<p>LakeW: You can have all the okra and brussels sprouts you want. (They are my two least favorite vegetables of all time, and they belong to H. I think he chose them just to annoy me. . .)
Cucumbers are up today. I’m amazed how fast everything is sprouting. The weather has been perfect for germination: hot, humid, with enough rain to keep moist. This is my favorite time–just watching everything come up like magic. (Sure, I know the weeds, bugs, hailstorms, 100* heat/drought etc. are probably going to wreck everything by the end of the summer, but for right now it looks so hopeful!)</p>
<p>@LakeWashington My garden is about half planted. In are 6 different varieties of tomatoes, 2 peppers, 1 eggplant, kale, lettuce, sugar snap peas, pole beans, broccoli and broccoli raab. Still need to plant the winter and summer squash, the cukes, the bush beans and herbs. (I’m a lazy gardener…I do only a little bit at a time!) I start everything from seed, and stuff just sits in their little pots on my deck until I can get to them. After all that is planted, if I have any space left over, I’ll plant some swiss chard, beet, turnip, carrot and/or radish seeds directly in the garden, I have two other varieties of tomato seedlings that will probably end up in big pots on my deck, and some nasturtium seeds to plant somewhere. </p>
<p>As far as fertilizer goes, for the tomatoes, I use those tomato fertilizer “sticks” (2 per plant) when planting. I had trouble finding them this year, though. Winchester farms and Jobes both make them. I also mix in some crushed eggshells into the hole when planting. On the rest of the stuff, I’m not picky, but just mix in whatever vegetable fertilizer I can find when I’m planting out. For that I try to stay organic (I don’t think the tomato sticks are). I don’t bother fertilizing again after I plant, but you might need to with a container garden. Interesting about the matches. I never heard of that. What is that supposed to do?</p>
<p>—as far as trenching goes, I know with peppers you are not supposed to do that with them. I’m not sure about eggplants. </p>
<p>@dmd77 There is nothing like a tomato from one’s garden! I’ve never frozen raw tomatoes. (I usually make sauce or soup and freeze that). When you freeze the chunks, do you skin them prior? </p>
<p>I love the sun gold tomatoes too! Have you tried Sun Sugar? They are very similar and I prefer them over the Sun Gold. Supposedly, Sun Sugar isn’t as susceptible to cracking, and that did hold true for me in my garden, but that might have just been luck of the weather in the years I grew them. </p>
<p>I think I planted at least one of those.^^^^</p>
<p>Very interesting on the Epsom Salts. My body is intolerant of sulfites so when I am having a reaction, I soak in Epsom salts to help my body convert the sulfites into sulfates.</p>
<p>Supposedly matches are a source of phosporus for the tomatoes. Have heard this tip more than once so I thought I would try it this year.</p>
<p>Have never tasted Sun Sugar tomatoes. Hopefully the Cherry 100s I planted will be sweet.</p>
<p>For tomato plants, I usual did French double digging for deeper roots expansion. I also lay the seedlings on the side so that there will be more roots to grab nutrients. I think I learn this trick reading the book “How to grow the biggest tomato”. I did manage to grow one the size of the plate, don’t know whether it had the best flavor or not because I gave it away to my daughter’s piano teacher.
I use bone meal for fruit production and blood meal for leaves and that usually is sufficient for the plant to be healthy. I also built my own caging system because the old commercial version is not strong enough for big tomatoes.</p>
<p>I have my first tomatoes on one of my plants, and got a lemon cucumber plant for my birthday. </p>
<p>Shrinkrap, I am trying Lemon Cucumber one more time this year. Last year’s plants died before providing any fruit. I’m guessing that a lack of phosphorus (a belated discovery on my part) was the problem, as there were few blossoms until I made some compost tea and poured it around the stem. Flowers magically appeared but still couldn’t save the plants from eventually withering. </p>
<p>@JustLookingNow: I wash and chunk the tomatoes. I don’t skin them. When I thaw them, I puree them in the blender, skin and all. </p>
<p>I do the same thing as dmd does. Beats canned tomatoes any day of the week! :)</p>
<p>We put in a retaining wall this year so we have a big long section dedicated to the garden. The landscaper knew we were using it for a veggie garden and filled it with good soil. I did get one of those soil testers and the ph and fertilizer levels were perfect. It’s a sandier soil.</p>
<p>I have trouble knowing how much to fertilize, how much to water. This year we put in a sprinkler system into this area and it raises up and mists. They set the timer for 4 minutes 3 times a week. </p>
<p>I have had years where the veggies grow and look wonderful, but doesn’t get any fruit. Or things start looking too yellow. </p>
<p>Any helpful hints you could offer?</p>
<p>Maybe too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorus in your soil? I am far from being an expert but that’s a problem I had; lots of great-looking leaves and no fruit. Of course it depends on what vegetables you planted. Tomatoes love nitrogen. Beans make their own nitrogen.</p>
<p>Improving my soil with compost made a difference, so while still so-so, my results have gotten better each season. I’ve resisted using big-name synthetic fertilizers the last two seasons, but hey, I don’t knock folks who use MiracleGro and the like.</p>
<p>About water, experienced gardeners tell me consistency is the most important thing.</p>
<p>^ Use a PlantLink Sensor with your tomato plant and the tomato plant will send you an email all by itself when it is thirsty and wants a drink of water!</p>
<p><a href=“Give your plant a voice with the PlantLink Sensor - Video - CNET”>http://www.cnet.com/videos/give-your-plant-a-voice-with-the-plantlink-sensor/</a></p>
<p>When I had more tomatoes than I can eat, I used to do the same as dmd. However, lately I stay away from putting anything on plastic and freeze so I must find a different way to store it easily.</p>
<p>I put bone meal for fruit production so my tomato plants usually produce tons of fruit. I normally grow about 100 plants per year from seeds. I just got greedy, there was not a need to plant that many tomato plants.</p>
<p>$79 plus $35 for each additional plant sensor? I think I going to continue to have DH wander outside and water the garden daily. :bz </p>
<p>“Any helpful hints you could offer?”</p>
<p>eyemamom, where do you garden? I know Sunset zones best. Highs during the day, and lows at night matter, as does humidity and what you are trying to grow. In some places a mist might cause foliage disease. In some it would not be enough moisture.</p>
<p>"$79 plus $35 for each additional plant sensor? "</p>
<p>Lol. Talk about golden tomatoes! :)</p>
<p>With today’s technology, you could probably get a plant sensor that could email Amazon when it needs fertilizer or pesticides and Amazon could have a drone do a flyover spray application on your garden! Not practical dollar-wise quite yet, but probably possible.</p>
<p>I’m in zone 7. I went to the garden store today to talk to the local guru. She gave me some organic fertilizer, with the major stuff like nitrogen and the other 2 biggies, but bone meal, etc. We have a water sprinkler set to water 3 days a week for 4 minutes - she suggested I put out a tuna can by the plants to see how much water it’s actually getting. </p>