Help! Most of my tomato plants are doing fine, but I've got a few that the leaves are turning yellow. I think I may be over watering, as the straw bales feel pretty soggy on the inside. Been soaking them daily, also been getting rain recently. Been using Miracle Gro about twice a week. Any ideas?
Jon
Foggy said; "Russ, don't bite off more than you can chew ....LOL That's my old trick. I've taken more time to do things this year & have enjoyed it more..."
Ya know, I gotta second this. I've always gotten really worked up, "this has to be done NOW or the world will end". Then it (whatever it was) didn't and I got depressed and got even less done. This garden is a new start for me, a new home, a new state, and a new look at life. If the bales take longer to cook Than they "should" (and they did), so be it. The plants and seeds don't care, a couple of days, even a week or more, they'll still be fine. It's much more enjoyable this way :). Fortunately, I don't have to depend on this garden to feed my family, so if it isn't perfect, oh well. I'll just learn to do things differently next time...
Margo
p.s. The only thing that really upset me was some tomatoes that i ordered arrived a month late, and very small. I think they will be too far behind to produce, and it is a costly mistake. However, I have some BIG transplants flying to the rescue. If they ALL produce, I may have to learn to can...gulp...
This is such and interesting thread to read and look at photos.
I only have three bales for my beginning year of bale gardening. Got them planted yesterday, 83 degrees, but I planted in the evening. Two bales are beans, I planted the seeds down the middle of the top of bale . I dug a trench with a garden knife, heavy duty with serrated edge, about 3 inches deep. hard on my arthritic wrist. Put a little Pacific Calcium 9-3-4 in the bottom and a little Yum Yum mix from High Country Gardens on top. Then a light layer of compost, pushed the bean seeds down into the compost, and covered with another inch of compost. One bale is Stokes old seed 1998 ( very old, hadn't planted any bush beans for several years, too hard on my back to pick) they were Derby.
The other bean bale is Territorial 2002, Sayamusame, soy type, which I love. The third bale has 6 Aunt Molly's ground cherry plants that I grew from seed. I will take a picture when the beans have sprouted. if the seed isn't too old. Also I did put soy bean Innoculent on the sayamusume seeds.
Donna
Good morning, Catmad.
We have such a long growing season down here that your little tomatos should have long enough....LOL...you better start learning to can!
I use my crock pot to make sauce when I have too many tomatos....no watching! Just dump everything in & strain it when done, then can it. You can stick in extra cooked zucchini, eggplant & peppers, too, after you've strained......nice & rich. (Or just freeze it!..Easier)
Russ, pics are nice, love that Iowa background. I've been tying my tomatos up already, lots of blooms, but where are the pollinators? Butterflies, not much else.
Foggy
Well Margo, I don't know what to say. Canning usually follows a big garden. Unless you give a bunch away. Which I usually do with some of the neighbors, and handicaped folks nearby.
I have some canned tomatoes and frozen corn left from last year. but my salsa disappeared rather fast when our grandaughter and husband were staying here for 3 months. My mouth was almost watering for some one day but I took it as a compliment that it went so fast. This year I plan to can some extra. LOL I'll give them a couple jars. Yes I do the canning, but not all alone, Barb helps as she is able.
I started tomatoes, peppers, and sweet potatoes myself this year. Then at the RU, someone brought some named tomatoes and insisted that take some as she didn't want to take them back home. So I didn't have to wait for any to be shipped.
But I do have a lot of extras. I don't really want to waste them.. I think I can find homes for most of them that I just don't have room for.
I have to admitt that times I do feel overwhelmed, trying to get every thing done at once, though I do try to go slower. For the most part I have slowed down and don't worry too much. But then there are things that get in the way. Like the lawns I mow, and the weather. I like to get the seeds in before a rain. Sometimes my likes don't happen an it turns to a dislike! lol
We are 10 miles form the nearest town of any size. and 20 from cheaper stores. right now the gas prices are a major concern for me. If I couldn't garden, I would probably have to ride a 3 wheel bike to town. heh heh But I like fresh produce, that I know isn't contaminated with nasty stuff, like the lettuce, and now the stuff that came in from China, that started killing pets and they have found in food ment for human consumption. It's getting scary out there. I know; I gotta quit breathing before I can go to be with the Lord. I'de just like to go a natural way !!!
Agaaaah I better quit rambling. We already know things are going to get worse, and this has nothing to do with gardening.
And Barb will be happy to get all of the kitchen back, after haveing the plant rack,and some of the flats setting on the floor by the stand. and a vertual mess, for the last 3 months. But hey remember It's fun!????
Foggy I've noticed a few bees around here, but not as many as usual. Quite a few bumble bees. Yesterday I had a wasp land on my arm, but I think his main intent was to be somewhere else, for which I was very thankfull.
