my garden is finally set up

this is my 'container garden' and this shot was taken from the kitchin window. its a lot easier to garden when the plants are this close.

this is one of my three artichokes. i have never grown these babies so i don't know what to expect.

this is the bib bomb cherry peppers. you can see that one of them has turned red already.

i put both ultra hot peppers (bhut jolokia's in one pot and will hope for the best.

heres the basil. its called lettuce leaf basil and i hope that means it will get big leaves.

and my eggplants. i grewt two types. one regular eggplants and the other the elongnated style

and finally the tomatoes. i have flowers on some of them. i have sun golds, goliath, mortgage lifter brandy wine and spring giant

Looking good Frank! You show that people who want to grow even a little bit of their own food can find an easy and convenient way. Good luck with all of them!

thanks

What a nice simplistic, yet effective setup. Plants look to be in great shape too.....are those from seed or did you buy some flats? I also wondered about your hose system, is that a sprinkler hose and you have one hole lined up for each pot?

i started everything from seed. its a soaker hose and i made two holes on opposite sides of each container and then ran the hose through it. i have used this method for a few years now but i just realiZed my liefe would be made easier if i just made the large holes more to the side instead of down the middle. if i did that i wouldn't have to worry about disturbinbg the plant while they are growing. next season i will add more holes on the sides.

i attached mjy soaker hose to a timer and it goes off each day at 8 a.m. i have been running it for two hours but mayube i will go to 1 hour this year or maybe even 1/2 hour.

Herbie, looking good. I hope they grow a foot today on your Birthday and no weeds, ever.

Your set up has amazed me now for a couple of years. You are very clever. I even planted tomatoes and other veggies because of your enthusiasm last year in a rather limited way and in the traditional way. This year we enlarged the bed and made a more organized attempt to plant a wider range of vegetables. I hope to have tons of tomatoes for the table and later for putting up sauce.

Thanks again for your enthusiasm and for the kind offer to our son if he ever needed anything while living in your area and going to school at CIA. He graduated with both a pastry and culinary degrees last Aug. He has moved to New Orleans and is working as a chef at The Restaurant August. We took a trip in April to see him, go to Jazz Fest and to eat. We loved all three.

I know you will be dinning well tonight on your birthday. I would send you a picture of a fat juicy tomato, but alas, none yet. So I am sending you a picture of a tomato red orchid in my kitchen now. Patti

Herbie:

You are one creative guy!!!!!!

I always look forward to viewing your pics

BB

Great idea with the hose!!!!!

I can attest to Frank's creativity, ingenuity, good taste, and gorgeous plants! (Also to his wife's culinary skills!) They were kind enough to have me over for dinner last week, and it's hard to tell which had me salivating more - the food or the plants!!!

Ok - the salmon and cream chees pizza probably won the contest, but no lie - those tomato plants have FAT, STURDY stems! I think they could withstand a hurricane. And they look so neat and uniform, too. Good thing he's such a great guy or I'd have to hate him!!!

Sequee, Lucky you. Pizza sounds like a great combo. Any tomatoes on it?

David_Paul, How do those grow bags work. It seems like I could expand the veggie beds a lot by using them around the out side edges if they are self contained and the roots don't need to go into the ground. Could I grow egg plants and peppers in them? Intrigued. Patti

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!!! It was soooooo good.

I've tried the Topsy Turvy's and if you have the hanging space, they are a blast to use. They grow into real cool configurations and are surely the talk of the town. I grew them off the porch when I was at the Adult Day Care Center and they were very productive. Just one tiny negative. You must be VERY diligent in your watering because they can't catch the rain water and don't have a reservoir to feed from.

You were at an adult day care????

