Today, pretty much all my garden time was spent working on projects in the greenhouse. In spite of a weather forecast that predicted mostly cloudy weather today, it was really mostly sunny, making the greenhouse quite warm. I opened up the side panels, so there was a nice breeze blowing through and the temperature felt nicely warm but not too hot. Although it took a few hours, I was able to get a good amount accomplished today.
Tomatoes in self-watering containers
Planting the tomatoes in the self-watering containers was my big project for the day. Derek has been working on building the containers since last weekend and today was the day to put everything together and put the tomatoes in their new home. I have both San Marzano and Viva Italia tomatoes in these containers. Both are supposed to be good sauce tomatoes. I prefer tomatoes cooked so the majority of the tomatoes I am planting this year are sauce varieties.
Hanging planters and raised beds
Last weekend I began planting in the Topsy Turvy planters. This year I will grow tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in the planters. I have room to hang 10 planters and will finish getting these planted as soon as the cucumbers are ready for planting. It’s hard to see, but I also prepped the two far beds for growing cucumbers and melons. Each bed had a cucumber trellis set up. Under the trellis, I will grow lettuce and other plants that can tolerate some shade. I should be able to plant the melons and cucumbers next weekend. Next weekend will be a busy one as I’ll need to plant the winter squash as well, possibly also the bean plants. I’ll have to check with DoubleD to know if the timing is right to get the beans in the ground.
Our little flock
And I’ll end with a group shot of our chickens. All five of the chickens continue to lay well, even as they’ve gone through moulting. Speaking of chickens, after the demise of our baby chicks, we decided to try again, this time with more dog-proofing in place. We’ve replaced the three Golden Sex Links and I added a Golden Laced Wyandotte for good measure. Hopefully we’ll have better luck this time.
Happy gardening.
Sandy
The 10 Year Challenge 
Your chickens are beautiful! We are in the process of co-mingling our little flock…So far they tolerate one another…but I still won’t let them sleep together. They seems to naturally go to their respective nesting quarters after their evening adventures and wait for me to close the doors. The youngest won’t be laying age for another two months.
Lots of topsy turvys. I am try three of them this year, I hope the work well. The strawberry ones they have are pretty cool too. Want to trade your greenhouse for a cedar poly tunnel? 🙂
Wow, only one tomato per SWC. I do two. Oh, I see you have marigolds or something. That’s cool. I just crowd mine. Yours will be bigger and healthier. Looking good!
Man your chickens have grown substantially since I last saw them.
Congrats on getting new chicks. Interesting you got different ones. Hope they fit in with the rest of the brood.
I thought about doing two, but was concerned that since I was mostly planting indeterminates that they would overwhelm the container. Probably a rooky mistake, though. 🙂
Oh, BTW, that is basil in there as well as a marigold.
The tomato planters look super! Chickens are gorgeous too.
I am planning to try and plant pole beans and bush beans this coming weekend too.
I love the GREEN self-watering containers! You’ve done a great job putting them together too. Can’t wait to see when they are producing tomatoes for you.
I’ve seen the upside down tomato planters but haven’t taken the plunge to try them. I’ll just keep checking on your blog and see how they do for you 🙂
I’m glad that you’ve decided to get some more chicks again. Aren’t they addictive! LOL And I love the pics of your grown up chickens too. Are they all hens? I have one barred rock (same age as the other 2 barred rock that I have) and he/she is growing so much faster. He/she has the red comb and waddles… I’m just not sure if it is a girl or a boy. I guess time will eventually tell. Mine are 3 months old already.
I am jealous of your green containers! I bought supplies to make four more last night, but the only color they had was gray. The first one I put together was navy blue, so now I have to figure out how to give away the blue one so the rest match.
I planted two tomatoes in the first bin, but perhaps I will try one or two bins with only one tomato and see how much of a difference it makes in their growth.
I love your greenhouse. Did you build it?
Hi Libby,
Glad you like the greenhouse. We had someone build it for us. Too big of a project for our skill level. Plus, we have small kids and it’s pretty tough to do projects. Here’s more info about the project. https://10yearchallenge.com/2008/09/02/greenhouse-under-the-polycarbonate/
Sandy
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