Secret Tip: How My Container Tomato Will Make Guaranteed Harvest
Tired Of Missing That Bumper Harvest? Click Here For The Simple Remedy For All Common Mistakes... Guaranteed!
What with all the frantic container tomato garden activity going on right now, I’m sure sure you’re as busy as me at this fine time of year. A few friends (and one or two customers – that means you too, Jim!) are getting worried about what tomato dirt to use for their upside down garden.
I’m going to share my Top Secret Recipe with you!
The ‘hanging tomato basket’ is what I mean – although you can use the following advice just fine for regular container garden, without it having to be an upside down one.
The main thing I’ve found with growing tomato plants is that success does depend very much on your locality, and how and where you ‘plant out’ – but that’s for another blog post, not now.
Get your tomato dirt just right, and the rest, God willing, will be easy!
The recipes I give in my book are based on my own years of experience, and are tuned towards the “standard” five gallon bucket (for my container tomato). However, a lot of folks found the main recipe (My Secret Dirt Recipe) a bit too vague – and want ounce-for-ounce, measure-for-measure version.
Sure thing!
Until I get my web boys to fix up some fancy graphics, the following simple table will have to do.
I use a 33.8fl plastic bottle (Sam’s Choice: Clear American Wild Cherry Water, 33.8 fl oz, from Walmart’s, it’s just so yummmy!), and I cut the top off, just where it starts to narrow.
Discarding the top, I use the rest of the bottle as my ’scoop’.
For a 5-Gallon bucket for my upside down tomato garden, I use:
8 scoops of compost
7 scoops of peat moss
1 scoop of soil-moist
8 scoops of Perlite (or you can use my styrofoam trick)
I also add a little grow brew to each mix, full details of my preferred method are in my book (or maybe I’ll reveal it here in another post, hmm?)
So, if you’re planting a whopper in a 50-gal container, just multiply the above by 10, i.e.
80 scoops of compost
70 scoops of peat moss
10 scoops of soil-moist
80 scoops of Perlite
This gives you a perfect growing medium for your tomato plants,
one that has allowed me to out-perform all my neighbors – and get this:
Every year for over ten years!
Yowser!
That’s enough bragging for now.
If you want to be bragging too this Harvest time, swing by my book page (click the banner near the top of this post) and look see if you think I might be able to help you on your way this year.
But whatever you do,
Enjoy Your Gardening!
Karen
PS. Please add your comments below, and I’ll answer them as best I can (I’m having problems with answering directly via email presently)
Posted by admin Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Compost, Container Garden, container tomato, Fancy Graphics, Fine Time Of Year, Gal Container, Gallon Bucket, Growing Tomato Plants, hanging tomato basket, Measure For Measure, Peat Moss, Perlite, Preferred Method, Scoops, Secret Tip, Sure Thing, tomato dirt, tomato watering, tomatoes container, Top Secret Recipe, Upside Down Tomato Garden, Walmart, Web Boys, Whopper, Wild Cherry
Gardening Advice: Learn How To Grow Tomatoes | Garden Tips And …
When it comes to finding gardening advice you are sure to welcome all the help that you can get. The right gardening advice will in fact help you to grow juicier and better flavored vegetables and it will also help you to grow more ...
Posted by admin Date: Friday, November 20, 2009
Categories: Gardening, Tomato Planting
Tags: are-sure, fact-help, finding-gardening, flavored-vegetables, Gardening, grow-juicier, grow-more, guinness, Home Gardening, tomatoes, Vegetable Gardening, world, World Record
Posted by admin Date: Monday, November 9, 2009
Categories: Upside Down Cucumbers
Tags: available-now, creating-new, following-new, latest-original, legacy, ones-based, our-new, process, technorati, the-legacy, the-process
Growing Tomatoes in South Florida
The most frequently asked question by gardeners after moving to South Florida is “how do you grow tomatoes?” The answer is, homegrown tomatoes are easy in the subtropical climate of South Florida once you know how.
Tomatoes are grown in South Florida primarily in the winter. This is because subtropical growing seasons are reversed from the rest of the country.
