Monthly Avatar Theme for August: Show off your Garden!

Everyone's gardens are looking great, puts my little garden to shame!



Can't get it as my avatar whilst I'm on the iPad, but thought I'd share anyway.

Big space at the back of the closest bed was my mandarin tree but it died so I pulled it out today and move the pansies and strawberries that were there as well. Just need to get some more tomato stakes for a new grid and 6 more squares, here I come!

ericam wrote:Everyone's gardens are looking great, puts my little garden to shame!



Can't get it as my avatar whilst I'm on the iPad, but thought I'd share anyway.

Big space at the back of the closest bed was my mandarin tree but it died so I pulled it out today and move the pansies and strawberries that were there as well. Just need to get some more tomato stakes for a new grid and 6 more squares, here I come!

It looks great! Since you are in the southern hemisphere you are in the middle of your cold season. I see you are growing stawberries...how cold do your nights get? Do you ever get any snow? I've never been to Australia but it is neat talking to someone who is just starting their gardening season when we are over half way through ours.
Renee

Thanks Renee, no snow here, don't even get frosts at my house as I'm on one of the higher parts of the suburb. We do get the occasional frost down the hill but in the 12 years I've been at my house I think I've only seen 1-2 frosts in my yard.

The closest place that gets snow is the Blue Mountains (about 1 1/2 hours drive from me) but that is only occasionally.

Night time temps get down to around 3-4C (37F) on average. Daytime maximum is around 15C (59F), 20C (68F) if it's a warm day.

This is my first ever Mortgage Lifter. To me it is a monster. Bigger than my hand. The 2nd picture shows the "U" shape even better.

Wow, that thing is a monster! I just read the other day that they can get to be four pounds but I thought it was an exaggeration. I guess I was wrong!

After you replied I had to cut it up to fit the pieces on my little wt. watcher scale which only goes up to 1 pound. It was 21 oz. and just under 5 inches long - not a prize winner, still the biggest one for this 2 year newbie

wow!! congrats!!

llama momma wrote:This is my first ever Mortgage Lifter. To me it is a monster. Bigger than my hand. The 2nd picture shows the "U" shape even better.

WOW Be sure to put it in the BIG STUFF photo album, no one has any tomatoes in there yet...it might be a winner!!!

Josh wrote:

llama momma wrote:This is my first ever Mortgage Lifter. To me it is a monster. Bigger than my hand. The 2nd picture shows the "U" shape even better.

WOW Be sure to put it in the BIG STUFF photo album, no one has any tomatoes in there yet...it might be a winner!!!

I have to try the mortgage lifter next year. That surely is a beautiful tomato!!

Ok Josh, I'll put it in there as a starting point for other contributers

Thanks camprn!

Holey moley! Nice!

What I can't figure out is how come you have a ginormous red mater in zone 6, and I can't even get my cherrys to turn from green in zone 6....?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Holey moley! Nice!

What I can't figure out is how come you have a ginormous red mater in zone 6, and I can't even get my cherrys to turn from green in zone 6....?

CC

USDA Hardiness zones refer to temperature extremes only, not growing conditions. To answer your question, find out the Growing Degree Days for your area. The link is to a calculator that will give your local information.

The old saying'to everything there is a season' speaks to this. You both may be in zone 6 but he may have more consistent heat over the course of days or weeks than you do at your location, which will make his tomatoes ripen faster.


:scratch:

Camp, I don't understand that calculator. If I put in 02645, what temp do I use and why? Also, it seems I'd use 2011 & 2010 to get the avg of ....what...I don't know.

If I use 70 degrees, it says
Growing Degree
Days (GDD):
2011 = 236.0 GDD
2010 = 298.5 GDD
Average** = 0.0 GDD

I have no idea what this means...that I have zero days at 70???
Feeling pretty dense right about now.

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Holey moley! Nice!

What I can't figure out is how come you have a ginormous red mater in zone 6, and I can't even get my cherrys to turn from green in zone 6....?

CC

CC -- Maybe 13 + hours of sunlight forces them to turn big and red? Used extra compost, llama tea, and eggshells, or maybe its plain old beginners luck in addition to camprn's input. :scratch:

CapeCoddess wrote:Camp, I don't understand that calculator.

Camprn beat me to the punch - I was going to offer to explain the differences in growing seasons for different locations the same way. (Thanks to boffer for clueing me into GDD's!)

Here's the short answer: First, let's call them growing degree units, or heat units instead of growing degree days. It's much less confusing since more than one unit can accumulate per day. More than one day per day just doesn't make sense!

