Had to replant the Ambrosia

Today I unplanted the Ambrosia corn . I decided to move the Ambrosia, because I wasn't making very good use of the space. I dug up as many of the seeds as I could find, but I know I missed some. If they sprout and I don't get enough in the new spot, I'll try the dreaded transplant. If I get good germination in the new spot, I'll just pull the errant sprouts. Good news, the new planting of Ambrosia is 3 feet from the Ruby Queen, so I have increased my separation by 1 foot and decreased the chances of cross polination by 0.00000000001 percent :)

The new planting is 2 rows, 4 mounds plus 2 rows, 3 mounds each.

2008 Corn: First Planting of Ambrosia

Today I planted the Ambrosia corn. 4 rows, 6 mounds, 4 seeds each. I still have a bunch of seeds left.

I think I'll plant some corn too.

I was at the Lowes today for something unrelated and wandered out into the garden center. Seeds intrigue me. Very small seedlings cost a few dollars for a 9 plants. That's not too bad. Larger seedlings cost $3-$10 each. I just can't brig myself to pay that. The whole point of growing your own is to save some money. A package of seeds goes for $1-$2 and there are many (>20) seeds in a package. And there are some plants that just don't transplant well. Corn is one of those plants. If a corn plants root system is damaged, it doesn't recover very well. In addition to the usual roots that grow near the surface, the small plant sends out a tap root shortly after germination. Any roots that are damaged during transplant (including the single tap root) won't grow, so if you are going to transplant you have to do it when the plants are still very small. And besides, corn has a very high germination rate if you wait til the soil is nice and warm.

So I bought two packs of Burpee's sugar enhanced corn. I grew up with Burpee's Silver Queen, but they didn't have any of that. I bought 1 pack of Burpee's Ambrosia, which is an 18 row white/yellow hybrid. The other pack is Burpee's Ruby Queen. It is supposed to be like Silver Queen, except the kernels are a nice ruby red color. Each pack was < $2. Nice.

After I bought my 2 packs of corn, I was investigating when to plant. During this time, the obvious became obvious to me. If you plant to different varieties of corn close to each other (where close is <600 yards), there is a pretty good chance of cross pollination. The closer together the higher the chance. Duh! My two varieties will be about 2 feet apart. Hmm. The solution seems to be to stagger the planting. Corn is generally fertile for about 2 weeks. So if the second planting goes in 3 weeks after the first planting, I won't get any cross pollination. To help my chances, I'll wait til all of my first planting sprouts or June 1st, which ever come first.

Getting the Nutrients Just Right

Successfully growing tomatoes in containers means plenty of water and the proper balance of nutrients. EarthTainers (aka self-watering containers (SWC)) take care of the water. Nutrients is another thing. Miracle Grow potting mix contains a very generic set of nutrients (0.21-0.07-0.14). Too much nitrogen causes tomatoes to grow fast (good), but the resulting plant will be all foliage and little fruit. To grow abundant fruit, the tomato plant needs plenty of phosphorus. A lack of calcium causes blossom end rot (BER), so a supplement like garden lime is required. To provide some of the other micro-nutrients, I'll add some Epsom salts.

The EarthTainer system uses a band of fertilizer that is placed opposite the plant and 1"-2" below the surface. Over the course of the growing season the fertilizer will slowly dissolve and disperse through the container.

Colorburst fertilizer has a nice balance for growing tomatoes (15-30-15). I'll use 1 cup of that plus 1/2 cup each of Epsom salts and garden lime.

Where have all the Roughnecks gone?

I couldn't find any real Rubbermaid Roughnecks, which are far and away the best of the storage totes. Sterilite makes a decent clear tote, but the rest are cheap knock-offs. I drove around today looking for Roughnecks and there aren't any to be had. I found some 18 gallon "Planet Friendly" totes at Lowes. They're made of 99% post consumer product, seem pretty strong and at $4.47 each they are in my price range.

I picked up some other components including 1.5" black ABS pipe, perforated pipe, 54" tomato cages and some Miracle Grow with Moisture Control potting mix. The Moisture Control formula has coconut coir (shredded husk?) in it that is supposed to increase moisture retention without being soggy. Time will tell.

EarthTainers are way cooler than a TopsyTurvys

After I bought tomato plants yesterday, I started investigating Do-It-Yourself upside-down planters. www.gardenweb.com is a great resource for gardening information. After coming to the conclusion that upside-down ain't so great, I started looking at alternatives. The most interesting is the EarthTainer. I'm going to base my EarthTainers on the designed layout in a message by dennisj550 in this thread on gardenweb. It minimizes the construction expense, because you only need one Roughneck.

Pam is going out of town this weekend, so I'm going shopping!

It's Spring! I should grow something!

Last year I was wandering through the Home Depot garden center and decided I was going to grow some tomatoes. It didn't turn out, so great.

The other night I was watching TV and saw an ad for those upside-down tomato planters. $19.95 plus shipping. It got me thinking that I could build my own for way less. More importantly, it got me in the mood to start preparing a garden.

I was back at the Home Depot garden center today looking at tomato plants. Large plants are around $5 each. And it's not even close to a safe time to plant out. In this area, it's at least 6 weeks til it's safe to plant. But they had 9 packs of small seedlings for $2.98. Now we're talking. The plants are much more affordable and I can satisfy my need to grow something.

I picked up 3 varieties - Early Girl, Celebrity and Burpee's Big Boy. The Early Girl is an indeterminate and is supposed to ripen faster than a mid-season (50 days from transplant). The other two are mid-season varieties with Celebrity being a determinate and the Burpee's Big Boy being an indeterminate.

Let the growing begin!