Should I be doing anything else? vegetables in a bucket question (pics)

[OriginalGeek]

so I planted these seeds 2.5 weeks ago and they are sprouting up fast - the zucchini and squash are, anyway - the peppers and tomatoes are taking longer.

I have done nothing but water twice a day (timer sprinkler) for 20 minutes each. I live in central Florida.

Squash and zuchs:


Tomato and bell pepper (the bell peppers were planted a week after the rest - the first batch never sprouted so I put more in a week later)


Jalapenos:


The buckets are filled with a bag each of top soil from the garden department and they all have some Black Kow mixed in. I've done nothing else but I've been told I might want to get a few more buckets and transplant some of the plants so they aren't all fighting for the same resources.

I have nonfat powdered milk on my shopping list too...

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Been gardening for decades now..

So I can offer some experience:
Yes on transplanting, but the key is when.
The squash and zukes need another set of leaves before they are big enough.
The peppers and tomatoes are too young to transplant, they need to have more leaves on them.

Make sure all the plants don't get cooked in the sun, depending on where you are..filtered shade is best in hotter climates. And let the soil get kinda dry before watering again.

Not sure what the milk is for????

[OriginalGeek]

2. Thank you!

the milk bath is from what I read here: http://upload.democraticunderground.com/115975

As for the sun, these buckets are lined up in front of my house and my house faces south.
There are taller trees 6 to 8 feet to their left and right so the morning and afternoon sun is filtered through them and they're probably in direct sunlight for several hours in the midday.

Also it has been raining here almost every afternoon for the last several days so maybe I should set the timer to water once a day? Or not even that much? This is my first time ever growing anything so I am a complete newbie...

My buckets have 9 or 10 1/4" holes drilled in the bottoms for drainage..I'm never home from work before the evening watering so I can't say how dry it's gotten before the water comes on - although if it comes on during the rain the point is probably moot lol...

If I go to once a day on the water should it be morning or evening or don't matter?

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Your climate,heat index is what matters.

Where I live, I have to start plants in light shade, they will turn into crispy critters otherwise, and often they need light watering mornings and early evenings. Southern gardening and all that with a heat index today of 111.
Seedlings tend to rot ( it's called dampening off) if too wet.
I personally like to inspect my plants daily to see what they need as opposed to automatic systems, untl they are healthy and grown up, then automatic is fine.

So find out if your plants tend to get drier over night or by day's end, that will tell you when to water.
Most people tend to overwater young plants and underwater bigger plants.

A milk spray of 9 parts water to 1 part milk will prevent mildew and mold on plants, that I know for sure.
And a spray of baking soda, water and dash of soap ( NOT detergent) will prevent early and late blight on tomatoes.
Got to do that every 4-5 days tho for a few weeks.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Maybe use metal buckets?

Never know what kind of crap the plastic in those things is leeching into the soil.

[Nostradammit]

10. ^ This.

[OriginalGeek]

13. Yikes!

I never even thought about that. This year I got started late and it was really just an experiment for my first time so I'd know what to do next year (and also if I got anything this year I figured that was just a bonus).

Now that I have figured out how to do the irrigation (about 40 bucks worth of stuff from Lowes - and the biggest part of that was the timer) I can plan it out better next year and make some raised beds and maybe get some big clay pots....

[tclambert]

5. I have tomato plants in pots about the size of those buckets.

Grape tomatoes, super sweet. Holes in the bottom for drainage, a layer of rocks above that, most of my pots have topsoil with potting soil on top, soil goes up to within one or two inches of the top. I water by watering can. I wish I had an irrigation system. Most days I water after I come home from work. On hot days, 90+, I water the most sensitive plants and the hanging pots in the morning as well.

Besides the tomatoes, I have bell peppers, strawberries, onions, chives, and one zucchini. The zucchini is a bush variety, not a vine type. Even so, it will try to spill over the edge of the pot (and I've got the zucchini in a half whiskey keg size pot). Oh, I have some flowers, too, just for looks. But it's the vegetables people comment on. The annuals came from a nursery. The tomatoes were about 4" high when I transplanted them. Now my tomato trees are over 7' high. (If it's over my head, it's a tree.)

Fertilize once a week with Miracle-Gro or Schultz's equivalent (20-20-20). I pick off the earliest flowers. I want the plants to grow big before I let them fruit. Tomato plants need support, like tomato cones (wire cones you can stick into your buckets), and ties to hold up stray branches. My local hardware store carries rolls of velcro tape for tying up plants. That works great. You can unstick them and move the ties as the plants grow bigger.

Zucchini is water and temperature sensitive. Hanging pots of strawberries dry out faster than the big pots on the ground. Impatiens and hydrangeas are sensitive to heat and dryness, too. Tomatoes and peppers seem tolerant of the heat, but they use more water as the plants get bigger. Tomatoes can be sensitive to too much water. A drizzly rain lasting a full day can cause tomatoes to split.

[OriginalGeek]

14. I hadn't even thought about fertilizer either

lol, I'm such a noob!

Too bad my father in law isn't still alive - he had a huge grove in his back yard where he grew bananas, avocados, peppers of all kinds, star fruit trees, oranges, grapefruit, and many other things over the years that I've forgotten about. Unfortunately, back then I was not interested at all in growing anything (except my beer gut) so I never paid any attention to what he was doing back there. How foolish I was in my youth!

[JDPriestly]

18. Check on getting a worm bin. I take the worm juice, mix it with water, and it

makes a great fertilizer. I also compost and use that as a fertilizer.

[indie9197]

6. what kind of peppers?

Mild peppers need more shade. Hot peppers can take more sun and heat. If you protect them all for another month or two they should be fine. I think usually in Florida they try not to have the smaller plants subject to intense heat and sun.

[OriginalGeek]

15. one bucket is Bell Peppers

and the other is jalapeno...

Maybe put a screen/tent of some kind over the bell? The buckets all have kinda be where they are for now since I won;t be able to make them a permanent raised garden home this season...

[nikto]

7. Don't forget...

...to carbo-load any cannabis plants you have in the final weeks of flowering.

[OriginalGeek]

16. that may have to wait

until I have more private place to plant lol...

[1monster]

8. It's really too hot for tomatos and peppers in July and August. Doesn't

second season start in September in Florida?

[JoeyT]

9. When you transplant your tomatoes,

pull the bottom sets of leaves off and bury them up to the next set. It creates a larger deeper root system. Tomatoes will basically root wherever they hit dirt.

Depending on what fertilizers you use, you may have to add some magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) to the tomatoes and peppers. I use about a teaspoon per plant, but the amount isn't exact. It's not like nitrogen where too much will burn them.

[skydive forever]

11. Where in central Florida?

I live near Cocoa and I tried grow boxes this year for the first time and they worked GREAT. It was just tomatoes and cucumbers this time but I highly recommend trying them. Good luck.

[OriginalGeek]

12. Hop on the Beeline and head west

for about 25 minutes and you'll be right by my house.


I'm just doing Roma tomatoes this time around but if I manage to not screw it up too badly I may try some of those fancy kinds next year. I wanna do cucumbers next time too. Pickles!

[OriginalGeek]

17. I'm taking good notes

Well, I'm keeping track of this thread as you guys are making good notes for me - thank you everyone...I'll make some adjustments this weekend and see where we end up in!