dr. greenthumb calling dr. greenthumb

[matt duarte]

well since ive been laid off and being at home all day gets pretty boring especially with no money..but to keep me busy i start
ed a lil garden. i wanted to do a herb garden but turns out my defention of a herd garden and my moms defention is 2 different things hahaha j/p

anyway heres a few pix of what i got so far...i have monoglobe tomatos, tomatos called (mr. stripey) there yellow with red tiger stripes (only reason i got them) and cherry tomatos. also have 4 strawberry plants, the worlds hottest habenaro pepper, and thai hot chilli peppers... i plant to get cantalope and the competition pumpkins me and a few buddys are strating a wager to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin it should be fun

habenaro pepper
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/hot.jpg
tomato tamoto
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/plant1.jpg
strawberry
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/straw2.jpg
strawberry 2
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/1-2.jpg
and i went and bought more and came home and made a lil spot for them..
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/oneUPfabrication/garden.jpg

[Sue]

Very cool! I hope it works out for you! I tried to start growing tomatoes and herbs last year, spent about $100 on planters and seeds and stuff....yeah...soon gave up on that! :ROFL:
Seriously though, keep us updated on the progress - I got as far as srpouting and am not even going to attempt it this year. That's why Gator has a proper garden and knows how to utilize it to grow salad food for me for summer! :ROFL:

[matt duarte]

haha ya so far its working i have 2 strawberries that are almost ready to pick!

[britheguy]

Nice!

Ok here is a tip on those tomato plants that I have learned from experience. DO NOT FERTILIZE UNTIL IT HAS GROWN THE ACTUAL TOMATO. I fertilized the plant with a nitrogen based fertilizer and the plant itself grew HUGE without growing many tomatoes. I asked the gardener what was going on and he said to wait until the plant has actually bared tomatoes until you fertilize.

Goodluck with the project man! Looks like you are in for some nice fresh peppers too.

[joe man]

I grow a few veggies and fruits myself. If you allow your strawberries to get ripe on the plant you may need to put a bird screen over the plants. The birds will not touch my berries until the get red but as soon as they are ripe the bird harvest starts. Do not touch your tomato plants or fruit after smoking unless you wash your hands first. That is a lesson that I learned from my grandmama who worked at Park Seed for many years. It appears that she may have been right because my plants do much better since I took her advice. Just to help you in your hobbie Home Depot was carrying blueberry bushes that are grown for Ca weather. I bought two of the blueberry bushes and they are loaded with blooms.

[Nessie Hunter]

Cool!!!
I have a crap load of space and was thinking of doing a garden also...

Decided I have way to many critters around, Cotton tails, Jack Rabbits, Ground squirrels, tons of birds of all kinds, Quail to Hawks....

Thought maybe I would put up some Garden food for the wild life instead.. They would eat it all anyway, and this way I could watch them and not get mad.....................????

Sort of like a big Animal & Bird feeder????



.

[Nu_AbGatr]

Tomatoes are prone to dem big green fishbait tomater caterpillars.

[matt duarte]

thanks for the tips guys! ill defently keep them in mind... i know 2 of my strawberries are almost done maybe a day or 2, defently gonna keep a eye on the birds! home depot here i come lol blueberries would be sweet!

nessie a destraction might do the trick! never thought of that... i dont have to many rabbits or critters runnin around...have some gophers but they mainly stay in the front yard havent seen them in the back yard yet... i want to try some indoor fruits with a grow hut you can control the humidity and pretty much everything so if ordered i can proly grow fruits like kewis and other goods... ill keep you guys updated on the plants progress!

[tacklejunkie]

Nice garden!
I'll have to admit, the title had me going. haha.
What will he be on to next!
Save me a pepper yo!

[farmacist]

Indoor fruits & grow huts... I luv a good kiwi... so green and tasty

[Daryl]

Nice!

Ok here is a tip on those tomato plants that I have learned from experience. DO NOT FERTILIZE UNTIL IT HAS GROWN THE ACTUAL TOMATO. I fertilized the plant with a nitrogen based fertilizer and the plant itself grew HUGE without growing many tomatoes. I asked the gardener what was going on and he said to wait until the plant has actually bared tomatoes until you fertilize.