Tomatoes won’t pollinate at temperatures over 85 degrees, so most tomato plants won’t set fruit in the hot, humid South Florida summers. Summer weather in South Florida stretches from May through August. For this reason, tomatoes are generally grown from September through December, and again in late January through April.
There are a few tomato varieties that are hybridized strictly for heat, but gardeners’ impressions are that heat tolerant tomatoes do not bear well, and don’t have much taste. Cherry tomatoes will bear well in the summer here.
Growing tomatoes successfully in South Florida requires fertile, loamy, acidic soil. Since South Florida soil is generally either sand (devoid of all nutrients) or marl (can’t dig it with a pickax), both alkaline, there is a need to add lots of organic matter to your soil.
If the added organic matter is acidic, it will help counteract the alkalinity of South Florida soil. Oak leaves and peat moss are two good, acidic choices, but peat moss is very expensive. On the other hand, oak leaves can generally be picked up on yard trash day, already bagged by nice neighbors with oak trees.
Composted manure will also be needed, which can usually be acquired free from a local horse fancier or farmer. If those aren’t available, the inexpensive manure from the big box stores is fine.
To grow tomatoes in South Florida soils, first amend your soil at least 50/50 with organic matter. The easiest way is to layer it. For a tomato plant, dig a hole at least 18 inches wide and at least 12 inches deep, to accomodate root growth. Why so wide? Because of nematodes. When growing tomatoes in South Florida, nematodes are a tomato plant’s worst enemy. Nematodes hate organic matter, so the more organic matter added, the better the nematode control.
Add a 3 inch layer of composted manure in the bottom of the hole before planting the tomato. This is to feed the plant while it’s getting established. NEVER add fertilizer to a planting hole, as this will burn the roots.
Now fill the hole with water and let it soak completely into the outlying soil.
In order to allow the tomato plant to make as many roots as possible, plant it deep enough to cover at least 1/2 of the bottom of the stem of the plant for smaller plants, and at least 1/3 for one gallon size or larger. Add a 2-inch layer each of soil and organic matter, then put in the plant and check the depth. Fill again with water. Repeat until you are within an inch of the top of the hole. This will prevent air pockets in the hole, and also will wet the surrounding soil so it doesn’t suck all the water out of the planting hole.
When the hole is within 1 inch of being full, sprinkle 1/4 cup of Epsom Salts around the top of the hole, water in, then top off with composted manure, making sure to mulch it to maintain moisture. Bark mulch is not generally good for tomatoes, as it attracts wood eating insects. 5 layers of newspapers makes excellent mulch for growing tomatoes, as do leaves over newspapers.
Tomatoes will need support, so either use a tomato cage, stakes, or trellis to hold them. Tie them with a flexible material that will not cut into the tender stems. Strips of panty hose, or a stretchy polyester fabric are perfect for this.
To maintain acidity of your soil, add coffee grounds around your plant or use a special acid based fertilizer once a month. Water at least twice a week.
Following these instructions will make growing tomatoes in South Florida a pleasant experience, and when you taste that first vine ripe tomato, you’ll be glad you tried..
Posted by admin Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Categories: Growing Tomatoes
Tags: Alkalinity, Cherry Tomatoes, Countr, Growing Seasons, Growing Tomatoes, Homegrown Tomatoes, Manure, Oak Leaves, Oak Trees, Organic Matter, Peat Moss, Pickax, Root Growth, Subtropical Climate, Summer Weather, Tomato Plant, Tomato Varieties, tomato-plants, Trash Day, Weather In South Florida, Yard Trash
Autopsy of the Tomato remains
The tap-root in this pail with the tomato plant hanging upside down basically filled the container.
Posted by admin Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Categories: Upside Down Tomato
Tags: basically-filled, container, garden, lava, pail, picture, rock-reservoir, take-advantage, Tomato, Topsy Turvy, Upside Down, Upside Down Tomato
Home Made Better Together Tomato Planter, Home Made Jack Johnson …
... Home Made sitting waiting wishing Tomato Planter ?, ? Purchase ?, ? Experiment ?, ? I'm ?, ? Lifehacker ?, ? Allows ?, ? Work ?, ? More ?, ? Home Made hanging Tomato Planter ?, ? Ripening ?, ? Home Made flip ...
