23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Just this past Thursday alone we got about 2" of rain. It rains almost constantly up here. And the thing is that we get NO run off, because the rain is very gentle. It never pours down like down in GA. That is why I have raised bed with well drained soil. I have also covered the beds with black plastic , leaving just a 8" circle hole for the tomatoes. So most of the water runs off.

If you get standing water in the moat, can you drain it? Use a hose for a syphon? Bail with a bucket?

Here is how we grow tomatoes when it's overly wet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floating garden

This post was edited by terry_neoh on Sat, Apr 19, 14 at 14:06

Add some crushed dolomotic limestone (agricultural lime) with your potting mix. This will help neutrilize the soil if it is too acid, and it will add magnesium.

Many plants, especially solanaceae (tomatoe, peppers, potatoes, eggplant) need magnesium to form chlorophyll (the green stuff in plants). It, quite literally, can't hurt.

Slimy Okra I think you're spot on when you say:

"Overwatering compounded by too-cool nights can easily do them in, usually by triggering a fungal infection. That would also explain why your okra, cantaloupe and cucumber seedlings are doing the worst of all."

I *think* this is what has happened. Everything else seems to be doing splendidly! Well darn, I was quite fond of those heirloom tomatoes. Guess I'll just start more seeds this weekend. You live, you learn.

Thanks so much Tracydr and everyone else.
I planted the seeds about a week ago in egg cartons and have been watering them once in the morning and once in the afternoon, none have sprouted yet but I'm sure they'll take some time.
Cross your fingers for me! :) x

Crossing my fingers! If any of your seeds are for peppers you may want to put them in a warm spot so that the soil is about 75-80 degrees. Tomatoes, too. Move them off the warm place when you see them pop up.
Celery ,parsley and cilantro (coriander) also do well in fall. Arugula is very easy, just sprinkle seed on the ground and keep it damp for several days.

Oh my! Zone 2???? I find it amazing to see what you are able to grow in zone 2! LOL Good for you! Nancy

nancyjane, Perhaps you could save one bed for winter planting. Cover crops are nice for beds not in use.

I planted the first planting of sweet corn [of 7] a couple days ago. Also we planted part of the potatoes, set out the rest of the early broccoli, set out the early butterhead lettuce and spinach, and sowed beets and carrots. The ground is working up nicely.

I am In Atlanta, and I can say that our weather has been having a few uncharacteristically cold nights of recent. And by recent I mean all month. I think you will see them grow healthier over the next three weeks when our soil temps get well above the 60 degree point. Right now our soil has been hovering around 45-50 which can be a little cold for them. Especially if you started them indoors.

Thanks for the help everyone. I will look into amending the soil and plant again in a few weeks. I have always had good luck growing ornamentals and trees in my soil but this is my first year vegetable gardening.

I'm experimenting this year. I had some left over seed potatoes and planted them in 30 gallon Rubbermaid tubs. We will see how it goes. I used just a general purpose potting mix I picked up at the hardware store, can't remember the brand though.

First, you will need a deep container.
You fill your container about 10" from the bottom.
Place the seeds on it and covert with about 3 to 4 inches of additional soil. So far you have used about 13-14" of depth. Tomato will grow roots (NOT TUBERS) in this portion of the soil and will get the moisture and the nutrient from that part.

After the tomato sprouts and grows, you start filling around/between the stems: THIS IS WHERE THE TUBERS WILL GROW. This part needs NOT to have ANY nutrients but has to be fluffy so the tubers can grow in it easily. This part should have a depth of about 8". So this results in an over all container depth of about 20 -22 inches.

Therefore it is important that the lower 13" (wher the roots will grow) to consist of very rich and balanced nutrients, before you plant in it. I will mix in some compost, manure , pine bark fine, peat moss and some perlite. Or use something like ProMix with added CRF.

anatomy of potato plant. Though not a very good one.

mdfarmer I would recommend getting a soil test from CSI ( Crop Services International ) and get a very good soil test that will change everything in your garden. You will find what is tied up and get minerals and all the good things back into your soil to bring back the teast you once had.

I have got one from them this Spring and am very pleased with what I did not know about my soil. NO more NPK testing any more.

In response to the tomato ripening issue I found out the hard way last year that tomatoes are the true "Goldie Locks" of the garden: they don't like it too cold, or too hot, but juuuuust right.

The below is copied for horticultural website but can be found in numerous places... Hope it helps!

"Ripening and color development in tomatoes is governed primarily by two factors: temperature and the presence of a naturally occurring hormone called "ethylene."

The optimum temperature range for ripening mature green tomatoes is 68��"77 deg. F. The further temperatures stray from the optimum, the slower the ripening process will be. And, when temperatures are outside the optimum range for extended periods, conditions may become so stressful that the ripening process virtually halts.

At the same time, tomatoes do not produce lycopene and carotene, the pigments responsible for ripe tomato color, when temperatures are above 85 deg. F. So, extended periods of extreme heat cause tomatoes to stop ripening. The resulting fruits often appear yellowish green to yellowish orange."

I wouldn't do it, for a number of reasonsâ¦.

One, you still have to fix the browns to greens ratio even if you did it in your vegetable beds, so why take up the space in your raised beds? You may as well keep the compost bin and fix the balance as others have said.

Second, it's expensive to build raised beds and then space is limited. I would rather use that space for higher production.

Third, If you keep it in a pot in the bed, it's going to smell and attract critters if it is not being composted correctly. Without coming into contact with the soil and without the right amount of browns. Plus in a small pot like that, I have to wonder if you have enough volume. I've often read you should make a compost pile at least a 3x3 ft size.

Cardboard is another good brown. You can get all kinds of cardboard from many different sources. On Freecycle, people are always offering moving boxes.

How much compost are we talking? I've heard of something called spot composting where you just bury a small amount of kitchen scraps right in the ground. But I think that only works with small amounts of scraps and a lot of ground to put them in.

Speaking of raised beds... We're using raised mounds (raised soil with no frames around them) this year for gardening. Tomatoes, egg plant, squash and various types of peppers are planned. Just how wide and tall should our mounds be?

Pressing the soil down defeat the purpose of digging it up in the first place. This is actually a very good chance to incorporate some compost and well rotten manure into the soil at suitable depth that you wish to encourage your plants root to grow(ie. 10 to 18 inches depend on plants type). Mere deep-watering can only do so much to encourage deep root growth with nothing down there for them to get nutrient. Only when coupled with plant food(compost/manure) at the suitable depth can deep-watering encourage deep roots efficiently. Plants are a kind of organism that react purely to stimulants:light, temperature, soil nutrient, water, mean altitude and/or latitude etc. Take care of their growing conditions and their growing conditions will take care of them.

I see. Thanks for the response, that makes a lot of sense.

I'll be getting some Shake-n-Feed with it being so widely used. If I was to fertilize it with Shake-n-Feed now, would I have to worry about over fertilizing since I already have the other plant food granules mixed in with the soil?

I know my plants are wanting some food, but I'd hate to over fertilize and not realize it until weeks later when they die or start exhibiting signs of toxicity :-/

Shake n Feed is a Slow Release granular, no magic about it. But for containers that is better,because lasts longer than ordinary granular PLUS it has Calcium and Magnesium. Fertilizers like 10-10-10, 16-16-16 are quick release and have NO calcium and Magnesium.

I mix Shake n Feed with my 5-1-1 potting mix for peppers and tomatoes. For the bed plants I use other stuff, like MG BLUE soluble, 16-16-16, Ammonium sulfate (23-0-0), Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) and dolomitic lime. ( the last two item are used very sparingly)