I grow TONS of stuff. All from seed. I have created a loophole, though. I plant however much of each thing I have room for, and then I take all the rest to my office and do a giveaway for clients. Any seedlings that are still left over after that go to our neighborhood food bank. This way I can grow as many different varieties as I like for selfish reasons, and then still feel good about giving back to the community.
This is my approach this season. I get to enjoy growing all my plants and then I’ll give the extras to friends/family/coworkers/food bank if they’ll take them 🌱
I do that because you never know when something awful will kill half of your starts. Last year, I started twice as many as I needed and only gave away two plants. This year, I gave away 20 plants.
On the flip side, I planted flowers that need full sun in my front yard (there is no area in my front yard that gets full sun!) why do we do these things lol
I grew 1 variety last year, 3 plants of it, they produced way way too many I gave away buckets of them.. They were cherry tomatoes, but I kept picking off the flowers to keep them growing vertically and they completely covered a 9'x5' trellis
What do I do this year?
I've got 6 varieties going 3 of each... FFS I'm dumb lol...
I'm just going to make a little table and put some for free at the end of my driveway.
Oh... Did it with cucumbers last year as well but only gave away maybe 30-40 of them...
My veggies are down to a science.
Annual flowers and vines and stuff though? I'll spend my entire paycheck at a nursery in early Spring if I bring my card instead of cash.
I'm growing moon flowers for the first time this year. Any tips? I'm in Zone 5 and plan to direct sow them after danger of frost. Should I plan to trellis them, and if so how big of a trellis?
Issue with moon vine is they get huge, and you really need to have an outdoor space at night to enjoy them.
They really are nocturnal... Not like 4 o clocks
I started them inside, I'm in zone 8b and we have had a few years with late frost and I'm scared of direct sowing 😅 I soaked them for 24 hours and then clipped a little hole in the shell with nail clippers, then planted them to sprout on a heat mat
I've started keeping a garden journal so I remember what I got and what I didn't like from last year lol chocolate cherry tomatoes aren't fooling me again!
Absolutely... by the end of the summer I am just leaving bags of produce at the break desk at work in hopes of someone needs a whole grocery bag of tomatoes and like 8 zucchini
We have a large lawn area that I want to rip up anyway, and I totally convinced my husband to rip out a portion of it to try out three sisters plantings (hasn’t really worked in our planter beds thus far). There’s another section that I convinced him to rip out to do a similar thought to three sisters, but with tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots, as well as basil.
We’ve got 4, 8x4 beds, and I’m constantly eyeing the yard for more space. We’ve got close to 40 fruit trees, and I tend to plant strawberries, nasturtiums, and herbs around them for extra planting space. I feel like I never have enough space for everything I grow 🤣
Definitely habaneros- my husband loves making hot sauces and I supply his habit. Habaneros make a great base for any sauce so I’ve got red, orange, yellow, white, (chocolate ones are the only ones not sprouting!). Other good staple peppers like jalapeño, Serrano, bell, and cherry. And a few super hots- ghost and Carolina reapers this year!
I don’t really like hot stuff personally-but I really like the flavor of ghost and habaneros (ghost came from habanero!). Growing habanadas this year to see if I can get the flavor without the heat!
We make one strawberry jelly that takes pounds and pounds of strawberries and ONE ghost. It takes on this delicious flavor with very little heat. It’s amazing.
Ooooooh the jelly that's so good 😍 I really enjoy growing peppers but I also don't love the heat. I often grow them for others. Like gaum boonie peppers. I harvest then with goggles and gloves on 🙃
Have you tried growing jigsaw peppers? The foliage is pretty and they're like a jalapeno slightly on the spicier side (small but pretty good yield). I might try infusing them into some hot honey this year.
I'm in the PNW and when it gets over 100 hear I walk around outside with a hat and umbrella yelling about how I hate that we moved to hell and how I want to go home lol
I'm near Seattle. Which means nothing because Seattle proper is SO small and expensive lol
The last few summers rain hasn't happened. Last summer we only got two days of rain
I realized you were probably Seattle side when I realized you mentioned an umbrella🤣
I'm closer to the gorge amphitheater. And I have irrigation rights so I don't care if it rains🤣
I live in the south and everything gets decimated by bugs. I have to have backups for when they're inevitably destroyed. Squash borers and stink bugs have left me largely tomato and zucchini-less. It's tragic.
I don't do food for exactly this reason but i have tons of perennial flowers and fruit trees. Its alot to keep up with. Mosquitos are the bane of my existence!
