(by 4 people)
Growing stuff, mostly edible stuff, mostly tomatoes
There is little as satisfying as eating food you have grown yourself. I will admit, my wife usually cooks with it, but I have all the pleasure of growing it. Sure, a couple of non-food plants make the list (like the carnivorous ones that keep away pests), but it is nearly all edible. Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow, although they will need a bit of care. No supermarket tomato compares with one straight off the vine which has never been chilled or stored, and is still naturally warm.
Contents
- Grow your own food and eat it!
- Get started growing your own food with this kit!
- Where did it start?
- Using the DIY propagator for tomatoes
- Materials I usually use
- Make you own seed starting pots
- Pest Control
- My pest control - a Sundew behind some chives.
- Tomato plants as gifts
- Flowering, Fruit and the tasty results
- State of my plants: October 2008
- Find out how interesting plants really are
- Gardening, planting and growing Sites
- Reader Feedback
- Get a little green patch online...
Grow your own food and eat it!
It is really as simple as this. Find a good spot like a window sill, shed or garden (you lucky, lucky thing). Take some tomato seeds, squirt them into a dish, add soil and water, or take some onions or potatoes gone to seed. Then get a nice big growbag, and plant them. Sure, you could go all out and take a lot of care, or you can simply water them and watch them grow. Eat what you grow, and it is done!
Get started growing your own food with this kit!
AeroGarden Cherry Tomato Seed Kit
Amazon Price: $15.68 (as of 10/13/2008)
You do not need to be an expert to grow food. in fact, although it requires a little commitment of time and willingness to learn on the job, it is really simple to get started. This kit has everything you will need for your first food plants, and can be done in a window sill. This kit gets the seeds going quickly with no dirt or mess. It is 100% natural and organic.
Where did it start?
When did I start growing stuff at all?
I have enjoyed growing them, learned a lot from them. I have experimented with the plants, found easy ways to get seed and things that cannot be easily grown from seed (at least in an indoor household environment) like Apples.
I hope by sharing my experiences, others can have a go at growing their own food and plants, and also can share their growing tips with me too. Maybe tell me where I am going wrong, as well as appraise my experiments and take note of the failures. I will even throw in some mad ideas/inventions related to my growing of plants.
I will continue to place photos of my plants, the tomatoes and other bounties I get on this site. reading below you will find out about other tips, contraptions and things I have done. I have created HOWTOs for building your own for some of them and will expand with more.
Using the DIY propagator for tomatoes
I built a propagator, and used it for the tomatoes.
When I first started growing tomatoes, and the second time around, I figured that if they like a greenhouse, then I should build some sort of propagator to get the seeds on the go.So I built one, and it is documented at HOWTO:Make a simple seed propagator.
It was successful, in fact perhaps a little too successful since I used (each time) a whole tomatoes set of seeds. I got 22 seedlings from one tomato with the last set!
I am finding out that Tomato seeds are vigorous and should maybe be planted out straight into planter pots. They may not need to be incubated at all. They have nearly 100% growth from seeds taken from supermarket fruit, and too many in a small tray may lead to them become too leggy before being transferred away.
Materials I usually use
Trying to keep it real and organic
I use a screwdriver from a Christmas cracker as a dibber since it was little use for anything else, and saves having to buy a dibber. It works fairly well.
For tying heavier tomato plants to stakes, I use either hemp rope, or simple garden string.
Organic compost or potting compound
Miracle-Gro® Organic Choice Potting Mix 8 QT 72978650
Amazon Price: $2.89 (as of 10/13/2008)
My current compost is the Miracle-gro organic peat free general purpose compost (which is not yet on Amazon). I am yet to try the compost disks currently stocked on Amazon. If you look around you can get organic growbags, which are handy for the more mature veg.
Using your own soil
Also it will probably not have the right kind of water drainage and holding properties for a pot. You can remedy drainage issues with perlite.
Also it is likely the soil will have pests, bacteria and fungi, so you will need to sterilise it. For that, pour boiling water through it a couple of times to kill them off. Remember, a window sill does not have the natural controls to stop pests becoming too much of a problem!
Hoffman A H #16502 8QT Horticult Perlite
Amazon Price: $5.44 (as of 10/13/2008)
This perlite can be used to aid drainage and water holding properties of soil or compost.
Plant food
ORGANIC TOMATO VEG FOOD 4LB
Amazon Price: $23.96 (as of 10/13/2008)
This is organic vegetable and tomato food. A very small amount goes a long way. This is worth having to stop soil becoming drained of nutrients.
