Wanna help me plan?

Since my mom very sternly (using my middle name and all) told me to stay off my feet I thought I would plan my container planting and start my seeds using that wintersowing method I saw on another thread.

I had my son take pics of my pots and measure them. I also have 5 earthboxes.

My earthboxes were a bust last year. I don't know what I did wrong. Perhaps the soil I used?

I want tomatoes, I have never successfully grown tomatoes in South Texas and it just kills me cause I grew up in CA and I got so many tomatoes I couldn't give them away fast enough!

I would also like to have strawberries, green beans, beans suitable for drying for soups, cukes and maybe some small melons.

I would love some cool weather veggies too but maybe it's too late for that in my area. Broc, carrots, lettuces and spinach.

First off, this is the soil I have used for my EB because unlike the brandnames it doesn't seem to have added fertilizer. I don't have any of the EB listed potting medims available in my area.

Laura

Any ideas on what might plant well in these?

Or this? I have two empty big square faux terracotta pots.

This one is my son's. It has pineapple and mint in it.

Laura

I have this self-watering pot I got at walmart. Nothing fancy. It's plastic. Tried lettuce in it and it did okay before it got too hot but I think it is much deeper than it needs to be for lettuce. Does lettuce need soil for roots?

Laura

Hey Laura - I hope you're able to get back on your feet soon. In the meantime, I will take a stab at some of your questions.

It's hard to diagnose what went wrong with the EB's without knowing what exactly happened. Did only the EB's die? Did they never take off, or did they grow and then die off? Any details you can provide regarding this would help. The soil mix looks like it would be fine - if it doesn't include any fertilizer, what are you adding?

I can tell you that I've had issues with compacted soil in the EB's. In the boxes I direct seeded, one that I really overpacked had problems with growth and vigor all season long. If they never took off, I'd guess its this (or the EB's never started wicking properly, which could mean too dry soil when you started).

I've had good luck using those foam pots for rosemary. It's easy to drill out the bottom, or break it out and replace it with screen. It gives rosemary that dry soil it likes, and seems to insulate the root ball well (probably not an issue in your location).

I would put a big leaf/italian basil in the self watering planter, they can take off with the right conditions and plenty of sun. The other types of pots I'd use for more herbs; cilantro, parsley, oregano, basil and the like. Don't forget some strawberries for june :). They really seems to take off in the smaller sizes, and the bigger ones are good for peppers and a squash plant or two. You will find squash, zucchini and eggplant to be incredibly thirsty though, so you may want to put those in EB's.

Laura --- Let us know how you set up your EBs? It is a shame you had a problem because they are really fantastic. You may not have set the wick properly.

Laura -- I just did a pictorial on how to set up an EB . It's very descriptive and it also is very informative. You can dind it in the Container Gardening. Should solve your problem. Still wish you would let us know what you did with your set up?

Hi Tplant, sorry I have been away from computer for a few days.

Thanks for the tutorial. In the first box or two I set up I can't remember if I made sure there was soil packed into those corners for wicking. I did make sure to do that with the later boxes. I also didn't use wet soil but did sprinkle it with the hose every so often as I filled it. I used the potting soil I have pictured above because I couldn't find EB recommended soils and I was looking for something that didn't have the fertilizers included like EB said to do. I am thinking my soil was just very poor and maybe it did have fertilizers but wasn't labeled. I used a granulated fertilizer, synthetic not organic but I have some organic now that I thought about trying this year.

This picture shows my tomatoes. They stayed kind of spindly, never filled out and I think I got about 5 cracked (but tasty) tomatoes out of it.

I wonder if the location of the boxes has anything to do with it. They got sun the first half of the day but then would have been in the shade of the fence towards the evening. I thought this would be good as it is so doggone ot here. I also used the white side up since I am in south tx.

Thanks for your help!
Laura

Laura --- Perhaps you did not set the wick properly and didn't use enough fertilizer? Also I didn't hear you mention lime. How you set-up the EB and placed the fertilizer across from your plants? Also very important. If one step is out of place, just one step, the whole thing can fail. When you say you sprinkled the soil as you placed it leads me to believe the soil was partially wet but not enough to dissolve the lime and fertilizer properly and thus feed your plants. They do look hungry and at that height and stage they should be full and loaded with buds. Empty the container mix but first scoop out the old fertilizer and discard. Destroy the plants and start over. You can save the soil and re-use and this time when prepared properly you will have the finest tomatos ever.

Hi Tplant, I did use lime and I did the fertilizer at the front of the boax, not down the middle like with some plants. BUT I never wet the fertilizer! I am thumping my forehead, I bet that is the problem. My corn and okra grew really well in the boxes but I watered from the top in the begining because I sowed the seeds directly into the earthbox. That would have wet and activated the fertilizer strip.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Laura