Thursday, April 24, 2008

How Does my Garden Grow?

I may not be 'Mary, Mary, quite contrary' but it's been a good growing season this Spring, so I'll be 'Jane, Jane, can't complain'... lol

Feel free to click on any of these pictures to see a bigger, better one. :) Here's one of my yellow iris. They have seemed to be blooming out of control this year, and I don't think they bloomed much at all last Spring. Must be all the rain:


And lots of buds yet to bloom, too! Haven't seen much of the purple iris yet, the buds on them aren't even out of the stalk hardly, just little bumps where they will be. :)


I decided to try container gardening on my patio this summer, and went to Wal-mart and splurged on some containers, fertilizer, and potting soil. I did some research on the web (and everyone I talked to at work) on what kind of varieties to grow, and finally picked these three, all indeterminate plants, that will produce a good long time.

This one's the little baby of my tomato plant family right now, but I heard good things about it, it will grow up to be a large bush, and the tomatoes will be nice size for slicing... a Better Boy:


This one is a Goliath Hybrid, supposed to make medium size, early-ish tomatoes:


And finally, a Husky Cherry Red, supposed to be a good variety of cherry tomatoes that will bloom and produce all summer:



Now I can hardly wait until I can pick my first ones! The cherry tomato plant already has blooms. :p

I took an interesting idea I found on the web, and put a raw egg, uncracked, in each pot just before I planted the tomato plants. It's supposed to provide calcium and prevent something called 'blossom end rot' early on, then when the egg breaks down, the yolk provides sulfur and other nutrients. Don't know if it'll work, but at the least, it'll be fertilizer. Anyone out there have any other good advice for a novice tomato grower?

4 comments:

Sheila said...

I am energized by all the container vegetable gardening I see on blogs! Having only a small balcony (with humongous bumble bees out there right now), I would not have thought it possible. But I have the great afternoon sun, so I think I'll try it. I'm also considering the hanging tomato plants that grow from the bottom. (I hope I'm not too late in the season.)

I hope you'll share any fertilizer tips you learn.

And I love the irises... my favorite of all flowers.

Valerie said...

Ooooh LOVE your yellow Iris! Are those easy to get or did you have to order it? I need those, so pretty! :)

julieQ said...

Your iris are so pretty! The hail took most of ours out this year. Thank you for sharing the tip on the egg, I will try that!

YankeeQuilter said...

My Dad used to plant marigolds around his tomato plants. He said that it helps keep slugs away. He used to try and grow a tomato plant taller than him every year - he was over 6 foot tall! He put this huge planter on wheels so he could move it for the best sun and so he could put it near the front of the house after it got huge so everyone could see it!

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