Amkuska's 2025 Garden

[AMKuska]

With the last tomatoes fading away in the surviving garden beds, it's time to start thinking of next years garden. My husband has gotten super excited for this years garden. He grew absolutely huge Carolina Reapers in my greenhouse. We cleaned and sanitized it together. (He mopped my greenhouse floor with the indoor mop! Luckily it came clean!) He's growing new pepper plants from seeds of the peppers, and I've got my first tomatoes and peppers started.

My neighbor, who has had a lot more success with gardening than I have, came over and looked at my husbands giant bush reapers, and showed me where to prune to potentially over-winter them. He also shared some tips on saving the tiny tomatoes my daughter is enamored with. I'm very grateful.

Here's a few pictures from today's work:

I'm trying to be more careful about labeling. Husband may have flipped the Rose De Burne lid, so I'm not sure if that ones accurate, but he also marked the bottom and top so they both match now and we can be sure the lid is on 'right.'

New plastic sheeting on the shelves! We've had some problems with water from the shelf above dripping on the lights, which is of course dangerous.

A gift from my mother-in-law!! What should I put in it?!

 

[ninnymary]

You are starting peppers and tomatoes so early. When will you transplant them into the ground?

Mary

 

[AMKuska]

You are starting peppers and tomatoes so early. When will you transplant them into the ground?

Mary

April or May. I have not yet figured out what I am doing wrong, but they grow so slowly. A pepper plant might only be 6" tall by the time they get set out. I've tried different types of potting soil, watering with fertilized water, not using any fertilizer at all, potting up, not potting up--things just don't grow that well for me. :-/

 

[flowerbug]

April or May. I have not yet figured out what I am doing wrong, but they grow so slowly. A pepper plant might only be 6" tall by the time they get set out. I've tried different types of potting soil, watering with fertilized water, not using any fertilizer at all, potting up, not potting up--things just don't grow that well for me. :-/

these are my suggestions, i hope they help, you can try this in one garden and see how it goes.

in the spring to early summer you don't want mulches on the soil to get it warmed up the plants will not like cool soil.

try growing them in more mineral based soils, we grow pretty good peppers here in mostly clay raised beds with about 3 ft across at least to keep the soil cool enough. i don't mulch them at all. at the end of the season i bury all garden debris and the next season i plant next to that (but not directly over it because the soil being disturbed too much means the pepper plants will fall over as they get loaded down with peppers and the winds here get blowing). i think with too many nutrients and organic matter you are going to get more green growth and not much production, but i also know this is somewhat dependent upon variety of peppers grown as i've experienced this myself. growing several varieties right next to each other in the same garden and having very different results. i do amend the clay soil with some worm castings when i plant but i do not fertilize the plants after they are planted. i just keep them watered regularly during the hot and dry spells.

i don't start my own plants. i don't have a good space or temperature for growing them here but i do know they are started pretty early (January and does take a while to get them up to taller sized).

 

[Branching Out]

Well AMKuska, like you and your husband I learned the hard way to label the container-- and not the lid!!

Here is my two cents. I use Craig LeHoullier's advice (he wrote the book Epic Tomatoes) for starting tomatoes, which is to get the seeds going two months prior to transplanting them outdoors. In our area that would be April (although I do start some earlier as part of experiments that I like to conduct, and also for early cold-tolerant varieties). Per Jamie at Quail Seeds, tomatoes are 'Movers' and they need to keep going once they hit their stride. https://www.quailseeds.com/blog/movers-divers-sprinters-and-sprawlers-a-guide-to-seedlingsI

And you have my sympathies. It was a difficult year for tomatoes here in the Pacific Northwest. Many of us are hoping for a better crop next year. Do you happen to know the name of the variety of tomato that caught your daughter's fancy?

 

[AMKuska]

Well AMKuska, like you and your husband I learned the hard way to label the container-- and not the lid!!