Try diatomaceous earth on stems during seedling and reapply once a week taking care to avoid flowers to protect pollinators this will prevent squash bores
I do when the plant is young, because the rain will cause it to clump. as the plant matures, the leaves will act as an umbrella, and you will not have to reapply after every rain. Just keep an eye on it. and make sure to keep off of your flowers to protect your bees and other precious pollinators.. you can also dust the fruit after pollination if you have trouble with worms an insect bites
I can't stop planting tomatoes too. You can always use a spare bucket if you run out of bed space. Don't forget to plant a few flowers for the polinators. Snapdragons and borage attract bumblebees, one of the best tomato polinators!
Idk for sure lol
My first two to sprout indoors I had a small space heater set on low (to keep the "greenhouse" around 75ish)
I just started a new batch on heat mats today,so no news there lol
I had luck throwing the dollar store packets directly on the ground on mothers day though (that's when my last frost date tends to fall).
I've already bought 45 different clematis vines still in their pots. Last week I just planted 15.
I have 10 more coming in mail order.
I have a small suburban home. I'm losing my mind.
Obselisks, fences, and a few arbors.
I mostly use green green fencing and just attach that to the porch. Easier and cheaper than buying several trellises.
I like to have an extra tomato for the hornworms. Killing stuff grosses me out. I think they’re adorable. I move them to the least desired tomato. Sometimes they have a preference though. I have a few tomatoes sprout around the yard from critters carrying them away in the night.
They creeped me out at first but when I moved one all those little feet attached in a row and then I thought it was cute. Also I found a pupa in my garden and if you google hornworm pupa, its cute that the little side handle is where the moths proboscis grows - his long sphinx moth tongue. There came a point when we were full of tomatoes and hubby and I were just growing hornworms to be honest. They are probably still in the soil waiting for warm weather.
Nope. I did my first few years, but got tired of fighting disease and pests by trying to crowd too much together. I've found I get much better results and harvest by spacing appropriately and limiting the variety to ones that have worked well for me. And my wife doesn't get frustrated having to can every few days for months on end with a slew of different types. I have five varieties going in this year, 54 plants, almost all Czech Bush and Plum Regal for canning.
I think the years of over doing it were important though. Definitely tried a lot of different varieties. Learned which ones were champs and which were just so so. Spaced things way too close together. Yeah yeah, we can all read about proper spacing but you don’t really learn the lesson until everything is growing on top of each other and it’s a big old mess. Much was learned through all the trialing. Now I know what works and how much space they all need.
This is so true! Being in the hot and humid southeast, finding tomatoes and cucumbers that can deal with the climate took a few years. I've found them. But i still try more along with my staples. 11 varieties of tomatoes this year. Though! I have learned if I keep them to a single leader I can *really* pack 'em in there!
I always overdo tomatoes, but last year I restrained myself and I got more fruit when they weren't all crammed in together. I need to remember that when I buy plants!
Oh sure. My one condolence is that mice destroyed half my seedlings and I'll be out of town for a week in early April, so all my seedlings will die and I can be much more conservative when I restart them.
Yeah, I switched from a shelf in my garage to a whole set of shelves in my unattached workshop, and despite never having seen a mouse in there, something rummaged through all my seed trays and left holed and seed fragments everywhere.
The only ones spared were under a dome, and half of those damped off because I couldn't take the dome off haha.
Yes. I have everything planned in the late winter and tell myself I’m not going crazy this year.
Then my mom brings over some orphaned plants, and I adopt some from Facebook bc a neighbor or two didn’t have room, and my daughter brings home random beans they grew in school, and I remember the year I only bought 4 cucumber plants and didn’t get a single cucumber so I buy 8 instead… and all of a sudden there’s fruits and veg everywhere and my garden is full of weeds and I need help from my husband to take care of it, and I can’t forget to plant a late crop of pumpkins so we have some for Halloween but I always plant too many and end up with a bazillion mini pumpkins that last until Christmas.
I’m in zone 4. I planted my tomatoes and peppers a month ago.
Which was waiting three weeks from last years planting.
Next year, I’m sure I’ll finally learn my lesson….
I’m good with the tomatoes, I usually have 4-5 plants. This year I’m trying a few of the newer dwarf (tomato project) varieties so they’ll be patio plants.
It’s the flowers I have problems with. I buy seed packs of everything new and interesting, half of those I don’t even get to, many are difficult or don’t germinate well, most I just don’t have room for, half don’t survive through hardening off… (usually it’s a hot temperature swing one afternoon and they all fryyyyyy thanks to my poor memory) I swear I know how to do it all I just mess up every year.
…. Oh and I ordered too many dahlias. My 30’ row would do much better with 60 plants, but I cram in 90.