Dont forget a watering can
Duraco 2 Gallon Poly Garden Watering Can JW82
Amazon Price: $12.13 (as of 10/13/2008)
Plants can be watered with anything you have around, but a proper watering can with a spout makes sure the water can be delivered under foliage to a plant, where it is needed. A watering can may also be used to mix up the plant food, and give all the plants a good feed and watering together. Be sure to clean it between feedings though!
Stakes to hold plants up.
I use them with some twine to create a small truss for tomatoes to grow upon, as well as tying tomato plants to it so the fruit is supported.
For smaller plants and seedlings, wooden barbecue skewers are just the job.
Bamboo Stakes - 3 Foot
Amazon Price: $2.99 (as of 10/13/2008)
Norpro Bamboo Skewers 6 "
Some simple untreated wooden barbecue skewers are good for aerating soil when poked through, scraping off pests, and also as supports for very young tomato plants. Very handy indeed.
Amazon Price: $2.75 (as of 10/13/2008)
Plant pots
Plastic Terra Cotta Pots - 4 in. x 3.5 in. Pots, 12 pack
I almost always use terracotta coloured pots as I find them aesthetically pleasing.
Amazon Price: $9.00 (as of 10/13/2008)
WONDER SOIL PLANTABLE 3 1/2 COIR POTS W/WAFERS
Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 10/13/2008)
30 Burpee Seed Starting 3" Square Peat Pots
These have the advantage of being able to be planted straight out into larger pots, and eventually growbags, without having to pull them out of their previous pot.
Amazon Price: $5.97 (as of 10/13/2008)
Make you own seed starting pots
It is surprisingly easy
The first is using newspaper, you can actually make it damp, and mould it into a pot shape. There are kits you can buy to mould it, and hold it into shape for day so it holds.
The other I got from another great lens - How to Reuse Toilet-paper Rolls, which is to use a toilet paper roll as a seed starting pot. You simply cut the roll in half, fill with soil, and place them close together in a tray. There is a lot more detail on this info here on eHow.
Pest Control
My pest control - a Sundew behind some chives.
Tomato plants as gifts
Tomato seedlings, once potted and grown out a little, make superb gifts. People tend to feel something you have grown and cared for a lot more meaningful than some consumer plastic rubbish bought in a rush in a supermarket. They have the added bonus of being quite a frugal gift too.Even better is when these plants can be exchanged - you give someone a couple of tomato seedlings, they give you a few chilli, or strawberry seedlings. Home grown plants like this will be sturdier than supermarket growing plants because they will have been lovingly cared for and tended to.
I am not yet sure how easily strawberries would grow in a window sill.
A few gift plants sit reasonably well in the bottom of a gift bag, or one of the documentation bags that are given away at trade shows. They have a flat bottom, and make the plants look presentable. I have successfully delivered plants across London on tube trains and buses this way.
A few weeks on and the receiver will still be thinking about plants, and they will not be gathering dust in the back of a cupboard. Of course, you may need to give them some tips and advice to get them started.
Flowering, Fruit and the tasty results
Given a short while, the flowers will either die, or the petals will drop, and a fruit will begin to form. The fruit forms green, grows in size (depending on variety), and uses sugars from photosynthesis to sweeten the tomatoes - they will ripen. Here you want to let the foliage grow larger so that there is plenty of green surface area. It is because of this reliance on sunlight, that the best fruit tends to be ripe at the end of the summer - around August in the UK.
If you are lucky, the plant will keep flowering and producing fruit for a while, although as things get colder it will slow down.
Tasty Ripe Cherry Tomatoes
State of my plants: October 2008
How are my plants doing a little later in the year?
The new plants, which were seedlings are showing mixed results. It seems that giving them larger pots, gets immediate results, they soon get much taller. One or two have become too leggy so I have nipped off the growing buds at the top and caused them to put out lateral shoots below. These tall ones are now potted with 1.2 meter canes to give them some support, and one looks like it may put out its first truss of tomatoes. This new batch are the larger moneymaker variety, again started from supermarket tomato seed.
The smaller ones, are still in their smaller pots, although I have been repotting and planting them out, I have run off the space, and started giving tomato seedlings, along with advice to care to them, to my neighbours and friends. There are just too many of them, and they cannot possibly all survive in that small window balcony space.
Another neighbour opposite has bought some large tomato plants recently, so the display in my window may have had a positive affect. One of the neighbours will be letting their children look after the seedlings, they say the seedlings may not survive, but it will be a great experience for their kids to learn a little about growing things, and I consider education and getting kids to interact with plants or nature a worthy cause.