Here is my two cents. I use Craig LeHoullier's advice (he wrote the book Epic Tomatoes) for starting tomatoes, which is to get the seeds going two months prior to transplanting them outdoors. In our area that would be April (although I do start some earlier as part of experiments that I like to conduct, and also for early cold-tolerant varieties). Per Jamie at Quail Seeds, tomatoes are 'Movers' and they need to keep going once they hit their stride. https://www.quailseeds.com/blog/movers-divers-sprinters-and-sprawlers-a-guide-to-seedlingsI

And you have my sympathies. It was a difficult year for tomatoes here in the Pacific Northwest. Many of us are hoping for a better crop next year. Do you happen to know the name of the variety of tomato that caught your daughter's fancy?

Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato

These are the sweetest, the smallest, the most wildly successful tomato I've ever had. I've got seeds planted now. It didn't mind anything from hail and frost to thunderstorms. It survived raccoons tromping through it and squirrels saying, "While I'll have some!"

I only planted one or two, but they made up a huge amount of the tomatoes we got.

As for the base--yes I should have done that but I tried labeling the base last year and my helpful helpers watering made short work of making the labels unreadable.

 

[AMKuska]

these are my suggestions, i hope they help, you can try this in one garden and see how it goes.

in the spring to early summer you don't want mulches on the soil to get it warmed up the plants will not like cool soil.

try growing them in more mineral based soils, we grow pretty good peppers here in mostly clay raised beds with about 3 ft across at least to keep the soil cool enough. i don't mulch them at all. at the end of the season i bury all garden debris and the next season i plant next to that (but not directly over it because the soil being disturbed too much means the pepper plants will fall over as they get loaded down with peppers and the winds here get blowing). i think with too many nutrients and organic matter you are going to get more green growth and not much production, but i also know this is somewhat dependent upon variety of peppers grown as i've experienced this myself. growing several varieties right next to each other in the same garden and having very different results. i do amend the clay soil with some worm castings when i plant but i do not fertilize the plants after they are planted. i just keep them watered regularly during the hot and dry spells.

i don't start my own plants. i don't have a good space or temperature for growing them here but i do know they are started pretty early (January and does take a while to get them up to taller sized).

Thank you for the tips! I could probably be more familiar with soil types. what can I do to make my soil more mineral based? Right now I imagine it's pretty heavy in organic materials, thanks to the abundance of chicken compost, vegetable compost, and fallen leaves I have.

This year I'm growing Magnum Habaneros, pablanos, and bell peppers. (Bell peppers, in particular, never do well.) I have had great success with "Grandpa's Home" which is a siberian pepper that is not at all bothered by growing in the PNW. It'd probably grow in a crack in the sidewalk and produce a giant haul.

 

[Branching Out]

Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato

These are the sweetest, the smallest, the most wildly successful tomato I've ever had. I've got seeds planted now. It didn't mind anything from hail and frost to thunderstorms. It survived raccoons tromping through it and squirrels saying, "While I'll have some!"

I only planted one or two, but they made up a huge amount of the tomatoes we got.

As for the base--yes I should have done that but I tried labeling the base last year and my helpful helpers watering made short work of making the labels unreadable.

Very interesting-- thank you. Matt's Wild Cherry tomato evidently has fairly strong resistance to late blight as well. I may just have to try growing it one day.

After many failed attempts at labeling seedlings I have finally found a method that works consistently, and that is using a pencil to print the information on small pieces of white aluminum window blinds. They wash up nicely and then the pencil marks can be erased, so the same tag can be used over and over.

 

[AMKuska]

Very interesting-- thank you. Matt's Wild Cherry tomato evidently has fairly strong resistance to late blight as well. I may just have to try growing it one day.

After many failed attempts at labeling seedlings I have finally found a method that works consistently, and that is using a pencil to print the information on small pieces of white aluminum window blinds. They wash up nicely and then the pencil marks can be erased, so the same tag can be used over and over.

That's a wonderful idea. I think I may try it.

 

[AMKuska]

Today's gardening project was getting the hydroponics kit my mother in law gave me going. You fill it with water and plant food, insert pre seeded sponges, and the little machine does everything else. Fascinating!