Planting Veggies
We’re in June, so we’re looking good for tomatoes and planting vegetables and all that kind of stuff.
Most people have their gardens in or are planting them now. A lot of gardens were pretty wet for a minute there, but it’s dried out enough now to where you can get in there and plant and it’s time. Our vegetable section is more or less wiped out, it’s amazing how quick that goes. When people are ready, they are ready. Now we wait.
It does just depend on when things start producing. We did bring in bigger tomatoes and stuff that were already in blossom and everything. A lot of things are, you know, can be a little bit earlier, but naturally, like your early growth, and there is a tomato called Fourth of July, you’re usually starting to get stuff about, like, mid-July, but all in all, it’s usually more towards the end for tomatoes. But zucchini is usually one of the first ones to come on, but it’ll be a few months yet. Well, we just have to be patient. We don’t want to rush summer.
One of the tricks I like to use for my vegetable garden is straw. It does kind of help keep the weeds down, and it’s a natural weed barrier, and it holds the moisture, and it will eventually break down over time, too. You can just kind of work it into the soil in the fall.
How often are we fertilizing the vegetables and things like that?
Vegetables, especially if they’re in a pot, if you have potted container gardens, you’re going to want to do that pretty regularly, almost like you would a hanging basket. I would say every other time you water. As long as you’re following the instructions with the liquid fertilizer, we recommend the Fox Farm products. They’re a really good brand. They’re all natural, organic, and very good for vegetables. They have a lot of micronutrients in it, like calcium and magnesium, that helps the fruit set.
So usually right now you’re using a grow bed, which is more for vegetative growth and to get the leaves and everything, and the plant real established and strong. And I usually do that about every other time when I’m watering my garden. I do want to add this in there. More is not better. So if the bottle says an ounce per gallon, use an ounce per gallon. An ounce per gallon does not help that plant. It actually can cause damage sometimes. What would be better is if you really want to do that extra, grow that extra mile more frequently. You can increase their frequency at the right dilution rate and not really hurt the plant. But if you double or triple the dilution rate, you can actually cause damage. You’re not helping the plant by doing it. As long as you are following it by the vegetables, you can fertilize every time you water.
Can I use the green pellet fertilizer I purchased for flowers, or do I need to buy a special one? You can. I mean, we don’t like to recommend that just because it’s not organic. And vegetables and fruits, that kind of thing, they do tend to like a little bit more specific nutrients. Like tomatoes like a lot of calcium. If it were me, I would recommend using a tomato tone, which if it’s like a grain, or it’s more like a powder, but you would mix it into the soil like when you’re planting. It has a lot of calcium and magnesium and micronutrients that both peppers and tomatoes really like.