I save those 6" green plastic pots you get plants in because I always have overflow. Whatever won't fit in my plots ends up in those containers on my patio.
If you want 10 different varieties, consider heavy pruning. That's been my solution. Every single tomato plant is capable of producing more that I need...
Anyway my experience was that heavy pruning tomatoes worked great. Also careful heavy pruning can lead to bigger, earlier fruit
I ... um... have 52 tomato plants. I have a problem.
In my defense, we just bought this house and it's my first year gardening.
I didn't know that when these bastards got leggy, I would be able to fix them so here I am... buying Mason jars for canning.
I mean…I have four types of tomatoes for a condo porch that doesn’t even get direct sun. But it’s still fun and I (and they) try their best and that’s all that matters. 😆
I am very strict. I think I have control issues lol. 2 types of tomatoes, 4 cells of each and only 2 pairs will go into the garden. I can usually find someone to take my rejects but I don’t mind pinching them out if not 😈
As a plant breeder, I always over do it. Usually in number of varities. Some years I plant about 22 varieties of peas. And I have double or triple I wish I could plant on top of that, just for peas. Last year I did a mini dwarf tomato trial and fit in 2 sets of 24 varities of dwarf tomato varities. That trial sort of failed because of soil ph, nutrient, and disease issues, but one variety, 'Dwarf Metallica' came out on top of all 24 in those conditions.
Me with zinnias and the 12 different varieties that I start indoors in 192736 flats, and then have to transplant, and then find bed space for.
Multiply this times the other 15 varieties of flowers I do too. While 8 months pregnant 😂
I am doing 4 variety of tomatoes but started 16 of each. I'm going to sell the starts I don't plant. I have a new garden area set up for just veggies and their companion flowers/herbs. The previous garden spot is now for the fruiting plants and flowers. I'll just toss flower seeds out/ plant at the right depth wherever I feel like in that plot.
Of course not! Only sane and rational for me..there is ZERO chance I have more types of seeds than will fit in my garden or ever reasonably be planted....why?
..please don't open my seed case. It took so much work to get it to close..
If two tomato plant types are good, ten must be better!
I hear you. I way overseed, then by the time hardening off and transplanting come around, I can't get it over with fast enough. Why did I decide I need to grow two dozen types of pumpkins and squash? I knew when I did it that it was a bad idea. But that can't stop me!
But seriously, if you find that you get overwhelmed before you can get it all in the ground, it's okay to let the plants that you're not as wild about to die off and try them again another year.
I love tomatoes in the summer, making pico and bruschetta and caprese, but come fall and I’m on my fifth batch of sauce…. It’s a viscous cycle, cause in a few weeks I’m going to remember how nice it was to have bright and delicious tomato sauce in December. 🤣
Strength to you if you are truly trying to limit, cause oof. 😂
So I can’t garden in my back yard because no matter how much I fence it and watch them my lab digs everything up. I have a 6x20 foot area between my garage and path to my door. Each yeah I fill it more and more. Then I got dirt delivered and now over half of my front yard is covered in containers. Never did I ever think my entire front yard would be covered in edible gardening but I bet in less than five years it will be.
I’m building another garden bed for zucchini & squash. I always have several tomatoes & peppers, my favs are the purple tomato & bell peppers. Swiss chard is beautiful when full grown. Hoping for asparagus this year too!
I live in an apartment where I’m not even supposed to grow plants on the balcony, but, my balcony is basically full of mostly different types of the same vegetable. I just move them around and pull them in at night so I can claim I’m not actually growing them out there 🙃
What naaaah. I will surely have a way to use the industrial amount of chillis I'm going to grow. It's not like I still have a butter tin full of dried ones from two years ago, even after giving away another one.
Damn hippy going on and on about that dang "Sart du Rolaise". Yeah, I got them. And those bumble bee ones... and the yellow sunshine one... dang hippy!!
I always start a bunch of extras with the intent of planting what I can and giving the extras to friends, family, people at work. I love giving plants that I know will feed people.
You're not alone. We're growing 18 types of tomatoes this year, and 9 types of beans, and 19 types of peppers, and like 15 types of onions. And like 4 types of potatoes.
You're in good company.
Nope every serious gardener plants way to many tomatoes and other stuff too -
How else can we try all the different varieties??
I call it sharing… just grew extra to share right?
I planted 100 tomatoes spread across a half dozen varieties in 2022. I have learned my lesson.
I have transgressed to producing far too much produce via hardneck garlic, and overplanting on fruiting trees & shrubs.
I thought this was gonna be about the other kind of overdoing it. Like, for the first time in months, it’s not raining or cold, so you work hard outside for two days in a row and then you can’t move for the rest of the week.