Posted by admin Date: Monday, October 19, 2009
Categories: Hanging Tomato Planter
Tags: backwards-tomato, burtville, experiment, Hanging Tomato Planter, hanging-tomato, ripening, sitting-waiting, Tomato, tomato-planter, Upside Down, Upside Down Tomato
Diane Palmer asked:
There is a lot of talk about mulching your tomato plants, and the rest of your garden. This is a good thing, but don’t think you have to run to the local garden center and get a truckload of expensive mulch.
Mulching around your vegetable garden, or the rest of your garden for that matter, helps to retain moisture, which helps cut back on watering, which of course helps the environment stay green, but it doesn’t have to be the expensive bark mulch you can get in a rainbow of colors now, unless you are going for a trendy looking garden!
As long as you have not sprayed your lawn, and your lawn is not on any “drugs” you can bag your clippings as you cut your lawn, and use these around your tomato plants. Lawn clippings are full of nutrients. Or you can use that pile of dead leaves you have in your back corner, or hay from a local farm.
But the important thing to remember about mulching your tomato garden, is that you must wait until the soil reaches a good warm temperature, or else the mulch will insulate the cold in the soil.
Your tomato plants, need the soil to be warm to thrive, so depending on your climate, let the plants get a good start first, keep the weeds down, (weeds don’t seem to care what temperature the soil is!) , and make sure they get watered. As the temps start to rise overnight, and the soil gets warmer, then mulch. This will retain the heat in the soil as well as the moisture needed.
Plus as an added bonus, mulching tomato plants keeps those dreaded weeds down. I usually mulch to about 2 inches deep and then turn it into the ground in the fall. It also helps energize the soil for next years tomato crop.
There is a lot of talk about mulching your tomato plants, and the rest of your garden. This is a good thing, but don’t think you have to run to the local garden center and get a truckload of expensive mulch.
Mulching around your vegetable garden, or the rest of your garden for that matter, helps to retain moisture, which helps cut back on watering, which of course helps the environment stay green, but it doesn’t have to be the expensive bark mulch you can get in a rainbow of colors now, unless you are going for a trendy looking garden!
As long as you have not sprayed your lawn, and your lawn is not on any “drugs” you can bag your clippings as you cut your lawn, and use these around your tomato plants. Lawn clippings are full of nutrients. Or you can use that pile of dead leaves you have in your back corner, or hay from a local farm.
But the important thing to remember about mulching your tomato garden, is that you must wait until the soil reaches a good warm temperature, or else the mulch will insulate the cold in the soil.
Your tomato plants, need the soil to be warm to thrive, so depending on your climate, let the plants get a good start first, keep the weeds down, (weeds don’t seem to care what temperature the soil is!) , and make sure they get watered. As the temps start to rise overnight, and the soil gets warmer, then mulch. This will retain the heat in the soil as well as the moisture needed.
Plus as an added bonus, mulching tomato plants keeps those dreaded weeds down. I usually mulch to about 2 inches deep and then turn it into the ground in the fall. It also helps energize the soil for next years tomato crop.
Posted by admin Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Categories: Upside Down Tomato
Tags: Added Bonus, Bark Mulch, Climate, Dead Leaves, Diane Palmer, Drugs, Lawn Clippings, Local Farm, Nutrients, Rainbow Of Colors, Soil, Tomato Crop, Tomato Garden, tomato-plants, Truckload, Vegetable Garden, Warm Temperature, Weeds
Stacy Pessoney asked:
Farmers discovered years ago that tomatoes can grow really well if you plant them upside down. Today, there are plenty of good upside down planters on the market. The only problem is that they can be expensive. But, you can easily make an upside down tomato planter yourself.
