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Sarcelle
Guest
I grew baby carrots in a one foot deep rectangular pot. Not sure about regular carrots.
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Pattylt
Guest
Yeah, the depth of the bed can reach a point that the weight of the soil becomes a problem…luckily, my husband has a ton of experience calculating weight loads for roofs on housings! I bet he could figure it out! Thanks for your experience and sharing…if he builds it this summer, I could have a veggie garden again next summer 
. I miss my homegrown veggies.
. I miss my homegrown veggies.
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humbleseeker
Guest
Even for root or tuber crops like carrots and potatoes I wouldn’t figure anything deeper than 2’. Most of the potatoes I dig up are less than a foot underground.
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Pattylt
Guest
Good! It’s been so long since I did any serious gardening, I couldn’t remember how deep they reach. I think 2’ would be fine for carrots, too. I like growing those fat ones! :crazy_face: and all carrots root starting at soil line. So, I may avoid the really long varieties though they are the tastiest!
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dochawk
Guest
most (but not all) commercial and nursery tomatoes are hybrids. Their seeds will produce things recognizable as tomato plants, but their fruit is unlikely to be impressive.
Yes, or 16", letting your cages touch and support one another.
if you start from seed, you should start more than you want to plant, so that you can choose the strings.
it’s not hard from seed (and far, far less expensive.). Drop seeds with a spreader, then cover with manurer topsoil, and water enough to keep the soil damp.
Fairly late in the season, a happy strawberry plant will send out a couple of runners. When these sprout leaves, make sure that there is soil beneath the end of the runner so that the roots
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dochawk
Guest
I spent a couple of years with the primary weeds on my back lawn being,
- tomato
- palm tree
*cilantro
You would think cilantro would do well in Las Vegas, but it does too well: it “bolts” rather quickly, and goes to seed before you’ve had a chance to harvest any!
think of it as “venison bait”
tomato note: tomatoes are not annuals, as commonly thought, but perennials that are grown as annuals. They have no tolerance for the cold, and a couple of hours in the mid to high 30’s can kill them.
This year, though, after years of trying, I got mine through the winter in the hothouse. So at the moment, I have several 4 ft tall and higher tomatoes.
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Pattylt
Guest
Will they flower soon? Will you get fruit before the neighbors (always a bragging rights arena)! Keep us posted!
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dochawk
Guest
Soon?
They’ve been flowering, and are beginning to produce.
The bees couldn’t get in (iv’e solved that for next year with an openable window), so we’ve been harvesting late-fertilized tomatoes, and a handful from the bees that wandered in the days I opened the door.
I think yesterday’s go into tonight’s salad . . .
They’ve been flowering, and are beginning to produce.
The bees couldn’t get in (iv’e solved that for next year with an openable window), so we’ve been harvesting late-fertilized tomatoes, and a handful from the bees that wandered in the days I opened the door.
I think yesterday’s go into tonight’s salad . . .
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Pattylt
Guest
That’s great! My dad loved nothing better than to pick a ripe tomato, rinse it quickly in the kitchen sink, grab a salt shaker and have a snack. We HAD to grow tomatoes for him…he once threatened to find a new wife if he wasn’t allowed to plant his tomatoes (my mother knew he was joking). He could not get me to agree on tomatoes being the best snack ever…where did I go wrong, he’d lament! I still don’t like eating a fresh tomato but I do love cooking with them.
Hey! Has anyone ever made homemade ketchup? Is it easy or hard? Was it good and worth it?
Hey! Has anyone ever made homemade ketchup? Is it easy or hard? Was it good and worth it?
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dochawk
Guest
wait, he bought them inside? They’d be, like, a whole minute old by then!
there are corn aficionados that it is important to bring the water to a boil before snapping the ear off the plant . . .
there are corn aficionados that it is important to bring the water to a boil before snapping the ear off the plant . . .
Sauce and ketchup take a staggering amount of tomato to make . . .
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JanR
Guest
Our growing season is too short for even the so-called faster tomatoes. The ones that are supposed to bloom and fruit sooner than other kinds. It’s still not soon enough for our climate, unless grown inside of a hot house. They have zero tolerance for even near freezing temps that are still not cold enough to actually freeze.
BTW, did you hear the legend about how folks began eating tomatoes?
The tomato plant is part of the nightshade family, which produces a lot of poisonous plants, including their berries. Actually, the foliage of tomato plants – the stems and leaves – are toxic. It once was thought that the fruit was, too. Then, a man stood up before a crowd of people and ate a tomato. When it was seen he suffered no ill effects, others began eating them, too.
Maybe a true story, maybe not, but an interesting one.
BTW, did you hear the legend about how folks began eating tomatoes?
The tomato plant is part of the nightshade family, which produces a lot of poisonous plants, including their berries. Actually, the foliage of tomato plants – the stems and leaves – are toxic. It once was thought that the fruit was, too. Then, a man stood up before a crowd of people and ate a tomato. When it was seen he suffered no ill effects, others began eating them, too.
Maybe a true story, maybe not, but an interesting one.
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humbleseeker
Guest
Yes
Hard, according to the wife and witnessing it throughout the day.
No. Tasted fine but we used a bushel of tomatoes(not sure the exact amount)for one jar.
Wife still makes it but uses canned tomatoes (and paste?), I think.
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Pattylt
Guest
Well then, thanks to you and @dochawk, I won’t try…seems kind of pointless if it uses a ton of tomatoes and winds up no better than using canned tomatoes! I’ll stick to Heinz!