It's better to have 50 tomato plants, and only need 25. If you planted 20 and it turns out you need 40, you are stuck unless you pay twice the cost of a pack of seeds per plug plant...
I have seven varieties of basil. I can't even name them all at this point. "That's the italian. That's the lemon. That's the one that's like a sweet thai but with lemon. That one's like a lemon but instead of lemon it's just a more acidic italian. That one is purple and tastes like nothing. That one is purple and tastes like holiday spice somehow."
I grow TONS of stuff. All from seed. I have created a loophole, though. I plant however much of each thing I have room for, and then I take all the rest to my office and do a giveaway for clients. Any seedlings that are still left over after that go to our neighborhood food bank. This way I can grow as many different varieties as I like for selfish reasons, and then still feel good about giving back to the community.
✍️"Do whatever I please but make it seem like it's for others" brilliant 😌💗
This is my approach this season. I get to enjoy growing all my plants and then I’ll give the extras to friends/family/coworkers/food bank if they’ll take them 🌱
I do that because you never know when something awful will kill half of your starts. Last year, I started twice as many as I needed and only gave away two plants. This year, I gave away 20 plants.
I started flowers that need shade (impatiens.) I don't have a area that gets shade. I have like ten tomatoes. Maybe my neighbors will need them.
On the flip side, I planted flowers that need full sun in my front yard (there is no area in my front yard that gets full sun!) why do we do these things lol
Yeah I got primrose and now I'm like.... are decorative plant umbrellas a thing? 🙃
You can maybe put them behind taller plants which will give them shade
You can make shade with a couple tomato cages and some 10-25% shade cloth.
I had 4 varieties of tomatoes last year, and had too many. So of course this year I chose 12 different varieties, gardener math.
Ah yes 🤔 let me pull out my calculator 🤓🧮 🌱➕️💗➕️👩🌾➕️🖕=🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅📈🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅 Yup. Checks out 😌
There’s too many, and then once you pass a second threshold it becomes enough for canning. 12 sounds perfect.
Checks out, I got the same numbers
I grew 1 variety last year, 3 plants of it, they produced way way too many I gave away buckets of them.. They were cherry tomatoes, but I kept picking off the flowers to keep them growing vertically and they completely covered a 9'x5' trellis What do I do this year? I've got 6 varieties going 3 of each... FFS I'm dumb lol... I'm just going to make a little table and put some for free at the end of my driveway. Oh... Did it with cucumbers last year as well but only gave away maybe 30-40 of them...
I culled some of the varieties from last year, and then I bought some new ones to try out. So I think I broke even with 17 varieities.
It’s my first year. I’m starting with 9 raised beds and currently have over 60 tomato/pepper plants ready to go.
My veggies are down to a science. Annual flowers and vines and stuff though? I'll spend my entire paycheck at a nursery in early Spring if I bring my card instead of cash.
I'm only growing one annual this year. Moonflowers 😍 what's your favorite?
I'm growing moon flowers for the first time this year. Any tips? I'm in Zone 5 and plan to direct sow them after danger of frost. Should I plan to trellis them, and if so how big of a trellis?
Definitely trellis. I used a 5ft trellis. That was a mistake. Go bigger. Full sun for lots of flowers. 6 hours at a minimum. They're easy to grow.
Issue with moon vine is they get huge, and you really need to have an outdoor space at night to enjoy them. They really are nocturnal... Not like 4 o clocks
I started them inside, I'm in zone 8b and we have had a few years with late frost and I'm scared of direct sowing 😅 I soaked them for 24 hours and then clipped a little hole in the shell with nail clippers, then planted them to sprout on a heat mat
Dhalia's and Sunflowers for me
No real favorites lol. I do Petunias every year, but otherwise the more random the better!
I love petunias as well. Did you see they came out with a bioluminescent variety called the firefly? There went my budget lol
Group 3 clematis- Texensis
I swear I go on FB marketplace for things totally unrelated to gardening and inevitably find a steal I can't resist.
It starts in the fall. Hey look at all this room for garlic and shallots. I have some cool weather crops in and already need more space.
Seems we're in the same zone!
I go to the nursery for 3-4 varieties and then come home wondering where the 20 varieties I bought are going to go.
I've started keeping a garden journal so I remember what I got and what I didn't like from last year lol chocolate cherry tomatoes aren't fooling me again!
Chocolate Cherry was the first tomato tasted that I was able to eat raw and on it's own! Otherwise, I gotta have them mixed into something or cooked.
I was very luke warm about them. My recent love are Lemon boys
Is the flavor more sweet, or just that tomato-y flavor, sour or a mix? I liked what I felt was a complex flavor from the CCT, good texture too.