I thought you were just 21 :-)

bbrookrd....the grow bags worked well last summer. Grew squash, lemon cukes and some herbs in them. As you suggested, I didn't want to take room up in the garden. This year trying peppers and eggplants (funny you asked!). The white easi-lift bags are a few bucks more than the black ones but they are lasting two seasons for me. Have a brugmansia in one of them. Made it easy to cart the brug down into the basement for the winter and 15 gallons is large enough so I didn't have to repot this spring. Another good point is you can move things such as brugs around (wouldn't try squash!) for both appearance and to find the most suitable light. You do have to watch water and fertilizer (it washes out fast with heavy feeders like squash and brugs in there). I use a mix of dirt, manure and potting mix in the bag (whatever is around basically) and that holds water well enough so I don't have to water everyday.

'Jerad's Joy' in a 15 gallon grow bag:

Thanks for the information. There is a grow bag coop going on tonight. I think I will try some. Patti

I conducted a Green Gardens Club for Seniors and folks with "issues". Honest...I wasn't an inmate!

D_P - What a gorgeous brug! I am so looking forward to seeing what comes out this year.

patti - nice picture. congrats on having a chef in the family. hope you didn't haveto pay for your meal at the resturant.

bb- thanks and i love all of yours

davic paul - that is one heck of a plant. it looks huge.

sequee - as a matter of fact the plants did withstand quite a storm with visual bad effects. however, if you ever want to see a veggie garden then go to lake carmel where sequee lives. i was there and believe me she has a real garden. i guess you have to when you grown 52 different types of tomatoes peppers, herbs, eggplants and for crying out loud she even grows tons of radishes. LOL

bb - believe me, i thought she was 21 before i first met her but after that i figured she just gradulated high school. shes a doll.





This message was edited Jun 14, 2008 7:33 AM

Hey Herbie:

Didn't she have to babysit some of your seedlings this winter?

I seem to remember her having all types of plans to kidnap some of them

BB

yea, she was nice enough to offer to take care of them for me adn she did a very fine job. not one seedling passed on. to thank her i gave her a couple of my eggplants.

Yes, and they were lovely! A full foot high and very robust when the brugs decided to share their aphids! One went to the great beyond, but the other appears to be coming back. Who knew the aphids would do such an evil thing in their dormant stage. And who knew brugs were so incredibly fold of eggplant??? Surely not me!!! Every year I swear "no more bruggie buggies, then I see the gorgeous flowers and I lose all resolve!

Next year after I spray them down, I will put them in the other side of the basement. I don't know if they will be ok in the cooler room, but I can lose my veggie babies. They are my first love!

This is the one that bit the dust!!! (Photo taken in late April.)

there is always next year.

heres the latest from my container garden. the first pic is of my sun gold. you can see the tiny tomato just now growing.

this is the first hansel eggplant.

my lettuce leaf basil

these are the big bomb cherry peppers. i already took some red ones off and they are a lot hotter than i thought they would be. the package mentioned mildly hot.

here are the bhut jolokia's which i was having trouble with. i tried to take a pic of what i am sure are the beginning of flowers on these plants

these are the two plants in the 5 gal container. they are looking nice and health now.

finally, here is the artichoke plant.

Herbie,
AWESOME as usual! I'm growing tomatoes and peppers in 5 gal. buckets this year and toms and corn in Earthboxes. So far so good! Here's my corn as of 2 days ago:

oops!

Herbie, looking great. I had a great breakfast pizza at the Big Sur Bakery two years ago at a Sunday brunch. Divine. "Wood fired bacon, egg & Mozzarella breakfast pizza"

Here is a picture.

http://tasteofthesuburbs.blogspot.com/2007/01/eating-elsewhere-carmel.html
Not so healthy, but a real treat. Patti

David_Paul, I am ordering some 10 gal grow bags today to try around the veggie bed. Brugs scare me. Too addictive, I fear. Thanks, Patti

tommy - never tried corn when i had my regular garden adn didn't think you can grow them in containers.

patti - sounds delicious but couldn't find the picture.

Herbie, second picture on site or do in edit a "find in this page" word search for Sur. Be ready to drool. Patti

very nice patti. i could smell the bacon from here. LOL