First, you need a good sturdy bucket for each plant. You will need to grow your plant to at least four inches tall before you begin. We’ve used everything from one gallon ice cream buckets to five gallon paint buckets. The main thing your bucket needs is a good handle.
A lid is also preferable, but not really necessary. Cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Make it only an inch or two across, you don’t want your plant to fall out. Put some potting soil in the bucket, catching what falls out for future use. Gently position your tomato plant in the hole so that the roots are inside the bucket and the stems are sticking out of the bottom.
You may enlist some help for this step unless you already have somewhere to hang your bucket where you can still reach inside. Gently fill dirt little by little around the roots. Do not pack it tight. Wrap a strip of newspaper around the stem so that it is half-way in the dirt and half-way out. This keeps bugs that may climb around the bucket from climbing down the tomato plant. This trick also works for tomatoes planted in the ground.
Finish filling the bucket with dirt because upside down tomato plants can grow a lot of roots. Because gravity is pulling down on the plant, it will grow thick sturdy stalks that may curve up into the air. They will sprout more stems per stalk than a normal tomato plant and support a lot more weight. Hang your bucket somewhere that gets a lot of sun.
If you use a lid, cut a hole in it big enough for rain to enter. Your upside down tomato plant will not need as much water as one planted in the ground because it’s soil will not drain much. Tomatoes never touch the ground and can get sun all the way around. This helps them to ripen sooner and more evenly than traditional plants. The gravity and additional circulation also helps the tomato plant produce more tomatoes and bigger tomatoes.
You want to let the soil in your tomato plant become almost dry before you water it again. Tomatoes prefer an arid climate and too much water will produce flavorless, light-colored, grainy-fleshed tomatoes like you find in many super markets. Bark-like scars on your tomatoes are a sign that you haven’t over-watered and your tomatoes can hold up to five times the nutrients of over-watered tomatoes.
Use a hose reel to keep your hose stored for the long times between watering. With your tomatoes away from bugs and pests, you could have the harvest of a lifetime this summer!
Farmers discovered years ago that tomatoes can grow really well if you plant them upside down. Today, there are plenty of good upside down planters on the market. The only problem is that they can be expensive. But, you can easily make an upside down tomato planter yourself.
First, you need a good sturdy bucket for each plant. You will need to grow your plant to at least four inches tall before you begin. We’ve used everything from one gallon ice cream buckets to five gallon paint buckets. The main thing your bucket needs is a good handle.
A lid is also preferable, but not really necessary. Cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Make it only an inch or two across, you don’t want your plant to fall out. Put some potting soil in the bucket, catching what falls out for future use. Gently position your tomato plant in the hole so that the roots are inside the bucket and the stems are sticking out of the bottom.
You may enlist some help for this step unless you already have somewhere to hang your bucket where you can still reach inside. Gently fill dirt little by little around the roots. Do not pack it tight. Wrap a strip of newspaper around the stem so that it is half-way in the dirt and half-way out. This keeps bugs that may climb around the bucket from climbing down the tomato plant. This trick also works for tomatoes planted in the ground.
Finish filling the bucket with dirt because upside down tomato plants can grow a lot of roots. Because gravity is pulling down on the plant, it will grow thick sturdy stalks that may curve up into the air. They will sprout more stems per stalk than a normal tomato plant and support a lot more weight. Hang your bucket somewhere that gets a lot of sun.
If you use a lid, cut a hole in it big enough for rain to enter. Your upside down tomato plant will not need as much water as one planted in the ground because it’s soil will not drain much. Tomatoes never touch the ground and can get sun all the way around. This helps them to ripen sooner and more evenly than traditional plants. The gravity and additional circulation also helps the tomato plant produce more tomatoes and bigger tomatoes.
You want to let the soil in your tomato plant become almost dry before you water it again. Tomatoes prefer an arid climate and too much water will produce flavorless, light-colored, grainy-fleshed tomatoes like you find in many super markets. Bark-like scars on your tomatoes are a sign that you haven’t over-watered and your tomatoes can hold up to five times the nutrients of over-watered tomatoes.
