Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[TooCheep]

Yeah, last year was my first experience with peat pots, I wanted to get my tomatoes and peppers in 6-paks but they didn't have any when I went shopping so I got 3" peat pots (at like $4 each) and planted according to the directions... well, the plants barely put roots outside of the pots so they didn't do much, plus we got a hard frost about 3 days after I planted them so everything was under a tarp for a few days and I don't think the peppers ever forgave me for that.

Yup. We had very late freezes here. I lost pretty much all of my fruit and most of my berries. I start my own vegetable seedlings inside in the spring and lost some that I brought out too early. It was a tough year. Gives you a better appreciation of what farmers have to go through having their entire livelihood dependent on conditions out of their control.

 

[Molpet]

Yup. We had very late freezes here. I lost pretty much all of my fruit and most of my berries. I start my own vegetable seedlings inside in the spring and lost some that I brought out too early. It was a tough year. Gives you a better appreciation of what farmers have to go through having their entire livelihood dependent on conditions out of their control.

Or the first people who depended on what they could raise....or hunt/gather

 

[jvls1942]

I gave up on peat pots years ago. I had pretty good luck with the peat wafers. You add water and they swell up into a nice tiny starter pot.
No mess with potting soil unless you want to graduate the peat pellets into a larger pot as the roots grow. If you want to grow a tomato or pepper in a container, and have some extra space , you can start the single plant right in the bucket.. then there is no transplant shock. It looks kind of weird to have just one seedling in a five gallon pot, but it will grow to fit it..
........jiminwisc.........

 

[cavemanrich]

I got 3" peat pots (at like $4 each) and planted according to the directions..

Let me shed some light here. (that means my opinion) First,,, you got ripped off on your purchase of those @$4 each. Look at Amazon, and compare.

You can still go the peat pot (about 50 cents each) route next spring, but I would suggest removing contents, (soil, and root ball) and you can reuse the pots for next item to grow whenever.
Red solo cups are much less, (about 4 cents each) depending on supplier. and will grow your plants just fine. Of course you don't bury those ether.
I save my yogurt containers for my seed starters. (free option since we consume yogurt regularly, and save washed cups)

Now, to following the planting directions. I'm sure you tried your best. (I do not know what your instructions said)

This only applies to the tomatoes that I planted many times. I take out the root ball, and I plant the roots and stem deep. View the following pix. The red line is depth I bury the plant in my garden soil. A tomato plant will vigorously sprout roots from the stem if it had ground/soil contact. This way the tomato plant develops an excellent root system.

There are many other tricks to growing/propagating tomatoes, but that's discussion for another time.

 

[jvls1942]

I end up with tomatoes in one gallon pots.
I usually plant them permanently when they are about 10 inches tall. I remove the lowest leaves. then plant the whole stem up to the bottom of the next lowest set of leaves. That's how I plant in containers.
for planting directly into the ground, I prepare the plant the same way. I lay the plant flat on the ground with the roots and stem covered up to the leaves. If the sun is out, the leaves will actually turn up toward the sun. Then I plant the roots and stem in a trench instead of digging a deep hole. cover the roots and stem about 5 inches deep..
I plant bell peppers deep also.just like tomatoes.
I never use peat pots. If you wait too long, the roots are growing into the pot, and then you damage the roots taking the plant out of the pot. plastic cups and deli containers work well for starting plants.
for $4.oo you can buy tomatoes already started in 4 packs or singles....
..jiminwisc......

 

[Molpet]

for $4.oo you can buy tomatoes already started in 4 packs or

I traded a bad mama turkey hen for a dz tomato plants that were in buckets and 6 in pots

 

[Kusanar]

Let me shed some light here. (that means my opinion) First,,, you got ripped off on your purchase of those @$4 each. Look at Amazon, and compare.
View attachment 2452633
You can still go the peat pot (about 50 cents each) route next spring, but I would suggest removing contents, (soil, and root ball) and you can reuse the pots for next item to grow whenever.
Red solo cups are much less, (about 4 cents each) depending on supplier. and will grow your plants just fine. Of course you don't bury those ether.
I save my yogurt containers for my seed starters. (free option since we consume yogurt regularly, and save washed cups)

Now, to following the planting directions. I'm sure you tried your best. (I do not know what your instructions said)

This only applies to the tomatoes that I planted many times. I take out the root ball, and I plant the roots and stem deep. View the following pix. The red line is depth I bury the plant in my garden soil. A tomato plant will vigorously sprout roots from the stem if it had ground/soil contact. This way the tomato plant develops an excellent root system.

View attachment 2452632
There are many other tricks to growing/propagating tomatoes, but that's discussion for another time.

Lol, it was a plant in a peat pot for $4 not just the pot. I got 2" peat pots for next year for $0.10 each.

I also didn't have enough broken up depth in my garden to be able to plant them deep, I was actually having a hard time chipping enough clay away at the bottoms of the holes to be able to get the entire root ball in the ground. Again, that shouldn't be an issue this year.

My property is a very old dairy farm that was subdivided up, I got 11 acres including the old house (falling down now) and the dairy barn.... the only place I really have to put a garden is in between the house and the barn, so over 100 years of foot traffic went through that spot, plus tractors and who knows what else. I actually found a leaf spring buried in the ground when I was digging it last year. I'm working to loosen clay that is essentially concrete, but it grows grass like no ones business so other than being packed down it's fine, just needs to be fluffed. I fluffed and then added an entire bale of peat moss last year, this year I fluffed it, leveled it, and threw all of the soil I dug out when leveling in the middle for more fluffy depth. Will add another bale of peat moss in the spring. It is now about 3-4 inches above the natural ground level, my goal is to get it 16" above natural level over time. Next year I should also have compost to add as well rather than the peat moss.

 

[jvls1942]

I would take a good look inside the barn, You might have a bonanza of old hay and straw.
Do not add sand to clay. that is what bricks are made of.. compost, compost , compost.
at first just do "pots" in the ground for each plant.
........jiminwisc.........

 

[Kusanar]

I would take a good look inside the barn, You might have a bonanza of old hay and straw.
Do not add sand to clay. that is what bricks are made of.. compost, compost , compost.
at first just do "pots" in the ground for each plant.
........jiminwisc.........

Nah, the barn is empty, we even ripped part of the floor out to re-pour it. Changing it from a dairy barn to one for horses.

I do have some older hay and will probably try some "straw bale gardening" with some of it and also grow my onions in some this year then what is left will go in the gardens next fall.

That soil already has sand in it actually, you can hear it sliding on the shovel when you dig.

 

[cavemanrich]

It is now about 3-4 inches above the natural ground level, my goal is to get it 16" above natural level over time.

A suggestion worth pondering..
Consider making your garden in raised beds.
Advantages; easier to control weeds. The perimeter will control the erosion of soil inside the contained area.
You also can use those horse tennis balls to enhance the nutrition source for the garden. Amish do it all the time.