New England, May 2015

QB, your garden looks great. I'm so happy you were able to get into the back 40. You must be feeling better.

I know you all are seeing some rain today, and I'm so jealous. I'm sitting here in clear blue skies, mid seventies, breezy, awaiting some clouds so I can mow this crispy lawn and plant the peppers.  Cape isn't expecting rain until tonight, if at all. But supposedly definitely tomorrow. Heard that before.

Harvested the weekly lettuce box and soup pot veggies this morning, which included five heads of Little Caesar romaine. I had some baby back ups that I popped into the holes once I took the big ones out. I love Romaine. It's so easy to work with. But my little garden gets pine needles dropping on it constantly so I have to go right down into the romaines heart to get them all out. It's worth it! 

Only one square of radishes left and I won't be replanting them until closer to fall. They get too bloody hot in the summer.  I'll leave one plant to flower and to make pods to eat and seeds to save for fall.

I think I'll go read last year's June thread and see what we were all up to and what we can expect. Enjoy the rain, folks.

camprn wrote:

cpl100 wrote:That is a very enlightening video.  Thanks!  He mentions the need for lime when using the buckets.  Do you folks think we need to add lime to our Mels mix when using pots for tomatoes?  Hadn't heard that in the past.

Not typically. Limestone dust will take as long as 6 months to make any real difference in the pH of any growing medium.

Thanks!  Know how expert you are!  He was not advocating it for changing soil ph but for calcium uptake in the tomato plant I think.

Everyone, I'm not advocating Gary's methods as to soil and chemical use, etc., just his efforts to grow food in containers and seed starting and lighting methods.
We all have our own little tips we use for getting the best out of our beds.

Cpl100 I grow most of my tomato plants in 5 gal. buckets. I've had good luck with them in the past. All my tomatoes are indeterminate. I just finished dumping all the buckets on a tarp and adding more vermiculite,  peat moss and compost to the mix. Enlarged the holes for better drainage and filled them back up again. Most of the plants are in already. Today is a stop and start again kind of day. It starts to rain and I pick up my tools and then it stops. LOL I am trying to get all the tomatoes in before the rain really starts. I have  20 5gal. buckets for tomatoes and about a dozen 2 gal pots for my sauce/paste tomatoes. The buckets I got for free at the bakery dept. at the grocery store. 

Looks like I'm done gardening for the day. It's lightning and a heavy downpour at the moment.

Got a free tomato plant today( when does one turn down free plants)One of the preschool moms started them and had too many. She said they have a small green house. I told hubby and he guested right that I want one. Maybe next yrs tax return.