I've read is the lower limit before fruit production suffers (not that I'm overly concerned about that). Or just how low you can safely go with hardened seedlings ready for transplant vs young seedlings.

Just re-reading parts of Fusion_power's Selectedplants website and see where he mentioned protecting in-ground plants down to 29 with two layers of protection (a box plus a bucket) and somewhere where Craig said he'd had plants in buckets covered with remay down to 30 degrees. I'm wondering if I cover my insulated set-up with a couple of layers of Agribon-19 it would be safe down to 35???

Well - sort of veering off on a tangent here - but any opinions on the matter are welcome.

Anne

[biscuitridge]

35 degrees isn't going to hurt your plants at all,I've had it down to 26 and still survived.

[Gardeneer]

Low 40s is just fine for tomatoes.
I would plant out mine at that temperature, after hardenning off.
I have done that many times in the past. No problem.

[aclum]

Thanks for the info Biscuitridge and Gardeneer!

I sort of chickened out and decided to bring the plants inside (as you can see from the photo). I thought they were just too crowded and moist (with damp soil from the recent transplanting) to safely leave outside in that set-up.

I've organized them on a cart now, so I'll be taking them in and out for a few more days until we're consistently above 42 or so, then start leaving them out all the time. Still need to prep the garden bed a bit, so the timing should work out OK.

Just sort of musing on things while puttering around.... The dwarfs just seem so robust and sturdy, I was wondering if they might be more tolerant of adverse conditions in a way similar to certain indigenous peoples who live in extremely cold or high altitude conditions tend to have a short, stocky build to better cope with the elements. (I sincerely hope I'm not misstating this or offending anyone with this generalization of my understanding). I know plants aren't people - but it sort of seems like a dwarf could survive lower temps than, say, a wispy Indeterminate at the same stage of growth. What do you all think?

Anne

[biscuitridge]

There's actually some organic supplements that I discovered that will keep them from frost damage, so dont give up on experimenting.

[aclum]

Dear Diary (beginning to sound like something out of "The Martian" )

Time for an 8 week update on the Dwarfs (already!). They seem to be chugging along OK. I gave them a good bottom watering today and they're draining and catching some rays right now. When I transplanted to the solo cups, I removed the lower 3 leaves and planted them up to the start of the 4th leaf. It looks now like some of them may just be starting to bud.

Starting tomorrow I plan to leave them out overnight (under Agribon at first), and with good weather coming up, will probably plant out next weekend.

The peppers and eggplant will be 9 weeks old tomorrow. I transplanted them from Kratky solution to WonderSoil today. (The WS is part leftover from last year and part new - so the fertilizer portion is probably pretty weak). I probably should have put them in buckets or growbags as the roots were really long and not terribly flexible - but I got lazy. We'll see what happens. I think they'll eventually go into Kratky buckets. The peppers and eggplants aren't really hardened off yet so they'll be coming in at night for a bit. I did prune the peppers a couple of weeks ago and they're starting to send out lots of new shoots.

Mt Gem tomatoes are also 9 weeks old tomorrow. They've been staying out at night under Agribon-19 for a couple of nights now. They're in 2 gallon buckets about half full of WS. They'll eventually go into the regular raised beds. The plants are alot wispier than I recall, but I guess are doing OK.

I think we'll have a low of 43 tonight, then we quickly start getting into the high 40's and above at night. They're predicting 87 degrees during the day in about 10 days or so! Looks like we're not getting much of a Spring out here. I'm afraid it's going to be a horribly hot summer. I'll be in the market for a new shade cloth this year. My old aluminet finally bit the dust I'm on a budget this year and looking for something less expensive. Any ideas? I'll probably just need something about 12 x 20.

Have pretty much finished weeding my raised beds and will get some new silver mulch in place. I need to figure out my spacing. I'm thinking Purple Heart, Uluru Ochre, Sweet Scarlet, Rosella Crimson, and Mountain Gem could use 4 foot spacing and the others 3 foot spacing. Does that seem about right?

Until next time

Anne

Here are some photos for your viewing enjoyment

[aclum]

Here's a quick update on my garden with photos at the end of post.

Other than fertilizing plants and adding mycos and such to the planting hole, I haven't done much of anything to the soil since I originally filled the beds with city compost about 13 years ago . (Making excuses already ) Anyway.....