Because there are so many plants in my window balcony area, I actually have to layer, by layer, bring them down from the balcony area to tend to the ones behind them, ensuring they are properly watered, fed, that any dead or ill looking leaves are removed, that pests are under control, that there is no standing water in their drip dish and also giving a little shake to their flowers. Three older cherry tomato plants are in a growing bag together at the back, the outer two seem to be doing better than the one in the middle (perhaps a bit of unfriendly root competition?), but they are all still growing. Keeping these three from getting into a tangle with each other is increasingly difficult. Because they are heavy, I have strung together some of the bamboo to make a small structure to tie some heavier parts off on and tie parts of one plant away from the others.
The reason I shake flowers is to encourage them to pollinate, only gently mind, but it just hopefully increases the odds.
I have also been having a battle with fungus gnats which have gotten into my plant pots. Go see my plant pest control article to find out more about my battle.
Find out how interesting plants really are
MAKE: Technology On Your Time Volume 07 (Make: Technology on Your Time)
Make is cool. This particular volume is superb - especially when grafting, splicing, cross-breeding and other things to do with plants are discussed. There are how-to's and all sorts of stuff here.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/13/2008)
Gardening, planting and growing Sites
While surfing around, I have found a number of useful tidbits of info on growing all sorts of stuff, and about tomatoes. While collecting them in my browser bookmarks is a bit helpful, popping them on here means others can benefit and I can read up when online but away from that PC.
- HOWTO: Self watering plant pot experiment
- I experimented with a simple, non powered, self watering plant pot system of my own. Read up to see how and get ideas for your own.
- How to Water and Feed Your Plants
- Knowing how to water and feed your plants, and when, requires a one-to-one relationship with each plant you own...
- HOWTO: Make a simple seed propagator
- When I first started growing tomatoes, and the second time around, I figured that if they like a greenhouse, then I should build some sort of propagator to get the seeds on the go.Buying a propagator seemed a little expensive, plus being able to build it with gear I had in the flat saved me a trip to the local DIY store...
- Tomato Anatomy
- While learning about tomatoes, I found it helpful to read about and understand a little of tomato anatomy, their lifecycle and their limitations. This site has diagrams and fairly easy to follow explanations. When starting out - most important are the stuff about roots and stems. Adventitious roots can be mistaken for pests by newbies - I know I did.
- Growing Herbs Indoors
- A handy article I found early when starting to grow stuff I could eat in my home.
- Frugal Gardening and More
- This person gets almost everything in their garden for free. You can learn plenty of tricks by reading their page. Well worth reading.
- Frugal Gardening 101
- A Simple Guide To Saving Money In Your Garden
Plenty of tips on gardening on the cheap. Probably my personal favourite right now is to use Egg Boxes as seedling start trays, just planting them straight out into the larger pots. Beware of course of dyes used etc, but this is a great way to save money and recycle. Put these under the modified DIY propagator (link above), and you have a nice frugal way to start off new plants. - 20 Ways To Save Money In Your Garden
- Here is a list of simple ways to save money on your gardening and landscaping.Stay tuned, because I'll be back to expand on the items in this list and give you some more practical tips.
- GO GREEN: COMPOST
- Turning vegetable waste into nutrient rich soil through the process of composting is such a simple task that virtually anyone can participate...
- How to prune your tomato plants with pictures.
- Pictures and experienced advice from gardeners on how to prune both bush (determinate) and upright (indeterminate) tomato plants.
- The charm of chives by Gail Reynolds from the May/June, 2003 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal
- The charm of chives by Gail Reynolds from the May/June, 2003 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Reader Feedback
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kathypi
very interesting and helpful info, thanks so much, kathy Posted October 13, 2008 |
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a_willow
Wonderful and useful lens! Great job! And thank you for linking my 'How to Reuse TP rolls' lens! :) Posted October 13, 2008 |
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FrugalWench
Great lens! I'll definitely lensroll you! On that sterilizing soil comment you posted on my lens, I posted a reply there to you. Posted July 13, 2008 |
Good description of planting Tomatoes! Some pics would be nice. It be interesting to know how much you could grow without an outside garden and not being too intrusive to your flat.
Posted July 06, 2008
Get a little green patch online...
And save some rainforest.
Click on the strawberry to send plants to facebook friends and save some rainforest. I have saved around 19 Sq Ft of rainforest with it.