Second, all plants have a base temperature below which they do not grow. Simplistically, this is 40 degrees for cool season plants and 50 degrees for warm season plants. Tomatoes are a warm season plant, so lets use 50 degrees as the base. So any time the temperature is above fifty, the tomato plant can grow (assuming all other needs are met). The more heat units the plant gets, the more it grows. And remember, more than one heat unit can accumulate per day.

Let's assume all things are equal and do a comparison between you and llama momma. We'll say you both planted identical tomato plants on May 1st. Using the calculator, select 50 degrees as a baseline and a date range from May 1st of this year to yesterday, August 5th. Plug in your zipcode first, and use the same date range and baseline temp with zipcode 43102 for llama momma in Amanda, Ohio. Here's what we get:

zip code 43102: 2171.5 GDD's
zip code 02645: 1499.5 GDD's

So llama mommas tomatoes have been able to soak up 672 more heat units then your tomatoes. Nearly 45% more! Very simply speaking, her tomatoes are 45% further along then yours. Makes sense then, that she would have ripe tomatoes before you, right?

I hope that helps!

+1 the base temp indicates growth, or cell division within the plant. I know the GDD can be tough to wrap ones brain around but keep mulling it over and it will eventually make sense.

Wow Gwennifer! That was amazing! I totally get it!
Thanks so much.

Now, what about the other end of the temp spectrum? Like I read in the Mother Earth News link that maters stop growing around 90 degrees to kick into survival mode. Is there a calculator for that?

CC

Gwennifer, thank you for that explanation! GDDs have stumped me for a long time, but your simple explanation has really helped me as well

CapeCoddess wrote:Wow Gwennifer! That was amazing! I totally get it!
Thanks so much.

Now, what about the other end of the temp spectrum? Like I read in the Mother Earth News link that maters stop growing around 90 degrees to kick into survival mode. Is there a calculator for that?

CC

I think all you need is a thermometer for confirmation of that.

gwennifer wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:Camp, I don't understand that calculator.

Camprn beat me to the punch - I was going to offer to explain the differences in growing seasons for different locations the same way. (Thanks to boffer for clueing me into GDD's!)

Here's the short answer: First, let's call them growing degree units, or heat units instead of growing degree days. It's much less confusing since more than one unit can accumulate per day. More than one day per day just doesn't make sense!

Second, all plants have a base temperature below which they do not grow. Simplistically, this is 40 degrees for cool season plants and 50 degrees for warm season plants. Tomatoes are a warm season plant, so lets use 50 degrees as the base. So any time the temperature is above fifty, the tomato plant can grow (assuming all other needs are met). The more heat units the plant gets, the more it grows. And remember, more than one heat unit can accumulate per day.

Let's assume all things are equal and do a comparison between you and llama momma. We'll say you both planted identical tomato plants on May 1st. Using the calculator, select 50 degrees as a baseline and a date range from May 1st of this year to yesterday, August 5th. Plug in your zipcode first, and use the same date range and baseline temp with zipcode 43102 for llama momma in Amanda, Ohio. Here's what we get:

zip code 43102: 2171.5 GDD's
zip code 02645: 1499.5 GDD's

So llama mommas tomatoes have been able to soak up 672 more heat units then your tomatoes. Nearly 45% more! Very simply speaking, her tomatoes are 45% further along then yours. Makes sense then, that she would have ripe tomatoes before you, right?

I hope that helps!

Thank you for that explanation! once you said "units" instead of "days" it made sense! I was so confused as to how we'd have 675 etc days?? I get it now

Some of the squares in this c. 60sf, fairly productive bed are sunnier than others! Since we were pleased with our Spring harvest of broccoli and cabbage, we're now trying for Fall/Winter crops.

Tomatoes are sparse but all tasty heirlooms. The eggplant grows better elsewhere. In Spring we hope to replace the soil w/MM, thin the border of monarda, grow more Brassicas, and more okra too!

Always great to see you on the forums W.P and your garden looks fantastic

WP, what a lovely garden! What's that pretty grey/green plant at the top center of your photos next to the stake? And what are those round things in each corner of the boxes? Sprinklers?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Now, what about the other end of the temp spectrum? Like I read in the Mother Earth News link that maters stop growing around 90 degrees to kick into survival mode. Is there a calculator for that?

Good question! You are correct that plants have an upper temperature limit for growth as well as a lower one. While you are allowed to select the lower one on the calculator, the upper one is already built in! I believe most calculators set the upper limit at 86* F.

(Now I better post a picture of my garden in this thread before Rooster yells at me.)

Pretty barren right now. Newly sown broccoli, radishes, peas, green onions have sprouted. Lettuce going in the front four squares today.