Garden Update 9th April 2010 - Lots of Progress :o)

[mrdizzle19]

with drying you should sit them on salt that what we do at work skin side down we cut them in to 4 first

[adidasbooi]

keep post videos, really funny and intressting! :D

[MZMStudios]

You know, I guess you and I are getting old, Rick... I'm totally addicted to gardening now!! I can't wait to get outside in the morning and see what's happening in the dirt! lol

Oh... your square foot gardens... how deep do you have them? Just wondering because of the carrots. =) I wanna do some of them... maybe soon! lol

Take care,

Patrick

[rickvanman]

@MZMStudios Hi Patrick. Yes it's addictive isnt it! I can't wait to get out each day and tend 'my babies' LOL!

SFG -no point in making it deep just to be able to grow carrots - you only need to go about 8 in deep with the SFG soil - any more and you are just wasting money on unnecessary depth you will never use. For the carrots just build a seperate mini square foot or use a 12in+ deep patio pot.

[MZMStudios]

Hey Rick... About the tomatoes in the containers... the indeterminates (vine-types) you could put two in a pot... should be fine. As for the bush, you should probably only put one in a container... I wouldn't put two vines and a bush in the same pot, though...

All that information is from Mel Bartholomew's book. =)

Let me know what you decide to do and how it works out. =)

[rickvanman]

@MZMStudios thanks for the tips. I finally decided on one tomato per pot. Just seemed simpler.

[fetch33]

I agree with the others and say one tomato per pot. I planted tomatoes several years ago in my square-foot garden at 1 per square foot. The plants got HUGE. At the end of the season, they were at least 8 ft tall and very wide. These were the indeterminate type.

[stymye]

one pot is not even big enough for a beefsteak tomato

[Zeamus634]

Have you though about starting with bees as well?

[rickvanman]

@Zeamus634 I would absolutely love to keep bees, but I dont think I would be able to in such a small built-up area. Plus I have zero extra space to put them :o(

[Zeamus634]

@rickvanman

Heard of roof-top beekeeping in London? (;-}

I've been thinking about getting back into beekeeping, Now I'm on a better income I might be able to do it this year.

[atticus9799]

I think you should be fine to plant 2 per pot. Lets face it, tomatoes are weeds. They will pretty much grow anywhere. Don't forget to sprinkle some epsom salts on top of the soil before you water in so they get a good dose of calcium to avoid blossom end rot and blossom drop. Looks great, can't wait to see the progress! Noreen

[fulhamfc6]

Don't plant two per pot, that's much too close, don't do it !! Everything else looks fab

[notstayingin]

The hydroponics is looking great now.

Please do a video of what you'll do with the 'critical mass' radish :)

[orbitalchiller]

it might be funny if you could make Flat Stanley moving in any vlog...

[orbitalchiller]

damn, i wish i had at least a nice veranda like that to grow stuff...

[ngvgnDOTcom]

Great Video Rick!

[mujawooja]

It's all looking great in the garden rick.

I go for one tomato plant  in each pot rick so there not competing, also you will have to watch out for blossom end rot in container grown and growbag tomatoes.

bernie

[rickvanman]

@mujawooja cheers for the tip Bernie :o)

[niffer58]

I planted 2 in each pot. i believe i have what you would call a 5 gallon pot with 2 plants in each except the ones i know that get really really huge. i will fertilize with worm tea to help the process... so far they like it. will keep ya posted on how it goes that way... would like to see what you decide..

[gorillasapien]

tomatoes especially produce a surprising amount of fruit each season, one plant is sufficient to feed one man one tomato a day for the growth season, also the roots will crowd each other in a pot, no more than two per pot, and only then if its one bush and one vine

[flyingfisbeefilms]

Radish with a critical mass!!!!! Brilliant!

[ginforwater]

Rickvanman, your brother is right... You should only plant one type of tomato in pots of that size. Being that the tomatos are of different types they might need diferent levels of nutrients. If you have too many plants in one confined space, it's like having a lot of weeds.

Also the size of the root system determines the size of the final fruit. (Books read, personal experience and lot'$ of money spent ...Don't do it! :)

Happy growing!

[UseIessEater]

Just subscribed today and love the enthusiasm. From what I have seen this is your learning as you go video?

[GuildF40]

I am attempting spuds :o)

its a start

Well done Mate

[garryentropy]

Though an old man I am but a young gardener.

[s0s0bad]

Great to see you've added the water butts.

[SleestaksRule]

Something messed up with the ad at the beginning of your video. It was playing over you talking. Odd.

[1111atreides]

I love your tag - SHTF -

I've been using this phrase forever and am shocked that it's like a whole community on the internet.

This means something. This is important. ;-)

[rickvanman]

@1111atreides You can delve even deeper by doing a search for TEOTWAWKI :o)

[FilmCrab]

If you're planting from seedlings, you'll already know which is the stronger. So I would plant just one per pot. If it were seeds i'd plant half a dozen and remove the weak ones when they became obvious.

[rickvanman]

@FilmCrab cheers for the tips Mark. Looks like I'm going to take my brother's advice after all - might exchange two of the pots for slightly smaller ones though to try to get more plants along that wall.

[nunky1]

Hey Rick, Welcome to the "old person's" world

Wow you are going to be over whealmed when all this comes to a "head" so to speak, where to put it all??,

One Tommy bush per container, they totally take over,

My concern re your drying racks in netting from ceiling, it would appear you have not countered on the weight of tom's, the securing ties don't appear strong enough, I would hate (and so would you) to see a splat on your floor

[rickvanman]

@nunky1 Thanks. well I'm over 40 now, so I guess that classes as old :o)

My philosophy is to have too much rather than too little, opens up the choices a bit, although I do think my patio in August might be a bit difficult to navigate. All part of the fun!

I agree I too have reservations about the drying rack as it is - I'll probably have a re-think in that department.

Thanks for the feedback.

[lillith886]

i would only plant one tomato plant per pot. they will probably grow alright but you might not have enough light to ripen them if they are over crowded. we're going to feed our tomatoes this year with horse poo tea. you make this by putting some horse manure into a water butt. you could use dried chicken pellets, available in your local garden centre, instead, but the horse poo was free!! it's looking really good. well done!!

[rickvanman]

@lillith886 Thanks for the tips. some good ideas and points.

[myownworldfilms]

hi rick!

I made this mistake to plant two bush type tomatoes in one bucket. This year I bought four buckets and I will plant only one in each bucket. The plant gets larger and I even think you get more tomatoes. You should listen to your brother ;-)

cheers!

[rickvanman]

@myownworldfilms thanks for the tips - It looks like I will be taking his advice after all :o)

[Untadaike]

nice work.

[FenderGibsonWashburn]

Hi Rick, everything looks wonderful. I agree with your brother. I grew a couple different bush type tomatoes, each in 5 gallon buckets and that's all there was room for. You may be able to grow a couple vine type if you keep them well trimmed back to the main stalk. I'll contact you with some additional thoughts soon. 8^)

[rickvanman]

@FenderGibsonWashburn Thanks Paul. Interesting info about the bush tomatoes I'll have to have another think. will be planting the big indoor tubs on Saturday morning.

[MrSmallButBrave]

great, again (':

[rickvanman]

@MrSmallButBrave cheers - not quite a filmmaking tip, but all good fun none-the-less :o)