Hello everyone!! Near Washington DC USA

StuartGrows

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Hello everyone!

I started gardening in home depot buckets last season. I was obsessed with cherry tomatoes and wanted a steady supply. Somehow I managed to not kill the plants and had a great harvest through the summer. I did the same thing this year but I expanded to many other vegetables too!

I'd love to start with fruit soon! What is the easiest to grow? In the past I tended to love my plants too much with water and uhh...you know.
 

Mark

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Hi Stuart and welcome to SSC!

What is the easiest to grow?
You could probably grow good stone fruit where you are such as: plums, nectarines, peaches, etc. They are quick to establish, quite hardy, and you can start harvesting fruit within a few years.
 

StuartGrows

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Hm....Within a few years? I had heard that trees take a long time to yield. I don't know if I am going to stick around this area for that long. Any other suggestions?

I would looooove my own peach tree though. So good.
 

Mark

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Well tomatoes are technically a fruit :p

Apart from that you won't find a fruit tree to grow without waiting a few years or more before it produces...
 

StuartGrows

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How many cherry tomato plants would you suggest planting to be able to eat cherry tomatoes several days a week? I'd also like to be able to have basil several times a week as well.

I have like 4 basil plants but Iv'e pretty much eaten them bare. And only one Cherry tomato :(
 

Mark

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I currently have 7 cherry tomato plants indeterminate type (vine like as opposed to small bush) and they produce ample tomatoes for our family daily.

Also depends on the variety as some produce more fruit than others :)
 

StuartGrows

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How closely do you have them planted together?
 

Mark

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How closely do you have them planted together?
Most are several metres apart and some are in other beds because often they are self seeding and I select certain seedlings to keep growing on if they come up in a good spot.

I do have one round raised bed whereby I trained 3 x cherry tomatoes about 12 inches apart up a small cylindrical cage and then let them flop over and hand down... this worked really well although some stems did crack so next time I will make the top of the piping wider so it's not so sharp.

The plants are getting towards the end of their life but you can get the idea by the pics below...

cherry tomato in raised bed hanging down.jpg

I also have a few capsicum plants starting off in between the dying tomatoes they will come through now the weather is warming up into spring and essentially replace the tomatoes.
cherry tomato in raised bed hanging down with capsicums.jpg
 

StuartGrows

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Woah!! I have never seen that sort of piping used that way. How much were the big cylinders? Where do you even get those?!
 

Mark

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How much were the big cylinders? Where do you even get those?!
About 90 - 120 bucks (AU) for the galvanised raised beds they're pretty cost effective - which reminds me I still have to make a video on how and what I use to fill them up because I've had a lot of people ask for a demo... Essentially, the bottom half is filled with organic waste fill such as logs, leaves, sticks, cheap dirt scavenged from down the back, and the top half being the growing medium is good soil and compost etc.

These beds are common everywhere in Australia and online such as on eBay here in Oz but you can also get similar raised beds on Amazon in the USA *maybe not round though... and you have to look through quite a large catalog of items.
 

OskarDoLittle

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Stuartgrows - I put in 4 tomatoes of various varieties including cherry tomatoes...it was too much for just two of us! As for the basil, well you can really never have too much basil! I grow a few varieties in addition to sweet basil - once they get going one or two plants would be enough (I was making pesto from my prunings till it came out my ears) - problem is you've got to be able to leave it alone long enough to let it bush up. Once it goes to seed you'll never have to buy basil again. There's also a companion planting theory - 4 bushes basil to each tomato keeps the bugs away from the tomato (I have no idea if this works!!) and allegedly makes them taste better. What could be better than tomato, basil & buffalo mozzarella?!
 

Letsgokate

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Welcome Stuart, this is a great forum, all very friendly.

Hm....Within a few years? I had heard that trees take a long time to yield. I don't know if I am going to stick around this area for that long. Any other suggestions?

Grow them in large pots then you can take them with you if you move. We have just started to grow all our fruit trees in big pots, they will eventually be transferred into really big pots that we will make. All of the fruit trees are doing really well.
 

Sasha Bushell

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Welcome!

Mmmm fruit trees ... im in the same boat, my partner is lucky enough to have access to the same giant pots that our city council uses for huge trees that they tranplant.
Cant wait to get them and have my mobile orchard :D

Nectarines, mangoes, avos, oranges; count me in!
 

Letsgokate

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You are lucky Sasha to have access to be pots like that, what size are they? I was getting big black plastic pots from Bunnings but they are no longer carrying them so I'll have to drop down a size. I started a post on growing fruit trees in potshttp://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/growing-fruit-trees-in-pots.1012/ you might find interesting and would be great for you to post how you go growing your fruit trees in pots
 

StuartGrows

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Essentially, the bottom half is filled with organic waste fill such as logs, leaves, sticks, cheap dirt scavenged from down the back, and the top half being the growing medium is good soil and compost etc.
Sounds sorta like a Hugelkulture!

Stuartgrows - I put in 4 tomatoes of various varieties including cherry tomatoes...it was too much for just two of us! As for the basil, well you can really never have too much basil! I grow a few varieties in addition to sweet basil - once they get going one or two plants would be enough (I was making pesto from my prunings till it came out my ears) - problem is you've got to be able to leave it alone long enough to let it bush up. Once it goes to seed you'll never have to buy basil again. There's also a companion planting theory - 4 bushes basil to each tomato keeps the bugs away from the tomato (I have no idea if this works!!) and allegedly makes them taste better. What could be better than tomato, basil & buffalo mozzarella?!
So did I make a mistake by cutting the Basil's flowers off? I set them to the side, though.
 

OskarDoLittle

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Sounds sorta like a Hugelkulture!

So did I make a mistake by cutting the Basil's flowers off? I set them to the side, though.
Well yes and no...I like to let at least one basil set seed so it keeps your basil going...but allowing them to flower does tend to make them woodier plants and the leaves seem to harden up...so pruning off the flowers can mean you get better eating basil for longer. Don't worry though, they're quite hardy and if you've still got some growing, they'll flower again! You could also try progressive planting so there's younger plants coming on as the older ones get leggy. (I can't even think what season you're in there...?fall)
 

ClissAT

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For the basil, pee on them! works a treat!

So for humungus pots try sourcing IBC 1000lt containers in the aluminium frame.
Cut the top out or cut the whole thing in half or cut a third off the top depending on what size the tree will be.
Another big pot is those blue plastic 44gal drums. Again cut in half or cut the top third off but it will be hard to get the tree out of the ones with only a third removed as the sides are a bit bulbous & the shape will trap the tree when repotting time comes. On the other hand cut the drum down the side & place the repotted tree into a new drum.

Source both of those on gumtree. IBC's are around $80-$100 each while blue drums are around $20-$30each. You'll need a jigsaw or circular saw with metal cutting blade.
 

StuartGrows

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Don't worry though, they're quite hardy and if you've still got some growing, they'll flower again! You could also try progressive planting so there's younger plants coming on as the older ones get leggy. (I can't even think what season you're in there...?fall)
Ok, this puts me at ease :) My breakfasts shall remain tasty! Currently we are at the end of Summer and headed into fall. Still pretty hot out though!

For the basil, pee on them! works a treat
Wow, I thought this would kill them :eek: Does Basil like an increased pH?

I'd also just like to point out that despite us disagreeing on wind farms being ugly or not, that we can get along just fine in other threads. I like this forum a lot.
 
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