Fish in the ground

[Fiishergurl]

Some of you might have seen my other post about running out of room for the plants (all are in containers) as we are at an rv park on the intracoastal waterway. The land we are on was created from what was dredged out of the waterway 100 years ago. It consists of crushed coquina shells and sand.

I didnt have the time, space, or pre planning to try to cultivate the sand but I wanted to see how plants would grow in the ground here and I had a couple extras plants to use as guinea pigs. So I dug a couple holes two feet down and put in 4 or 5 fish (small ones that we caught that were about 4-5 inches long each and 3 to 4 inches girth) and threw in some other stuff like eggshells, crab shells (we had picked some fresh caught blue crabs), organic fertilizer and some other stuff, then put about 3 -4 inches of dirt on top of that, then put the plants in and filled around them with potting soil mixture. So the very bottom of the plants were about 3-4 inches above the all of the fish and stuff which made the entire plant about 18 inches into the ground. We just had a few leaves sticking out of the top.

Well nothing dug up the fish or plants and they are growing nicely... :-)

Below is a picture when we planted them on Oct 2.



Below is a picture of the same plant today just 19 days later... :-). The white mound around the plant is what came out of the hole and you can see it is crushed shells and sand. Any dark areas are from the potting mixture we added into the hole.



The plant does have some blooms and baby tomatoes on it. We will see what happens but so far so good... :-) they are doing way better than I expected.

Ginny

[JamesL]

Ginny,
Good post. Thanks for sharing.
Plan on using those same holes again for your next planting as you will be building a nice soil base.

[Fiishergurl]

Thanks for the advice James. I hadnt thought of building on that spot... :-) I didnt plant the resistant varieties so Im wondering if nematodes or anything else will kick in.

Ginny

[JamesL]

Only one way to find out, plant some tomatoes!
Oh wait - you did that already.

[ddsack]

Way to go, Ginny! I love to experiment too. As long as there is not too much salt in the surrounding substrate that might migrate back into your planting hole, I think you should do ok with all that fertility. I know tomatoes can be salt tolerant and some varieties are bred for that. The plants look really good in the photos. Keep us updated! What variety are the tomatoes?

[Fiishergurl]

Thank you DDSACK. I only planted two. ... one is Surpriz and the other is Everglades. I will update this as time goes by.... :-)

[Worth1]

Fiishergurl you live in Florida you need to try out the milpa garden.
It far surpasses the so called trinity garden.
This system is proven to work and will supply everything you need in your daily diet.
Some of these gardens have been cultivated for as much as 4000 years.
Worth

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milpa

[Worth1]

I want to state the the wiki site isn't totally correct as we all know but is a good start to think about it.

The traditional crops were corn tomatoes peppers various beans and squash and avocado.
And of course other fruits from the jungle or forest.
Meat was usually reserved for the so called king and would consist of deer and other small animals.

Worth

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Thank you DDSACK. I only planted two. ... one is Surpriz and the other is Everglades. I will update this as time goes by.... :-)

The Everglades plant should feel right at home. I too would like to see the updates.

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

The Everglades plant should feel right at home. I too would like to see the updates.

I think you are right... :-) it is growing better than the Surpriz so far.

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I want to state the the wiki site isn't totally correct as we all know but is a good start to think about it.

The traditional crops were corn tomatoes peppers various beans and squash and avocado.
And of course other fruits from the jungle or forest.
Meat was usually reserved for the so called king and would consist of deer and other small animals.

Worth

I just got a chance to look this up and it is fascinating. Have to read up more on it this wewk. Thanks for the link!!

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Surpriz not too long after it was planted in the ground.

Surpriz today about 3 weeks later.


The Everglades is fuller but maybe Surpriz will catch up. Time will tell.

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

I dont think my Everglades plant is growing true to type. It is supposed to be a currant type and the photos I've seen show it smaller than a quarter. Below is a picture of one of the tomatoes on my plant and the other toms are approx the same size....



The plant is still doing well in the ground though so we will see what happens.



The other plant in the ground is Surpriz and it has finally set its first tomato.



Its not as full as the Everglades (or whatever that plant may be) but it is looking healthy. I just dosed both plants with Texas Tomato Food this morning so maybe that will give them a boost.



What do you all think about the "Everglades" plant with the too large tomatoes?

Ginny

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

What do you all think about the "Everglades" plant with the too large tomatoes?

Ginny

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?

I agree; someone gave me a seedling in the early summer so it would produce all summer long; it was tiny and grew large but none of the toms were as large as your picture;

I am about to pull it out now that I will have better toms and it is showing its' age.

Maybe all the shells, etc is keeping the nematodes away.