I planted out my dwarfs on Easter (April 4). They had been growing in their cups in the Wonder Soil mix and fertilized every so often with dilute AgroThrive General Purpose Fertilizer or some MasterBlend tomato formula mix from my Kratky buckets. Once in the garden it seems like they just sat there not doing much of anything, but in the past couple of weeks with warmer weather they have taken off a bit. Other than normal watering, they've had a couple of applications of the diluted GP AgroThrive. I've been impressed by Raybo's recent photos and will be giving things some regular strength AgroThrive Blossom and Fruit formula (what Raybo's been using) tomorrow.

The first couple of photos are of the garden from about April 5 and then today, May 10. from the same viewpoint. As you can see, they have grown some but still seem pretty tiny to me - (This is my first serious try at growing dwarfs and I'm not really sure how big they should be at this point). Then, I've got a couple photos of Pink Passion from the same dates. I don't have a good close-up from April so enlarged a bit from a group photo just so you can get an idea of the size back then and how it's grown.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I abandoned one part of the garden (temporarily due to earwigs), and needed some planting spots for additional plants, so I've started a few plants in Kratky. I've got a photo of Wild Fred that I started from seed about a month after the main group of plants. I'm sort of impressed by how good it looks . (Prior to correcting for typos just now, I see that I'd written "how hot it looks." I'm getting weird ) I also had an extra Rosella Crimson that was languishing away in a solo cup that I moved to Kratky. It looks pretty bad so it'll be interesting to see if it perks up in the Kratky. These two plants are in 6 inch diameter net pot bucket lids (12 inch diameter), then installed in 20 gallon trash cans.

I transfered Eos (Beit Alpha type) cucumbers to a 27 gallon tote Kratky set-up today. Once they're settled in, I'll remove the shading and put up a simple string trellis. Next to them are some more Wild Freds, a Komo Eggplant, and some Sweet Scarlett dwarfs in 2 gallon buckets. They'll be moved to larger containers or (assuming I've got a good spot) soil soon.

Finally a shot of a portion of my Eggplant and Pepper Kratky set-up. I'm really liking this Kratky system, but it can be a challenge keeping up with the water supply.

Anyhow, that's about all for now.

Anne

[ddsack]

Anne, your plants are looking very good and I'm so impressed with your set up and how neat everything looks! I will be very interested to hear how your Kratky harvests will work out, especially if you get results earlier than in ground.

[aclum]

Hi ddsack. Thanks for the nice comments . The garden as a whole is nowhere as neat as shown in the closely cropped photos I've posted . But the gardeners will be over for a yard clean-up on Monday so I'm hoping I'll be able to show more of the garden after that .

Here's a quick little update on the two Kratky tomatoes in 20 gallon trash cans after the last photos 6 days ago. I'm using MasterBlend Tomato Formula as my nutrient solution and we've had gorgeous warm weather for the past week or more (although we did have several days over 90 - including one day of 96 degrees )!

Dwarf Wild Fred May 10
Dwarf Wild Fred May 16
Dwarf Rosella Crimson May 10
Dwarf Rosella Crimson May 16

[MrBig46]

Originally Posted by biscuitridge

There's actually some organic supplements that I discovered that will keep them from frost damage, so dont give up on experimenting.

What organic means have you discovered and what experiments are you doing?
Vladimír

[Shrinkrap]

Very nice @aclum. I don't have answer regarding taste comparisons.

I am in Solano County. Here are a few of mine months and weeks ago, and one from last year.

[aclum]

Hi Shrinkwrap. Thanks! Your plants are looking good . I imagine they're in the garden now and blossoming or producing fruit already. I like your seed starting set-up - is that Kratky or something like aerogarden or a cloner?

You've got a beautiful set-up for your earthtainers.....I always enjoy seeing photos of "familiar gardens" to see how they change (or remain the same) from year to year. Hopefully no more fires out your way this year!!! Looks like it's going to be a challenging summer what with the drought....

Anne

[ddsack]

Anne, those Kratky dwarfs look really good! Lots of growth in 6 days, they must like it! Sure seems like less trouble than buying expensive soil mix if you want pots of tomatoes. If I remember, I should save out some of my extra tomatoes for a couple of Kratky buckets. None in the ground here yet, but we are getting a hot spell so probably no more frosts in May.

[rnewste]

Anne,

You have the most "professional" garden I have ever seen!!
I especially like the reflecting mulch.

Raybo

[jmsieglaff]

Some very nice looking plants you have! What is the purpose of the silver foil stuff? Is it silver bubble wrap? Is it to keep heat in or reflect sun so things don't get too hot?