Hey there is nothing wrong with The Carolina's seanery either. I have a nephew in SC and a sister in law in Sanford NC. always enjoy going there. but it has been a couple years since the last trip. Gas prices kind of put a crimp on traveling much of any where.
That sounds like a tasty sauce, All those veggies together???? LOL
Russ
I'm new to the forum and looking for straw bale gardening tips. This is my first attempt- so far things are looking good. My question today is about stakeing tomato plants. Mine are 10-12" high. My bales are inside the perimeter of my 20x20 low fenced garden plot and my 10 tomato plants are in one row. Tips, please!
Russ wrote; "Well Margo, I don't know what to say. Canning usually follows a big garden."
I've never had a garden successful enough to make me learn:) Not to worry, I've already got "Canning For Dummies" and a membership in a canning group. Salsa is my favorite, so I guess I better start looking for recipes....
Margo
Lotsa good tips and recipes on our Canning and Freezing Forum.
currjejr, are your tomatoes flopping over? How close to the stakes/fence, whatever you are going to fasten them to are they? I go kind of by those two things.
Jon, I think your tomatoes are too wet. I would hold off on the water for a bit. Just watch the weather. If it gets hot ok then maybe water. I wouldn't soak unless you think they are really drying out.
Russ, don't over do it. Catmad was right to just enjoy the gardening. It is suppose to be relaxing.
Donna, I am going to try that with the beans. Good idea. I haven't even got my seed yet. I have bush but I want Blue Lake Pole beans. I thought I had some but if I bought some I can't find it .
Foggy, thanks, but I haven't been on here for quite a while so you have to kick in with those questions you have.
Everybody's gardens sound AND LOOK so good it makes me want to get out there and work.
Kent is in the Bahamas on vacation this week. I told him we could wait until he gets back to start a new part to this. I kind of bungeled the last one. LOL Oh well. It worked I guess.
Jeanette
I haven't tried bale gardening, but have been watching the thread for some time and noticed some people talking about the lack of bees. It's really strange but I live in Austin on the border of 7.5 acres of woodland and in all the time I've lived here we've really had to watch for bees and wasps because they're EVERYWHERE. But lately, I can set my can of pop out while I go to check on the garden and no bees ever come around. We've had a really moist spring here and temperate weather, but I swear I haven't seen a bee around my house for weeks.
Bunsengirl, I'm not a scientist, an entamologist, or a bee person. And, I doubt that we have one reading our strawbale gardening thread. So, I don't know what to tell you about it. I know that up here in the north, it is just now getting to be the temperatures that the bees are moving around and I have found 3 of them on my floor coming out of hibernation this week. That is about normal. However, that doesn't mean that the rest of the summer is going to be normal.
Maybe somebody else can tell us what is going on. I am a firm believer in global warming. I don't know if that would have anything to do with it or not. I would tell you why I am but I think that is one of the things we are not suppose to disguss on here. Current issues. Now, if anyone cares and wants to ask me they can write to me on D-mail.
Jeanette
There is a thread on bee disappearence & it has alarmed me to the point that I am going to try to hand pollinate when i have blooms. They talk of a worldwide bee virus & cellphones & several other things as possible causes. just google hand pollination & you'll get all kinds of info.
For tomatoes it's easy, they say shake the blossoms in the morning before the pollen has dried.......cukes & melons need a small artists brush or q - tip.
They pollinate by hand in the greenhouses, so us small home gardeners should be able to......for my orchard, it's a different matter.
LOL, Jeanette, everybody's garden looks so good I'm afraid to send pics......
Foggy
The bee thread is in our new Sustainability forum... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/712902/
Foggy, please share your pictures :). Just be creative with the angles. Believe me, if you saw my garden in person, you'd wonder where I got my pictures....
As to the bees, I have seen only two honeybees so far, but I'm hoping it has to do with the flowering of many plants being delayed. I DO have Bumbles, but I'm crossing my fingers that the honeybees are just delayed. Guess I should check out the hand pollination techniques....
Margo
Foggy, I hate to tell you this because you all will think I am crazy, my new brother in law did. But, for many years I have been hand pollinating my tomato plants. Nothing fancy, just every mornng when I would go out to my garden I would poke my finger in all the blossoms. Same finger so it had a lot of pollen on it.
I did that because I always wanted early tomatoes, not that I didn't think the bees would do it. I must have made a believer out of my BIL because I found out a year or 2 later that he was telling my sister to do that After lauaghing at me.
Jeanette
Here's a new thread guys!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/724771/
BB
BB,
This isn't a new thread. Have you all posted your gardens on it? I haven't looked at it lately, however it appeared that you guys on the east coast are putting the rest of the country to shame.
Jeanette
back in chapter 7 dbarbrady was discussing burmuda bales.i haven't seen any more of his posts but wanted to add,the burmuda grass that is baled for feed is coastal burmuda and not invasive like the turf grass we try to keep out of our gardens and yards.at least i do . some places that is all that will grow ,for turf . sally
