The upside down tomato plant. . . . a total failure. All instructions were followed, yet after being hung upside down the plants did a U-Turn and grew skyward. Not to long after that, they began to die. Tomatoes from these plants: ZERO. I'll save the container and seeds and maybe try again next year. The plants were kept watered, but didn't seem to like direct sunlight(despite what the packaging says).
Carrots. It's supposedly time to harvest these things, but as you can see there's not much to eat. Maybe I'll hide behind my fence and use them as darts to throw at unsuspecting neighbors as they pass by. 
Zucchini. . . . just hung out in it's self watering container and grew flowers. Zucchini produced by these plants: ZERO. Too hot for them? Too much shade in the corner?
Lettuce. I had some successes earlier with Black Seeded Simpson lettuce. I can't say I really like that type of lettuce though. I later tried planting some Romaine lettuce, which you can see in the photo above. Most of it grew like vines, with very few edible leaves to eat. This was the best looking of the plants.
Cucumbers. Too much sun. Too much heat. Too much fail. Not one edible cucumber yet. Some of the plants that grew mostly in the shade are still producing a few cucumbers, but they too look like they're about to die off.My normal tomato plant is still growing tomatoes, although the heat doesn't seem to be helping much. They don't get big, they have a tough, scarred skin, and there aren't many of them. The Green pepper plant did produce two peppers. A few more fell off when they were young. It hasn't produced any more since then. Maybe another victim of the recent heat?
Hope you don't mind... was reading your post today since a friend passed along your blog and wanted to help out a little since I have been doing some container and small plot gardening myself. First, the tomatoes... I think you might have too small of a pot. They like AT LEAST a good 2 feet of soil to stretch their roots and get a nice strong foundation. The rule of thumb for tomatoes is usually 1/2 the height down as the full height of the plant (usually a container tomato plant reaches around 4')... the other problem with the upside down containers are that all of the nutrients simply wash out of the soil so you have to give them a huge amount of fertilizer/food every week. If you have a compost, that would be GREAT to add to it whenever possible. Eggshells are a great addition to. However, if you can grow them upright, you're probably better off. Your peppers would actually do better in that upside down container... They don't need quite the room that tomatoes require.
ReplyDeleteNext, Carrots are a pain in my butt. I can't even get them to grow in the ground around here when it's this hot. I think they like early spring and fall better. I will be planting some here next week and hope they will fare better as it's getting cooler. So I think they're more picky then people like to admit.
The Zucchini, I can tell you, not enough room. Those suckers get HUUUUUUUGE. They aren't even worth doing in a container garden because of how much room they need. I did them in the little bit of ground space I have (12x6) and by the beginning of July, I had ripped them up because they took over the entire garden. I only had 4 plants. I got several zucchini off them by then so I had my fill and wanted to start other things.
Your lettuce actually does look decent. Your only problem there is...mid-summer is just TOO hot for lettuce. It grows well when it's cooler and definitely likes some shade. When it gets too hot, it bolts and goes to flower. This is when it gets bitter and not very tasty. If you wanted to start some for a fall harvest, you could start planting some seeds for it within the next week and by September have some really great salads. It's actually pretty easy once it cools down and doesn't require too much care. I find that radicchio and Dwarf Kale grow in a pot pretty well and with minimal fuss.
The cucumbers, well I don't have much advice there since I haven't grown them myself but it looks like the leaves are pretty burnt. Maybe just got too hot? Not sure on that one.
And as for peppers, I didn't have ANY luck with my Bells or my Cayennes this year but have had TREMENDOUS success with my habaneros and jalapenos this year. Perhaps they like containers more then bell and cayenne? Not sure.
3 things I have learned are incredibly important with a container garden. 1.)Feed a LOT more often (we use compost) because of the washing-out effect the waterings have on pots. 2.) Water VERY frequently since the soil gets hot, the veggies need a LOT more water then they would if they are in the ground. 3.) It's always better to have TOO much soil then it is to not have enough. There's not too many veggies that will do well in a flower pot. I have found the cheapest and best thing to grow our veggies in is usually the big 20 gallon Rubbermaid containers with holes drilled into the bottom and set on a large slat to allow good drainage. It's not exactly beautiful but it gets the job done. Good Luck and hope to see you back at it next summer (or even this fall if you want to attempt a fall harvest) ;)
I'm a little late replying, but thanks for the advice. All stuff to consider for next year.
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