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Herbs in pots....

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1Herbs in pots.... Empty Herbs in pots.... Thu Sep 01, 2016 10:05 am

bethk

bethk
Admin

Here are some pics of my garden herbs....all grown in pots out in our courtyard.

Dane starts seeds in little pots with a 'plastic bag greenhouse' until they sprout. Then he'll remove the plastic and when they are established plants he will transplant into a larger pot.

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084536335

This 'raised bed' container was purchased to grow tomatoes....but didn't work out so well because tomatoes just do not do well in this heat and so much sunshine. So now we call it our plant 'nursery' and it's used as a starter for cuttings he wants to propagate.

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084543168

This window box pot of Italian Parsley was planted over 2 years ago and is still producing. You can see how old it is by the amount of moss growing at the edges. It should be emptied and started again but that seems like a lot of work....LOL

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084558065

My chives are in a giant pot all by themselves. I brought these from Ohio as the original clump came from my Grandma's garden.

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084630335

My thyme plant ~ new plant purchased this spring to replace the 3 year old plant because the plastic pot crumbled from the heat and sun.

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084644800

Curly Parsley, Rosemary, French Tarragon....

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084655949

and, finally, Basil......

Herbs in pots.... IMG_20160901_084703073

2Herbs in pots.... Empty Re: Herbs in pots.... Thu Sep 01, 2016 2:03 pm

Crybaby

Crybaby

That was really fun to look at, Beth, but I cannot believe you can't grow tomatoes in your climate. You just have to start them REALLY early -- we used to start by March 15 but this year we got a good size tomato plant in January and it's still alive! Once the night time temp reaches 75, the blossoms usually won't fruit but you can get a lot of tomatoes before then. Even two or three plants would be good. Just use a blossom forcing fertilizer after the plant is established and you'll force out a lot of blossoms before it gets too hot.

I liked your little watering setup, too. That's so handy in this kind of heat!

Have never seen a big thyme plant sold ANYWHERE! I wish I could buy one that big down here...

3Herbs in pots.... Empty Re: Herbs in pots.... Thu Sep 01, 2016 2:47 pm

bethk

bethk
Admin

Dane is my gardner...I just tell him what I want and he takes care of it. We had all spray type irrigation when we bought our villa and I had seen the tube watering on a cooking blog. I showed it to him and he did the research and leg work to figure out how to change our heads to accommodate the tubes. Now I'm casually mentioning to him how it would really look much nicer if the tubes were buried under the rocks instead of laying on top and being seen. He'll get the hint pretty soon that I'd prefer they be buried.

That 'big' thyme plant was the size of a large coffee mug when I bought it. It got transplanted into a larger pot and then just grows & grows. I think Dane gives everything a shot of fertilizer on some schedule but I don't know if he does that for the herbs. They just seem to be good on their own.

As for tomatoes ~ I've tried for 3 years and I get great looking plants and nice looking tomatoes. They just do NOT taste like tomatoes. Even with fresh soil it doesn't help. I'm sure that's a big contributor to the flavor I want. At home we had a huge compost pile and our soil was amazing. I don't want to compost here because it does attract some bugs before it breaks down. Last thing I want is a 'critter haven' in my courtyard! The neighbors would kick us out of the neighborhood.

4Herbs in pots.... Empty Re: Herbs in pots.... Thu Sep 01, 2016 2:56 pm

Crybaby

Crybaby

Wow -- that's something about the tomatoes. Any tomato grown in LA soil is referred to as a Creole tomato -- and man, are they tasty! Brian told me he didn't like tomatoes when we first met and I laughed when he said he'd never had a Creole tomato. He said he'd never had a tomato with any taste at all before. Now he'll bite into one freshly picked in the garden.

We don't plant the amount we used to, as we have bugs here and the plants end up being a lot of work. Now we usually do two or three plants in very large pots -- easier to take care of by far.

Once my thyme plants from seed get bigger, I'm going to try transplanting them and see if I can get one as big as yours. I'm really pea green with envy over that, as I use thyme more than any other herb.

We use soaker hoses in the raised garden and Brian buries them in the dirt -- they work a lot more efficiently that way, too. I'm smiling 'cause you just know Dane is going to bury those for you! We women are pretty darn clever!

5Herbs in pots.... Empty Re: Herbs in pots.... Thu Sep 01, 2016 3:06 pm

bethk

bethk
Admin

Yeah, Michelle...that thyme plant came from a display set up outside a Publix Grocery store so you just know it could have come from anywhere in the country. Who knows where it got started?

The irrigation is set up on a timer and Dane figured out how to program the different zones to water for different times/days. Since most every pot in the back yard has it's own watering tube he has that zone to run every morning before 7 a.m. for just 5 minutes. That's enough to give enough water to get through the day. Some of the larger pots may need supplemental water so he just uses a hose to really give them a soaking a couple times a week.

When he was in Ohio I was charged with being the 'keeper of the plants'. My neighbors saw me out watering the newly transplanted rose trees and stopped to ask where Dane was, he wasn't sick, was he??? They all know he's the one who takes care of the outside stuff.

6Herbs in pots.... Empty Re: Herbs in pots.... Sun Sep 04, 2016 10:30 pm

NormM

NormM

I saw a post from someone on Facebook that you can start seeds in egg shells, then plant them outside and the shells will degrade as the plant continues to grow.

http://r2j1cp@gmail.com

7Herbs in pots.... Empty Re: Herbs in pots.... Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:37 am

bethk

bethk
Admin

That's right, Norm. It's advised to crack the bottom of the shells when planting to allow the roots to expand. The shells breaking down add good nutrients to the soil.

As a matter of fact, I'm saving rinsed out egg shells to amend the soil to plant tomatoes just one more time next spring. It's been suggested that is what my tomatoes have been missing so we'll give it just one more chance before admitting defeat to the crappy soil conditions / growing ignorance since we moved here.

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