The lettuce is beautiful. I do have some cos romaine lettuce seeds I could try, and would be more willing to do since I can do partial harvests. If I buy a lettuce at the store it is usually romaine anyway. Do you think some part shade under the edge of some tall trellised tomatoes would be ok, or do they really need a TON of light to flourish? Yours look to have plenty of light but I'm not sure how tall your toms got over a season.
I think this might be a dumb question, but if I just let it go to seed will it “replant” itself the following year? Or is a yearly dig it up and start over thing?
The lettuce is always sun facing compared to the tomatoes... the tomatoes are planted on the North side of the box, so they never shaded anything. I think the max sunlight really helped, as the row or 2 right up against the edge of the box (shaded by the side of the box) didn't do as well. As a result I've filled the box a bit more this year to help eliminate the shade.
Good to know, I'll just put them up on the deck in the couple of planter troughs that are free. RoTN, your stuff will grow from previous seeds but it isn't controlled. They could drop anywhere, they could try seeding this year instead of next. I had a few half eaten and crappy corn cobs left on the stalk that I just let dry out and decay in the garden over winter. Guess who has several clumps of corn coming up now in between all my peppers? I also had a few tomatoes left to rot and have a ton of baby tomatoes coming up. However, we've got cool and freezing temps to contend with and that'll suppress germination. So the seeds were out there, viable, until we had good temps and now they are all going off in places I don't really need them to be.
More thoughts on that -- you'd be better off saving some seeds yourself to plant where you want them instead of letting them drop. How true from seed they come back depends on a lot of factors. Generally heirloom whatevers will come back true from seed.
Finished the beds. Kinda impressed with how they turned out honestly. Pain in the ass, but the finished product is worth it.
direct sun in the evenings, that opening to the left of the cart is dead west. Partial shade most of the day including the hottest parts
I know you're in a hot climate in the summer so some shade will be helpful. Hope you get a bumper crop, it's trial and error like any new endeavor.
yeah there’s spots in the yard with direct sunlight which I know the peppers like, but my worry was scorching them. Cost vs benefit. Figured that spot was the best. Plus the trees are strong there so I don’t have to worry about limbs falling in storms
So are there any garden hoses that don't turn to shit after a season and a half outdoors? Plastic and aluminum fittings just turn to dust.
I like my heavy duty never kink hoses from Lowe's. I think I'm on year 4 or 5 for my set. One of them leaks at the faucet though, I think it needs a new rubber gasket. Otherwise in great condition. Tried to find the brand I bought. Maybe Teknor? Not positive.
About 6 years ago Costco had a set of pro hoses that had awesome brass fittings and was super resilient. I bought 4 of them and they’ve been in yearly use ever since and are awesome. Otherwise I picked up a great hose from Lee Valley. Expensive, but high quality. I also picked up a few pro hose kits that allow you to cut the end off and attach new, higher quality parts. If your hose itself is fine, you may just want to look into replacing the ends.
The garden has been in for a while now. Plants are still small, but generally happy. The cold garden is still pumping out all the lettuce and sugar snap peas you can eat. Onions are still growing well. Warm stuff continues to get bigger. 16 feet of green beans, 16 feet of cucumbers. Peppers sweet and hot, some really cool hot ones, with names like "Big Mustard Momma," "Purple UFO" and "Count Dracula." Okra in mounds among the peppers.18 tomato plants, stuff from brandywine to black cherry to some chardonnay grape tomatoes. Some real variety. I put in a trellis for another go at trombocino squash, my experimental plant from last year. Put a few sweet potatoes in mounds. Let's see how it goes! Hopefully a productive year.
Ha! No tiller this year, I AM the tractor. Turned and cleaned the area manually. Bonus: pretty good tank top tan happening over here.
Look at this cool pepper plant - I think I got 3 of them to germinate. Purple UFO iirc Edit to add: yes, I use cages until they literally fall apart. This one is pretty crooked!
Lettuce. I have given a few full heads away, but I generally just steal leaves from here and there and they keep on until the heat really arrives.