Sunday, September 11, 2022

EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN

 


It has been many years since I planted a garden.   Western Maine has many small family farms and the farmer’s market is always well stocked with everything – except tomatoes.


Our last frost is usually late May and the first frost is mid to late September.   This doesn’t leave much time for growing, ripening and harvesting tomatoes.

 

This winter, browsing YouTube, I came across numerous sites of people planting patio gardens using grow bags and decided to give them a try. 






I laid out a patch using landscaping cloth.   I ordered five seven gallon grow bags online.  Locally I purchased potting soil, two dwarf tomato plants, two Sweet 100 cherry tomato plants, one pepper plant, one cucumber plant, and a squash plant.  Then there was fertilizer, bonemeal, and accessories.  All total about seventy dollars.  




 

The sweet 100 cherry tomatoes came in early with a heavy crop and are still producing to this day.  The dwarf tomato plants are just now ready for picking, and will probably have to be ripened in the house.  We got a few cucumbers, four tiny squash, ten peppers, and we will end up with perhaps twenty early girl tomatoes.   






I am not sure I will do this again next year.   I say that now, but when the snow finally goes and we are past the dreary days of mud season, the idea of getting into the soil and growing something may be more appealing.

the Ol’Buzzard 


3 comments:

  1. Oh definitely do it! Your frost dates sound much like ours. It’s absolutely possible to grow some tomatoes- and nothing tastes better than what you’ve grown yourself! Looks like a nice little harvest there! - Jenn

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  2. Definitely do it. That was a nice crop. We have a much longer growing season down here in the hill country. All the way up to December. Then we have freeze weather until April. Just a big problem with hot sun and lack of rain.

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  3. think how much veggies you could have bought with that $70

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