Now, homemade bread on the other hand…worth every minute!
Trying to keep my granddaughter entertained while isolating (she isn’t too bad in this respect), I bought a set of six mini loaf bread pans and she’s going bonkers to make homemade bread for them. She can’t wait to have her own little loaf of homemade bread! It’s so cute. The first time after she began living with us 1/2 time that I made fresh bread and she tasted it with a little butter fresh out of the oven, she was beside herself. It’s sooooo good! Yes, I smiled and patted myself on the back. Now, she wants it all the time. No, I’m not going to make it every day. She’s back on Friday morning from dads and we’re going to make her mini loaves! You ever need to wear out a child, get them kneading bread…it’s a workout!
Now, homemade bread on the other hand…worth every minute!
Trying to keep my granddaughter entertained while isolating (she isn’t too bad in this respect), I bought a set of six mini loaf bread pans and she’s going bonkers to make homemade bread for them. She can’t wait to have her own little loaf of homemade bread! It’s so cute. The first time after she began living with us 1/2 time that I made fresh bread and she tasted it with a little butter fresh out of the oven, she was beside herself. It’s sooooo good! Yes, I smiled and patted myself on the back. Now, she wants it all the time. No, I’m not going to make it every day. She’s back on Friday morning from dads and we’re going to make her mini loaves! You ever need to wear out a child, get them kneading bread…it’s a workout!
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dochawk
Guest
oh, , far rose than that–it uses up homegrown tomatoes!
Homegrown bread is wonderful (ok, the calories brought us to a halt!)
Homemade beer is excellent.
Homemade wine tends to range from good to very good (and that’s fine for my plebeian taste in wine).
Fresh roasted coffee is amazing.
Cheese, however . . .
. . . cheese is a lot of work. And, at best, is no better than what you could have just bought for what you spent milk . . . (although microwave mozzarella can be fun and easy)and add a memory from ages ago on my mother’s bread kick (before the makers) . . . she had a recipe that called to “toss” the dough . . . so she had my brother and I sit down with her at the tables and we played catch for a while . . .
and I have a domestic goddess friend who uses the maker to mix, but refuses to pass up the kneading, her favorite part . . .
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Pattylt
Guest
Well, I guess I’m a domestic goddess, too. I rarely let my maker bake the bread…in fact, I rarely use my maker at all. I have to measure everything anyway and it’s the mixing and kneading that’s fun. Besides, bread maker bread isn’t quite as good…and I’m not sure why. I think hand kneading develops the gluten better…just a theory…
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Irishmom2
Guest
I think that is it exactly, @Pattylt!
So I spent part of this morning raking my grass out. I did see a difference in the parts I already did within a few days.
I know that “they” say to use a mulching blade on your mower and not bag clippings, but I am not buying it. It does not break down. It sits there and water cannot get through. On top of that, I cannot get my husband to stop going over the leaves in the fall with the mower, so now they are in there too.
I don’t know why I end up being the one that rakes it out every spring. (Despite saying I no longer would.
) “Because no one does it as well as you do.”
Well, it is true.
So I spent part of this morning raking my grass out. I did see a difference in the parts I already did within a few days.
I know that “they” say to use a mulching blade on your mower and not bag clippings, but I am not buying it. It does not break down. It sits there and water cannot get through. On top of that, I cannot get my husband to stop going over the leaves in the fall with the mower, so now they are in there too.
I don’t know why I end up being the one that rakes it out every spring. (Despite saying I no longer would.
) “Because no one does it as well as you do.”Well, it is true.
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Pattylt
Guest
Our philosophy is that we thatch in the spring to allow air and moisture to start reaching the roots and we mulch in the fall to protect the roots. By doing it this way, anything that didn’t mulch down through the winter, gets removed in the spring. We also only aerate once in spring after thatching and then follow with fertilizer…we fertilize three times…spring, summer and fall and use the appropriate type for each. Our lawn looks very good and is already greening up. My dog is so happy to be finding some grasses long enough to eat. He loves his grass salads. He also loves rolling in the lawn…traveling several yards as he does so! 
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dochawk
Guest
They tell me that it mulches, but . . .
Given the wind here, I doubt it sticks around. Sure, clumps of grass stick around a bit, if set that way, but I did some weeding yesterday because I knew today’s wind would carry them off . . .
Shortly after I moved here, I was pleased with myself for going out and sweeping the back porch while my wife was at work.
Twenty minutes later, it was dirty again.
Half an hour after that, it was clean again.
That was 30 years ago, and I haven’t swept since . . .
Today wasn’t all that windy; gusts were only to 60mph . . .
Given the wind here, I doubt it sticks around. Sure, clumps of grass stick around a bit, if set that way, but I did some weeding yesterday because I knew today’s wind would carry them off . . .
Shortly after I moved here, I was pleased with myself for going out and sweeping the back porch while my wife was at work.
Twenty minutes later, it was dirty again.
Half an hour after that, it was clean again.
That was 30 years ago, and I haven’t swept since . . .
Today wasn’t all that windy; gusts were only to 60mph . . .
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Irishmom2
Guest
That would really take some adjusting on my part to live where you are. 
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Sarcelle
Guest
I’ve been binge watching The Great British Bake Show in Netflix.
I love seeing the great varieties of pastries, cakes and breads being made in that show.
I love seeing the great varieties of pastries, cakes and breads being made in that show.
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