Goodluck with the project man! Looks like you are in for some nice fresh peppers too.

I found that out the hard way as well. The following explains it:

The numerical formula that appears on just about any fertilizer refers to the percentage of the three macro-nutrients in that product. A box that reads 5-3-4, for instance, contains 5% nitrogen, 3% phosphorus, and 4% potassium. Nitrogen is most important in nourishing foliage, phosphorus in promoting the growth of flowers and fruits, and potassium in building strong stem and root systems.

Tomatoes are wild about fertilizer. In gardening parlance, they are "heavy feeders," meaning that they require a lot of nutrients. Fertilize one week before as well as on the day of planting. They especially love phosphorous, which promotes the formation of blossoms and the fruits or vegetables that grow from them. Avoid high nitrogen when your tomato plants have blossoms as it promotes vine growth rather than fruit growth.

[matt duarte]

Nice garden!
I'll have to admit, the title had me going. haha.
What will he be on to next!
Save me a pepper yo!

hahaha thought it would.... defently save you one bro

[Granny Fish]

Good luck on your garden. I've always enjoyed mine. If you can find the either of these books at your library, check them out. A wealth of information about growing vegetables in small spaces.

Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew
www.squarefootgardening.com (http://www.squarefootgardening.com)

The Back Yard Vegetable Factory, by Duane Newcomb

[WaterBound]

All right the NPK ratios are the most important nutrients to look at when fertilizing. However you need to understand that there are OTHER trace elements that also aid in a plant's health such as calcium, iron, manganese and selenium just to name a few. The thing is you are growing different plants. You mentioned dichotomous resinous plants. Each type of plant has different needs and requires different ratios of N-P-K as well as micro-nutrients or trace elements. The way the nutrients are made also greatly affects the nutrient uptake or the rate at which the plant metabolizes it. Just like nutritional supplements and drinks, there are grades of chemicals. For example you see all those expensive jamba juice type places everywhere promoting the health benefits of their drinks. You go home get some fruits and vegetables put them in a blender and make the exact same drink in your blender. You think you saved money and got the same amount of nutrients in your system. The FACT is that even though you have ingested the same volume of nutrients in your drink. You have not absorbed the same amount of nutrients. Those commercial blenders have way more power to breakdown the nutrients at a molecular level. This increased processing allows the nutrients to be absorbed at a greater rate. This is just one simple example of variables that affect absorption. Now for plants you are really concerned about the PH level of your soil, which is greatly affected by the quality of the nutrients you add to your medium. You see to increase the uptake of the nutrients the western world invented chemical salt fertilizers. Now we now know that this is the LEAST sustainable and environmentally unfriendly fertilizer ever created. However it does work well temporarily until the growing medium is left full of salts and drained of its nutrients. You see these in the form of powders like Miracle Grow etc. Now other fertilizers that are natural, I hate the word organic. Most people do not even know what the hell organic really means. Natural fertilizers such as fish emulsion and manure work GREAT! However they STINK! You can also greatly increase your risks of pests and molds appearing. Their prime advantage lies in facilitating natural microbial and enzyme activity that in turn further aids in nutrient uptake and processing. Natural fertilizers can still have too low of a PH meaning that they are too acidic. Your fertilizer and medium PH should always be monitored and controlled. I am not giving you exact numbers because each variety has different needs as mentioned earlier. Now another thing affecting nutrient uptake and plant health is the quality of your water. The chemistry of your water is the PRIMARY factor affecting plant health. Check and see how hard, amount of total dissolved solids, your water is. Also look for hard metals that are commonly found in tap water. The best thing to do would be to use a reverse osmosis filter in combination with a water softener. Or just a water softener is better than nothing. Generally if you use an RO filter be warned now that you will get a 1-3 ratio of filtered vs wasted water. That is right your water bill will go up. Those brita pitchers DO NOT work well. They really do not remove enough hard metals such as lead. Now what we currently know is that in application it seems that a combination of fertilizers seem to give some of the best results. However many farmers who use natural fertilizers would argue differently. Try and see for yourself. Remember to also check what your growing in terms of your climate zone. Plants are climate specific. For example fruit trees need certain amounts of chill hours, time below 45F, in order to bear fruit. This will be expressed in zones designated regionally. Go to your local nursery, not home depot. Your local nursery will not sell you plants that will not do well here. Talk with them and plan out what you want at what time of year. Try and plan it out so have produce year round. Since you already have a bet going. I will help you win it. You also need to think about the quality of your growing medium. Go to the closest dairy and pickup a truck bed load of manure. Fresh manure will usually be free. This will need to be treated more to adjust for the low acidic ph. If you use this stuff straight it will more likely burn the roots of your plants. Prime aged manure will have a higher ph and be easy to adjust. It also stinks a lot less. This is usually $10 per truck bed load. You can also use vermicompost, worm castings. Vermicompost tea works well also, but use it FRESH. I have personally not found quality sifted castings for less than $1 per pound. Add some ground kelp and save all of your fish guts, scales and skeletons. If you blend it, you can pour it as a diluted solution. If you cut it up, mix it with some compost to prevent scavengers from messing with your garden. Generally if you are starting out the rule is to make subtle fertilizer changes. Small incremental increases will let you know how far to go without seriously hurting your harvests. Now since we are talking about edibles I want to point out another difference or problem that can occur with chemical salt fertilizers. With chemical salt fertilizers there can be a nasty build up in your final product. It does not taste good at all. You should NOT use chemical salt fertilizers close to the very end before harvest. You will need to flush the salts from the system. In your soil use humic acid. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

