Hello from Seattle, WA

katpor 3/16/2013, 7:51 pm

I garden in USDA Zone 8/Sunset Zone 5. We have mild wet winters and cool summers which makes heat -loving plants like tomatoes (my fav) tough to grow successfully. We have three 4 foot round livestock tanks for our main vegetable garden. We're hoping it will help the ground warm up quicker and retain heat. This is the first planting season in our tubs so we'll see how it goes!

Kathy

FamilyGardening 3/16/2013, 10:39 pm

$glad you\'re here$ to the SFG forum Kathy Very Happy

we also have a PNW Regional forum here https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/f15-pacific-northwest

we love pictures ....so share some when you can Very Happy

the forum has a search box up at the top and bottom of the page to search inside the forum and the web....lots of great gardeners here with good info and lots of fun..... Hello from Seattle, WA 3170584802

happy gardening
rose

Nonna.PapaVino 3/17/2013, 1:25 pm

Katpor, Welcome! Love your idea of livestock tanks for raised beds. Assuming your tanks are silvery colored, you may consider painting them a darker color to better collect the sun's heat, and warm up the soil faster. Last summer I lucked into getting two very large black commercial tree growing pots and used them for growing peppers. They produced more jalapenos earlier and kept producing them longer than those in the regular raised beds. Ugly, but successful. This year one is planted with garlic in hopes it will ripen up earlier. Around the middle of June we'll see if it was a successful experiment. Nonna, who's always trying to get more of the Northwest's share of sun to her garden.

**gwennifer** 3/17/2013, 3:22 pm

Hi katpor and $glad you\'re here$ to the forum! Yep, tomato lovers commiserate in our part of the country over our cool wet springs. We often have very hot dry summers, just too short for those long season heirlooms that everyone craves. Greenhouses sound like the way to go for tomatoes and peppers around here.

As FamilyGardening said, join us in the Pacific Northwest regional forum to share updates on your garden throughout the season - we do love pictures! And we have an annual "Tomato Tuesday" thread where we share specifically about our beloved toms.

Zekes nursery 4/4/2013, 1:48 pm

We are practically neighbors! I've done great in the past with starting tomato's and my father in law finishes the job here in Seattle. We've had ton's of tomato's. I already have more than enough 2" plants and it looks like it's not too late to start more. I'm doing 3 varieties of heirloom plants this year. I start them in my sunny living room and they get a great start. I tried to start some under cover outside this year. I had great success with many other plants but the tomatoes prefer the living room.

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/4/2013, 10:56 pm

Welcome and though I live in California, I have huge amounts of family up your way and have visited often. I still remember picking blueberries off of my Great Aunt Annie's blueberry plot. She had about a dozen amazing bushes with berries the size of a nickel or more. My lips were blue the whole summer Smile

The idea of painting your troughs sounds like a good one, good luck!

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Hello from Seattle, WA

Hello from Seattle, WA

Re: Hello from Seattle, WA

Re: Hello from Seattle, WA

Re: Hello from Seattle, WA

Hi Kathy

Re: Hello from Seattle, WA

Re: Hello from Seattle, WA


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.