Nice tomatoes, Thomas! I've tried tomatoes for 3 years and they NEVER look that good! What's the trick? Also, the hornworms are relentless, so I end up with a few tomatoes with no leaves! I've tried Roma, cherry, grape, and a few others... No success.

GinaY86441 said:Nice tomatoes, Thomas! I've tried tomatoes for 3 years and they NEVER look that good! What's the trick? Also, the hornworms are relentless, so I end up with a few tomatoes with no leaves! I've tried Roma, cherry, grape, and a few others... No success.

For you maybe timing is everything. Summer tomatoes would be a struggle and you need to grow in winter or early early spring or late, late fall.

A tip on cantalopes - they pull their self when they are ripe. Just look at the melons and you can see where the stems are starting to detach. For a great tasting cantalope try Ambrosia. They are the best I've found. Only problem is they don't last but for a couple of days once they are pulled.

GinaY86441 said:Nice tomatoes, Thomas! I've tried tomatoes for 3 years and they NEVER look that good! What's the trick? Also, the hornworms are relentless, so I end up with a few tomatoes with no leaves! I've tried Roma, cherry, grape, and a few others... No success.

Gina, those are Celebrity tomatoes and I grow them every year at least once. Sometimes for Fall also. They are pretty good for heat tolerance and strong bloomers and will produce more than you can eat or can. I plant them real deep (6 to 8 inches) in a mulch/manure combination soil and water the heck out of them. Use "timed release fertilizer" after transplanting and then 0-5-5 for the rest of the season. I do have lots of bees in the area that do all the pollination work. Give them a try. Oh and by the way, they are delicious

Hi Rita,

Thanks for the input! Well, I planted my Spring garden on March 1st. I believe these guys were transplanted about two weeks later. I fertilized them about 3 weeks after transplanting and their watering schedule is consistent. I hear tomatoes are finicky about their water!

I read many article stating that only the cherry tomatoes do well in the desert, so I'm wondering if it's more of a humidity thing going on. My chili peppers never do well, either. It's very disappointing to me, because I thought a salsa garden would be a sure thing out here! Boy, I'm not finding that to be true whatsoever.

I also tried sprouting heirloom seeds indoors, but they ended up leggy and dying. I seem to be jinxed in the tomato and pepper department!

Thanks again for the encouragement, Rita!

Hi Thomas,

Celebrity tomatoes, okay, I'll give them a try! I put them in tote containers with a mix of rabbit manure, sand, and some mediocre soil. I thought I planted these deep, but maybe not quite 6 inches, maybe closer to 4-5. I did give them a "typical" all-purpose fertilizer at the start along with a shake of Epson salt and crushed eggshell, but I have not done any more since. It sounds like the 0-5-5 is missing from my grow plan. I was thinking they'd need a high nitrogen boost, apparently I'm way off base there!

These poor guys are down to stems and green tomatoes (thank you, hornworms!). Since I'm 40 miles from town, Thomas, is there any standard household item that I can use as a tea to get that level of fertilizer, by chance? Maybe I can't find something online, too.

Thank you for your input, Thomas, I really appreciate it.

Hey again Gina,

In my opinion nitrogen makes the "plant" itself grow a bit too fast and does not set enough blooms. You can find 0-5-5 (or a close equivalent ) on line and at most stores that carry plants. Those plants in the photo were transplanted outdoors on 03/02/16 and first blooms on 04/12/16 and first fruit on 04/26/16. I'm currently picking 8 to 12 tomatoes per day out of that one little patch. By the way, that area gets sun on it only until 2pm-or so.

Good luck,

Wow, Thomas, your plants excel! Mine were transplanted about the same time... Maybe March 10th or thereabouts. Although, they do get full sun.

I will take your advise, Thomas. 12 fresh, homegrown tomatoes per day! Heaven!

GinaY86441,
I looks like you're using the MIttleider drip system in your onion and carrot patch. If it is, how did you keep the holes straight in the pvc pipe?

Thanks!

Hi Linda,

Sorry for the delayed response. It's been a whirlwind of activity for me: painting and creating my studio/playroom, helping my son move in this blasted heat, and enjoying a quick trip to see family in Colorado.

As far as the PVC drip system we have, my husband came up with the idea. I had to look up Mittleider and, yes, it does seem to be fairly the same. Basically, we tired of using soaker hoses. They would spring a leak, are too heavy to move, and, well, we just weren't fond of it for our age group. So, Phil took measurements and created a three section PVC pipe grid that met our raised horseshoe bed. Each section has rows and is hooked up to it own valve on our four-way. We leave the fourth valve to use for our garden hose to water outside the raised bed.

After gluing the PVC sections together, we simply placed it on our deck and drilled 3/16" holes every six inches (on one side) along the rows. There is nothing else. The pipes fill with water and drip out of the holes. Afterwards, we used wooden blocks to raise the PVC above ground level (holes faced down) in the bed. When it's time to plant, I plant along the plastic rows knowing water is along the area.

It has worked out beautifully for us. We can water by zone as each section has it own valve, we can water the entire bed at once, and, because of the additional section Phil added later, it now waters the plum trees outside, but nearby, the main bed. The only manual effort is to remove a PVC riser which opens the system. No more dragging the garden hose around!! Plus, it can't act as a clean out, if needed.

When it's time to pull plants and/or turn soil, the PVC sections are disconnected from the garden hose leaders which connects them to the valve station. Although, they are lightweight, it takes the both of us due to their floppiness, the perimeter fencing to keep rabbits out, and their sheer size (8x25?).

I hope that explains our system. I'm not sure I answered your question about holes being straight, though. Phil looked into making an adapter to drill into the round pipe, but when it got down to it, applying a little pressure to the pipe with a foot, or knee, kept the pipe steady to drill the holes. We did use a yardstick to get the 6" hole spacing, but someone with a good eye won't even need that. I think the key was to pre-assemble, and glue, before drilling the holes.

Happy Gardening!

Thank you, Gina!

Your explanation does help, a lot!

The Mittleider video of ldsprepper drilling holes in the pvc pipe, shows him drilling straight down the pipe at 12'oclock, 1 o'clock, and 11 o'clock . Once installed, the pipe drips straight down at 12pm, but has additional drips down the length at a 45° angle on both sides of 12pm.

There are THREE drip lines I have to get straight, LOL!

He made a jig to get the lines straight, but, I haven't tackled that yet!

Hugs!

Hi Linda,

I'm sure a three-hole jig will work great! Our rows are only 2ft apart, I think. The 45 degree streams at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sound great, too. However, because our rows are so close, I don't find that they'd be needed on our application. After a few weeks, I think the surrounding plant growth would block those angled streams, yes? Maybe?

Whichever watering system you decide, Linda, if it is to replace soaker hoses, I recommend "full steam" ahead!

Newyorkrita said:I don't know how you put up with those summer temperatures!! Depessing! I could never go outside and I love to be outside. Hope all goes well in the veggie garden.

It is amazing what people can get used to. After awhile, I got used to the heat, and now, it is just not a big deal to me. The worst month is July. It is extremely hot the entire month of July and it does not cool down much at night during July. Early June is not bad. Late August is often not too bad. September is when it starts really cooling off at night, and mornings become nice again. And then we have really nice weather until about mid June.

Having a swimming pool helps a lot. And when possible, taking a vacation during July helps. Just to get out of here, even if just for a few days, helps during July. Fortunately, the California coast is not that far away, and some people drive over there for relief during July. For longer vacations, some go to San Francisco, California, which is almost always chilly, even during the summer. It is amazing. Another chilly place during the middle of summer is almost anywhere on the Oregon coast. And the Oregon coast is so beautiful.