[matt duarte]

damn dude you are a wealth of info! thanks a bunch ill defently have t save that post to come back and read when fertilizing and what not... anyone else have a garden? post a picture!!!! id love to see what everyone else had going on

[Robert trout hunter]

haha ya so far its working i have 2 strawberries that are almost ready to pick!
oh man the ants are going to be all ove those
hope it works out for all of you

[matt duarte]

oh man the ants are going to be all ove those
hope it works out for all of you

ya so far only one strawberry plant got infested with ants...im just happy it got infested before i planted it in the ground so the rest of my garden is fine..only one strawberry plant has to sit on the side line...

o ya my 3year old planted some stuff to some weird flowers and some sun flowers!..just checked his sunflowers and there sprouting!!!!! id be nice to get some home grown sunflower seeds...so im proly going to go buy the 12 sunflower plant seeds...the only sunflower that produces seeds

[joe man]

Between Waterbound,s tips and your time that has been freed up I think you might find a new career. Matt the farmer.

[matt duarte]

haha ya i wish 2 bad the only plants you ca nmake money on with out mass production are illegal hahah but seriously its defently fun. i found a place that sells raspberries and blueberries so im going to go check that out tomorrow

[matt duarte]

just planted some cilantro seeds, cantaluope seeds, and some pumpkin seeds!! well see what happens in 7-14 days!

[smokinflies]

haha, dr green thumb. damn that songs old.

i thought this thread was gonna be about buds or cypress hill.

good luck on your garden bro.

[ghetto dad]

There goes your "thug" status homie...lol

Glad you finally found you calling Matt.....

GD

[matt duarte]

HAHAHA dont know if its a calling but it defently keeps me busy... im going to have to sit out there with a pellet gun...all these damn birds like my strawberrys!

[ghetto dad]

HAHAHA dont know if its a calling but it defently keeps me busy... im going to have to sit out there with a pellet gun...all these damn birds like my strawberrys!

:ROFL: there you go...gettin back to your thug ways....lmao....have a good one bro

GD

[paDDy]

Try some FoxFarm products in your garden, they have soil called Ocean Forest that will work wonders. Its full of nutes, you will get nice dense tomatoes. You can also try Big bloom and grow big, add to your water and see some explosive growth. You will have the whole neighborhood wanting your tomatoes.

[matt duarte]

dense tomatoes.


hahahah ya i was looking for the fox farm but couldnt find it at home depot...might have to go to a hydro store..

[Robert trout hunter]

HAHAHA dont know if its a calling but it defently keeps me busy... im going to have to sit out there with a pellet gun...all these damn birds like my strawberrys!
lol its probably because their so sweet everything is looking for alot of sugar