Use a hose reel to keep your hose stored for the long times between watering. With your tomatoes away from bugs and pests, you could have the harvest of a lifetime this summer!
Posted by admin Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Categories: Upside Down Tomato
Tags: Bugs, Curve, Dirt, Farmers, Four Inches, Gravity, Paint Buckets, Planters, Potting Soil, Rain, Roots, Stacy, Stalk, Stems, Sturdy Stalks, Sun, tomatoes, Upside Down Tomato Plant, Upside Down Tomato Planter, Upside Down Tomato Plants
Sharon Bell asked:
The next time somebody splats tomato on your face, just pretend you’re at the Tomatina festival in Spain and welcome it. The antioxidant properties of tomato that work inside the body can also do wonders outside.
The use of tomato for skin care is ideal because of its cooling and astringent properties. It is rich in vitamin C making it helpful for skin imperfections and brightens dull skin. It also contains vitamin A needed for building healthy skin. The naturally acidic properties of tomato balance the skin while ridding it of excessive oil. The antioxidants in tomatoes are free radical fighters. The best ones to use are organic or home grown tomatoes. That’s skin care right out of your garden or kitchen. Here are some tomato solutions to pamper your skin:
Tomato and Lime Pore Reducer
Combine one tablespoon of fresh tomato juice with 2 – 4 drops of fresh lime juice. Apply the mixture with a cotton ball, and let it work on reducing your pores for about 15 minutes. Rinse with tepid to cool water to shrink pores even further, and moisturize.
Tomato Pulp Acne Treatment
Try this treatment for persistent acne that needs more than a 15-minute fix. Mash a fresh tomato and apply the pulp liberally to your face. Relax with the tomato on your face for an hour. Rinse with tepid water. Use this treatment everyday for at least a week for best results.
Tomato and Avocado Cleansing Mask
This mask is good for people with combination skin because it combines the astringent, blackhead removing and oil reducing properties of tomato with the antiseptic and hydrating properties of avocado. The mask also contains vitamins A, C and E and has a soothing and cooling feel. To make the mask, mash one small tomato and one small avocado. Mix them together well, and smooth the mixture on your face. Rinse after 20 to 30 minutes with tepid water.
In case you don’t have the time or the patience for this, there are a lot of over-the-counter solutions out there that can be just as effective without these messy preparations. Thanks to continuous developments in the field of anti-aging research, products like Rejuvinol have been formulated to protect the skin from the sun’s damaging rays. This keeps your skin protected from oxidation and environmental damage. Check out www.rejuvinol.com for more details.
The next time somebody splats tomato on your face, just pretend you’re at the Tomatina festival in Spain and welcome it. The antioxidant properties of tomato that work inside the body can also do wonders outside.
The use of tomato for skin care is ideal because of its cooling and astringent properties. It is rich in vitamin C making it helpful for skin imperfections and brightens dull skin. It also contains vitamin A needed for building healthy skin. The naturally acidic properties of tomato balance the skin while ridding it of excessive oil. The antioxidants in tomatoes are free radical fighters. The best ones to use are organic or home grown tomatoes. That’s skin care right out of your garden or kitchen. Here are some tomato solutions to pamper your skin:
Tomato and Lime Pore Reducer
Combine one tablespoon of fresh tomato juice with 2 – 4 drops of fresh lime juice. Apply the mixture with a cotton ball, and let it work on reducing your pores for about 15 minutes. Rinse with tepid to cool water to shrink pores even further, and moisturize.
Tomato Pulp Acne Treatment
Try this treatment for persistent acne that needs more than a 15-minute fix. Mash a fresh tomato and apply the pulp liberally to your face. Relax with the tomato on your face for an hour. Rinse with tepid water. Use this treatment everyday for at least a week for best results.
Tomato and Avocado Cleansing Mask
This mask is good for people with combination skin because it combines the astringent, blackhead removing and oil reducing properties of tomato with the antiseptic and hydrating properties of avocado. The mask also contains vitamins A, C and E and has a soothing and cooling feel. To make the mask, mash one small tomato and one small avocado. Mix them together well, and smooth the mixture on your face. Rinse after 20 to 30 minutes with tepid water.
