Remember the indoor garden that I began about a month ago? Well, with the weather going from winter to spring to summer, and then back to winter every few days, it was hard to know when it was okay to put the plants out for some sunshine. I thought I was doing them a favor, but instead, I was killing them! The herbs did all right for a long time, but I ended up throwing those out along with the tomatoes that were just pitiful.
So, it was time to start over.
I found the website, ehow.com, that has a tutorial on how to grow plants by making a mini green house. I thought, This just has to work...this will help me get that green thumb which I so desperately need! I'll explain what I did about a week ago to start my garden over again.
The directions say you can use an egg carton, then poke holes on the bottom of it. Then, you can add your dirt and seeds. I had a disposable container with a plastic lid, so I placed the egg carton in there. Keeping the dirt moist, but not too wet, is the key I think! Then, I read that I should keep these by a sunny window, and not place them outside for a while. I also found this cake carrier and cupcake carrier and placed dirt and seed-filled cups in those. The cake carrier is the one that is doing the best, as the lid forms condensation on the top and I don't have to water that one as often. These containers sit on the floor next to our sliding door-window. They get a little bit of sunshine every day!
I decided to try something else, too, with a few disposable loaf pans. I filled them with dirt before placing some seeds in them. They sit on sheets of aluminum foil on our bedroom windowsill. Before the plants started getting tall, I placed plastic wrap on each one. It was another way to make a few more green houses.
These plants are a bit taller than the ones in the other containers. They look healthy and so far, I'm not in a panic! I did save some seeds in the packet, just in case this didn't work out again. My plan is to place the plants in large containers that can go in our back porch. We don't have a lot of dirt back there, so this is the way we plan on doing it.But--do any of you have advice on keeping my tomato plants alive? What do you do? I'd love to hear any tips you may have! We want some nice little tomatoes for making pasta sauce and salsa--hopefully this season!:)
I grew tomatoes for the first time last year and it went really well. I just got finished planting this year's tomato plants over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI use 5 gallon buckets for my tomatoes, and it works really well.
My husband drilled 6 - 8 holes in the bottom of each bucket so that any excess water can run out the bottom.
Then I filled the buckets with garden soil and planted my tomatoes. You can stake or cage them the same as you would if they were planted in the ground.
By using the buckets, if they need to be moved or anything you can just pick up the bucket and move it.
Thanks so much for the tip!:) I'll have to go get some buckets.
ReplyDeleteHi, my biggest flaw is NOT watering my flowers, I hope to do better in remembering, perhaps tie a string around my finger, then I would wonder what the string was for:)
ReplyDeleteOur landlord grows their tomatoes in a big deep square container, last year their tomatoes were about 5 feet tall and they had quite a harvest eating lots of fried green tomatoes:)