[lettheairout]

Got our 40x40 going and the plants are doing well. 18 tomatoes, countless peppers, squash, zookeene, okra, and egg plant. Trying one row of corn and some sunflower to help pull the bugs away from the veggie plants. May be an old wives tail but we shall see. Hit em with some 12-12-12 about a week after planting and it is helping alot!

View attachment 1089252

Plant some marigolds around the garden. Supposed to help with insects as well.
Lemon grass around patio to keep mosquitos away

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[lettheairout]

Got 8 tomatoes. 1 bell pepper and strawberries in pots on the patio.

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[lettheairout]

Mine will get 1st dose of fert. Tomorrow

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[lettheairout]

I never got to fertilizing this weekend. Still only watered 1x a week ago. Leaves are not showing any signs of needing water. All the rain we got after I planted really soaked them down. Hopefully we get a little rain tomorrow. If not I will water. Plants are looking really good and growing well.

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[lettheairout]

Watered my tomatoes yesterday. 1 of my bush tomatoes has 1 on it. All my other tomatoes I'm still pulling the blooms off. Probably by Sunday I will let the be and start producing for me. They are all looking very healthy. Another dose of fertilizer coming this weekend.

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[lettheairout]

Fertilizer, since it's been mentioned let's talk fertilizer. I've only been doing this for a couple of years, this is year 3! My peppers newly bought all do great because I put them in container garden dirt that feeds for 9 months. What I want to know is I have a few peppers that I managed to survive the Winter and now I want to fertilize them since I know the dirt is over a year old. I'd also like to know what kind of general fertilizer for things like cucumbers, squash, okra and sweet corn. Yes, I can look it up online but I'd like to hear from people that have had success in this area of Florida.

Many options available. Some will say 13-13-13
Mix it in the dirt.
Some will go 15-5-5 mix it before you plant.
No wrong way to do it.
Myself I use miracle grow organic fertilizer
Since I'm growing all mine in pots I fert. Every week until I get a touch of leaf burn. Then back off to every other week. I mix in 2 scoops into my watering can, then water 1 pot. Repeat the steps for all 9 pots.

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[lettheairout]

I’m curious as to why you pick off the blooms.

Picking off the blooms helps the plant continue to gain height and strength. Allowing more. Healthier and bigger fruit. Instead of the plant putting its energy into the 1st set of blooms it pushes deeper roots and taller plants with stronger branches. Only do it to the 1st set of blooms. After that you killing your potential. Also when you plant them in pots or the ground. Plant 2/3rd of the plant in the dirt. That helps strengthen the overall root structure as well.

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[lettheairout]

I'll post pics later. My maters are looking good. They got another dose of fert. On Sunday. Got tons of blooms and a handful of tomatoes growing

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[lettheairout]

Finally took a few pictures. 8 tomatoes and 1 bell pepper. And a strawberry plant that has been hanging on in the pot for a few years.

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[lettheairout]

i'm tellin ya those are some healthy tomato plants. are they blooming? variety?
jack

So I've got 1 sweet 100 cherry tomato. 3 early girl, 3 better boy. 1 of those is better bush, daughter picked a Cherokee purple, and last is a bush Goliath. Yes the are loaded with blooms and each plant has fruit hanging. Except 1 plant that was way smaller then the rest. Kinda my Charlie brown plant. Yes I gotta do some pruning tomorrow. As long as we are getting plenty of wind like we have they will stay on the pallet to keep my dog from grabbing tomato each time she's goes by. Otherwise they will get spaced out for better air circulation

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[lettheairout]

Next season I'm going back to stakes and getting rid of my baskets. They grew much better that way. When my wife grandad was still alive we planted a much larger garden. Ususlly had 100 tomatoe plants. We would use 2 pieces of telephone pole. 1 at each end. Had a big panel of the red top fence. Plant the plants close and would just keep tying off to the fence. Worked great. We put a soaker hose down the length of fence to keep the water off the plants. Behind all that we had at least 12 rows 50ft long of zipper peas. Then a smathering of other stuff mixed around. I gotta get back to planting like that.

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[lettheairout]

Nut grass is of the devil. My great uncle tried everything and never could get rid of it. I used to make my summer money pulling that crap outta his garden and never made a dent it didn’t seem.

Takes some chemicals to kill it. A pre emergent before season will help a little.

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[lettheairout]

That rain yesterday did wonders to my tomato patch View attachment 1090235

Lol good looking okra

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[lettheairout]

I threw a scoop of fert in my pots yesterday as the rain was beginning. Shouoda pushed it right into the root zone.

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[lettheairout]

What are the stink bug looking bugs on my tomatoes, some are green and others brown? Are they in fact stink bugs? I dont see any damage to the fruit or plants yet.

We also hit em with 7 dust frequently but one rain shower will ruin that.

They are stink bugs. Get a spray bottle and try dawn dish washing soap.

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[lettheairout]

I need to learn how to grow potatoes, it's the only vegetable I eat.

Look up the tire method.

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[lettheairout]

I got busy yesterday and didn't walk out to look at my tomatoes. Went out just a bit ago to water them and 1 plant was getting hammered from caterpillars. Just sprayed them. Gonna spray again this evening. Probably hit with some Epsom salt this weekend

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[lettheairout]

Rain really helped them out. Every plant has fruit. Still haven't trimmed my bottom leaves yet. After all this rain, I'm gonna give them another dose of fert on Saturday.

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[lettheairout]

I'll use Diatomaceous earth on future ones, that's for sure. I didn't know what I was looking for, so I let them get good and dead before I realized what was wrong.

I have read about being sure to dig up and dispose of the entire plant to keep the larvae out of the dirt. Definitely going to do that with the totally dead plants. Just wondering if there's any hope in trying to save the plants that have a good shoot, by cutting away the dead shoots.

Why is it too late to plant more? I'm between Foley and Fairhope, so from what I can tell, there shouldn't be a frost until early to mid November.

The problem isnt frost. Its the temp being to high to set blooms. Lotta times you can get a small fall crop. They will be smaller at that time.

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[lettheairout]

Update. I havent checked my plants daily like I should. Cherry tomato has exploded and is growing wild. Its a sweet 100. At the rate of growth and fruit I'm sure ill get 100 off it. I will be picking the 1st tomatoes tomorrow off my early girl bush and early girl, I could leave them a few more days but they will come off and sit on the counter to finish, bell pepper has 1 big fruit and 3 small, Lotta blooms on it. I gotta pull leaves to clean up the plants tomorrow and move them for more spacing for better air flow. I've got the urge to till front and back yard to plant all garden. Not sure my wife will like that. May need to change up to a friends yard, little bigger and out of sight.

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