In case you don’t have the time or the patience for this, there are a lot of over-the-counter solutions out there that can be just as effective without these messy preparations. Thanks to continuous developments in the field of anti-aging research, products like Rejuvinol have been formulated to protect the skin from the sun’s damaging rays. This keeps your skin protected from oxidation and environmental damage. Check out www.rejuvinol.com for more details.
Posted by admin Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Categories: Upside Down Tomato
Tags: Acne Treatment, Antioxidant Properties, Astringent Properties, Avocado, Blackhead, Combination Skin, Cotton Ball, Dull Skin, Excessive Oil, Healthy Skin, Home Grown Tomatoes, Lime Juice, Pore Reducer, Pores, Sharon Bell, Skin Imperfections, Tepid Water, Tomatina Festival, Tomato Juice, Tomato Pulp
Diane Palmer asked:
Any tomato grower, will recognize this scenario, and promptly tell you “been there done that” in regards to the tomato garden.
Picture this: You have slaved over your vegetable garden all season, and have paid special attention to those tomato plants. Everything is great, you are just a few weeks off of harvesting a bumper tomato crop. You have dodged bugs, rodents, and all those critters that thought of your garden as a midnight buffet..
But along comes mother nature with the perfect storm. You know the thunderstorms of summer, with the heavy rains, whipping winds, and sometimes the dreaded hailstones.
You can’t do much about mother nature, but wait it out inside, and watch your tomato garden suffer. You hope that your tomatoes weather the storm, and you head out only to find a bunch of green tomatoes on the ground.
Here is what you do:
Pick up all the loose green tomatoes, check your plants for any damaged ones, and discard them so as to allow the plant the energies it needs to recover and ripen the other ones still on the vine.
Take your green tomatoes, and dry them off, find yourself a cardboard box, line it with newspapers, and lay your tomatoes in this box (with a bit of space for air around each one) Next put in a couple of ripening bananas (yellow but with a tinge of green still on them). The bananas will give off a gas that will help ripen your tomatoes. Cover with loose sheets of newspaper.
In about two weeks, you will have ripened tomatoes to enjoy, as well as your tomatoes from your prized tomato garden. Enjoy!
Any tomato grower, will recognize this scenario, and promptly tell you “been there done that” in regards to the tomato garden.
Picture this: You have slaved over your vegetable garden all season, and have paid special attention to those tomato plants. Everything is great, you are just a few weeks off of harvesting a bumper tomato crop. You have dodged bugs, rodents, and all those critters that thought of your garden as a midnight buffet..
But along comes mother nature with the perfect storm. You know the thunderstorms of summer, with the heavy rains, whipping winds, and sometimes the dreaded hailstones.
You can’t do much about mother nature, but wait it out inside, and watch your tomato garden suffer. You hope that your tomatoes weather the storm, and you head out only to find a bunch of green tomatoes on the ground.
Here is what you do:
Pick up all the loose green tomatoes, check your plants for any damaged ones, and discard them so as to allow the plant the energies it needs to recover and ripen the other ones still on the vine.
Take your green tomatoes, and dry them off, find yourself a cardboard box, line it with newspapers, and lay your tomatoes in this box (with a bit of space for air around each one) Next put in a couple of ripening bananas (yellow but with a tinge of green still on them). The bananas will give off a gas that will help ripen your tomatoes. Cover with loose sheets of newspaper.
In about two weeks, you will have ripened tomatoes to enjoy, as well as your tomatoes from your prized tomato garden. Enjoy!
Posted by admin Date: Friday, September 11, 2009
Categories: Upside Down Tomato
Tags: Cardboard Box, Critters, Diane Palmer, Green Tomatoes, Hailstones, Heavy Rains, Loose Sheets, Midnight Buffet, Mother Nature, Other Ones, Perfect Storm, Ripening Bananas, Rodents, Thunderstorms, Tinge, Tomato Crop, Tomato Garden, Tomato Grower, tomato-plants, Vegetable Garden
