Extreme Gardening!

Here is how it all went down:

After planting a garden in front of my new house (to please my wife) I was itching for a vegetable garden out back.  I’m not a big flower growing guy, but there is something about growing food that appeals to me.  Maybe it is the whole ‘being the provider’ thing that has been around since we were cavemen, or maybe I just like food.  There is something especially appealing about a fresh garden grown tomato!

It takes me back to the summers of my childhood where we would vacation along the New Jersey shore and all summer long we would have the biggest, reddest, juiciest, sweetest tomatoes I have ever seen.  Joe, our next door neighbor was a whiz when it came to gardening.  He had the proverbial green thumb and his specialty was tomatoes.   Probably 20 years ago or more he was making his own compost and growing organic heirloom tomatoes before all of the hype of recent years brought such practices to notoriety.   Joe would always share his harvest with my family, but he only grew so many tomatoes and once you get a taste you inevitably want more.  Luckily there were many, many road side farm stands and small markets selling the freshest produce you could buy.

To make a long story short and to get us back on topic I’ll just say that I love tomatoes.  It’s for that reason that I turned the small flower garden that had gone to seed  in the back of my house into my personal vegetable garden.  I took a trip to the local superstore and got some seeds (broccoli and mixed lettuce) and a Beefsteak tomato plant.  I planted the broccoli and lettuce seeds by sowing them directly, they were just more of an experiment than anything and I did not really expect anything to come of them, but the tomato plant I planted with all of the care and attention that a father has for his newborn child. 

The problem was that I had room for only ONE tomato plant since the garden area is very small.  I needed to plant more tomatoes and I could feel it in my bones.  I contemplated digging another garden somewhere in the yard but two reasons dissuaded me:

1. The ground is horrible.  I have a mix of rocky, sandy, clay soil that is hard as a rock in places and is too thick to work with.  After a whole afternoon working and sweating getting the TINY vegetable garden next to the house ready I was in no mood to attack a larger piece of real estate.
2. Another reason is because most of the rest of the yard in the back is dominated by a large oak tree in the center of the yard.  I love this tree for the shade it provides, but I’m sure the tomatoes would not appreciate it since they need lots of sun to do their jobs.

What to do?  After kicking around the problem for a while I went to my favorite research tool (Google) and looked for kindred souls who might have a solution to share.  I struck gold in the form of a blog by Robert Gasperson where I found the following post about his adventures in growing Roma tomatoes in an empty kitty litter container.

The seed of an idea was planted in my head and I nurtured it with research and learning.  I read all that I could get my hands on about container gardening and growing tomatoes.  I didn’t want the tomatoes that my mother grew in our backyard in Philly which were okay but nowhere near ideal.  I wanted to become an expert on the subject and grow some of the best tomatoes known to mankind.  I became obsessed with tomatoes, to the chagrin of my wife, and could think of nothing else.

After much research and planning I developed a plan and began to assemble my resources.  Here is what I got (in no particular order):

• Top Soil ($1 per bag @ Walmart) x 1
• Humus (compost) w/ manure ($1 per bag @ Walmart) x 1
• Sphagnum Peat Moss ($7 for a large bag @ Walmart) x 1
• Perlite ($4 per bag @ Walmart) x 1
• River pebbles ($3 @ Walmart) x 1
• 50 gallon storage container ($6 @ Walmart) x 1
• 5 gallon bucket ($2 @ Lowes) x 2

I took all of the soil mixings (top soil, humus, perlite, and peat moss)  home and combined them in the  50 gallon container using 1 bag top soil, 1 bag humus, 1/2 bag or perlite, and about 1/2 bag of peat moss.  After mixing thoroughly I had a nice light, well draining, loamy soil mix.  It was now time for step two – getting the containers ready!

I made another trip for supplies and picked up the following:

• 6-8-4 tomato fertilizer (slow release) x 1 bag
• Early Girl tomato plant x 2
• Package of whole frozen talapia from Walmart fish counter (2 fish per package) x 1

I got my drill out and drilled some holes around the base and through the bottom of both 5 gallon buckets with a 1/2″ bit.  Next I put a few inches of the river pebbles in the bottom of each bucket to aid in drainage and to add stability.  I then cut some weed block screen and laid that over the pebbles to keep the soil I was going to add in the container and to keep everything neat and tidy.  Next I added the soil mix and hollowed out the center of each bucket to prepare for planting.  To each hole I added the following:

• 1 whole talapia cut into 3 pieces (scales, guts, bones, eyes, everything)
• 1 generous serving of slow release fertilizer (per package directions)

It is at this point that I would like to advise you to add some crushed egg shells to the hole.  I have read that they do not break down enough to help the plant and I have also read testimonials from those who swear by them.  I chose to leave them out because my family does not eat a lot of eggs and I did not have any available at the time.  I figured that I would add calcium in other ways through fertilizing, etc…  You can go either way, but adding them at this step can’t hurt.

You also may be wondering what exactly is up with the talapia (which is a kind of fish if you didn’t already know) and adding it to the bucket!?  Well, the one theme that I kept getting over and over during my research was that tomatoes LOVE fish!  They use them for nutrients as they break down and can’t get enough of them.  There are fish emulsions and seaweed sprays out there, but they are expensive and must be added regularly to be effective.  Somewhere I read that just tossing a fish into the hole before planting is a great way to give the tomatoes a huge boost once they get growing.  The talapia were the largest fish I could find for the cheapest price.  So just get some fish and toss them in the hole, your tomatoes will thank you.

Next I added some more soil to the hole to cover the fish and fertilizer and added the tomato plant.  After firming it slightly I did something else that may seem strange, I added coffee grounds to the dirt mix on top and worked them in with my fingers for the fist inch or two.  About one handful per bucket is all that is needed.  The coffee grounds add nitrogen that is much needed by the plant during the early stages of growth.  It promotes strong leafy growth.

Next I took the containers to a spot on our back deck that I had previously chosen that gets lots of sun and set the buckets on some bricks I had laid down first to help with drainage and air flow.  It was at this point that I gave them their first good soaking and made sure that all of the soil mixture good nice and wet.  In the beginning you want to really water the plants until they are established and then you can cut back on the watering a little.  After a while, you will develop a sort of second nature that tells you when your tomatoes need water.

So far they are doing fabulous.  They took a little while to really take off, growing slowly at first and then flourishing almost overnight.  I have blossoms already and am waiting to see my first fruit set.  It is fun to watch something in your care grow and change.  I am excited to taste my first tomatoes from the containers and the ground plant.  The ground plant is slightly bigger and fuller, but it was more mature when I bought and transplanted it and it was planted and established earlier than the container plants.  I am hoping for many, many, many great tomatoes and already have people in my family waiting with their hands out for when my harvest begins…  Bring on the tomatoes!