Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I need to seed tomatoes within the next week.

Me too, next week if I get around to it.

 

[GardenTillers44]

Started tomatoes and peppers today in the greenhouse. Chard and spinach 1" sprouts already.

 

[CapricornFarm]

My tomatoes are getting tall. They need to go outside asap.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My tomatoes are getting tall. They need to go outside asap.View attachment 1299230

You can bury those stems, either straight down or trenched, and they will become roots, just pinch off the leaves up to where they are buried. Hopefully your frost date is soon?

 

[R2elk]

You can bury those stems, either straight down or trenched, and they will become roots, just pinch off the leaves up to where they are buried. Hopefully your frost date is soon?

I have experimented using deep holes vs trenches. Normally tomato plants do not send roots any further down than about 8" to 10" deep. Here, the deeper you dig the hole, the colder the ground is. The ones that I planted by digging a hole 16" deep so I could have most of the stem buried would "stall" in their growth until the stem in the upper part of the ground grew enough roots to support the plant. The roots in the lower part of the hole eventually died off most likely due to being at too cool of temperatures. When the plants were pulled in the fall the roots were only about 8" deep even though the root ball was initially planted at a depth of 16".

The ones I planted by laying the plant in a shallow trench no deeper than 8" did much better right away and did not go through the stagnant growth period. When those plants were pulled in the fall their roots also were no deeper than 8" but were more numerous and spread much farther out from the main stem.

If your soil is warmer (at least 60°F) at deeper levels than my soil (sand) is then this information may not apply to your case.

 

[GardenTillers44]

Woke up to a sleet storm and a layer of ice on everything with freezing rain/snow mix coming. Fired up the wood stove in the shop, guess I'll make Bluebird houses today...

 

[N F C]

Woke up to a sleet storm and a layer of ice on everything with freezing rain/snow mix coming. Fired up the wood stove in the shop, guess I'll make Bluebird houses today...

Sounds like a good day for an indoor project. Have you made other bird houses?

 

[GardenTillers44]

Have you made other bird houses?

All kinds of functional cedar houses. My biggest sellers are the bluebird, wren and chickadee houses. This is the busy season and keeping ahead of the orders can be a challenge, but I love working wood in a warm shop on a cold day!

 

[N F C]

Very nice work @GardenTillers44

 

[rjohns39]

Very nice work @GardenTillers44

X2 I had my wood shop partially setup, but needed the space for the brooder. I miss wood working.