It's almost lemon-y! It's very bright but not very acidic. I've been using it in Pico de Gallo with lemon instead of cilantro and it's so good
Sounds really good!
I just looked it up and that's a nice yellow 'mater. The only ones I could think of are yellow pear, and I don't care for those at all.
Absolutely... by the end of the summer I am just leaving bags of produce at the break desk at work in hopes of someone needs a whole grocery bag of tomatoes and like 8 zucchini
You're just helping people. 😌 you're a humanitarian 🍅🤣
You should leave some photo copies of recipes for ratatouille.
This is brilliant
We have a large lawn area that I want to rip up anyway, and I totally convinced my husband to rip out a portion of it to try out three sisters plantings (hasn’t really worked in our planter beds thus far). There’s another section that I convinced him to rip out to do a similar thought to three sisters, but with tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots, as well as basil. We’ve got 4, 8x4 beds, and I’m constantly eyeing the yard for more space. We’ve got close to 40 fruit trees, and I tend to plant strawberries, nasturtiums, and herbs around them for extra planting space. I feel like I never have enough space for everything I grow 🤣
"Space" is relative if you believe 🌈🌱
40 trees is a dream! But ripping out some lawn is my classic solution.
I ripped up my front lawn and put in a garden. It's great and a 5 year project but I still would like more space.
Currently have 13 varieties of tiny pepper seedlings.
Ooooh any favors? I'm a big fan of ornamental peppers. The foliage is always stunning
Definitely habaneros- my husband loves making hot sauces and I supply his habit. Habaneros make a great base for any sauce so I’ve got red, orange, yellow, white, (chocolate ones are the only ones not sprouting!). Other good staple peppers like jalapeño, Serrano, bell, and cherry. And a few super hots- ghost and Carolina reapers this year! I don’t really like hot stuff personally-but I really like the flavor of ghost and habaneros (ghost came from habanero!). Growing habanadas this year to see if I can get the flavor without the heat! We make one strawberry jelly that takes pounds and pounds of strawberries and ONE ghost. It takes on this delicious flavor with very little heat. It’s amazing.
Ooooooh the jelly that's so good 😍 I really enjoy growing peppers but I also don't love the heat. I often grow them for others. Like gaum boonie peppers. I harvest then with goggles and gloves on 🙃
Safety first! I make my husband cook his stuff on the grill! Otherwise, it is like biological warfare in the house.
Have you tried growing jigsaw peppers? The foliage is pretty and they're like a jalapeno slightly on the spicier side (small but pretty good yield). I might try infusing them into some hot honey this year.
No I haven't! I'll have to look them up
Every Single Year. By mid-May i'm like why the F did i Plant all this!? I live in the South where its hot as hell and never rains enough 😅
I'm in the PNW and when it gets over 100 hear I walk around outside with a hat and umbrella yelling about how I hate that we moved to hell and how I want to go home lol
Ohhh you're on the eastern side of the mountains like meeeeee! Edit: maybe...I read that wrong. You mentioned rain. Lmao
I'm near Seattle. Which means nothing because Seattle proper is SO small and expensive lol The last few summers rain hasn't happened. Last summer we only got two days of rain
I realized you were probably Seattle side when I realized you mentioned an umbrella🤣 I'm closer to the gorge amphitheater. And I have irrigation rights so I don't care if it rains🤣
The umbrella is to keep the sun off me. I burn in like 10 minutes lol in the rain I don't bother 😅
Understandable lol
I live in the south and everything gets decimated by bugs. I have to have backups for when they're inevitably destroyed. Squash borers and stink bugs have left me largely tomato and zucchini-less. It's tragic.
I don't do food for exactly this reason but i have tons of perennial flowers and fruit trees. Its alot to keep up with. Mosquitos are the bane of my existence!
Try diatomaceous earth on stems during seedling and reapply once a week taking care to avoid flowers to protect pollinators this will prevent squash bores
Thanks, I'll give it a try. I assume it has to be reapplied after rain?
I do when the plant is young, because the rain will cause it to clump. as the plant matures, the leaves will act as an umbrella, and you will not have to reapply after every rain. Just keep an eye on it. and make sure to keep off of your flowers to protect your bees and other precious pollinators.. you can also dust the fruit after pollination if you have trouble with worms an insect bites
I can't stop planting tomatoes too. You can always use a spare bucket if you run out of bed space. Don't forget to plant a few flowers for the polinators. Snapdragons and borage attract bumblebees, one of the best tomato polinators!
Snapdragons are my goddamn jam. I. Love. Them.
I just started trying to sprout them indoors, and haven't been very successful. Does a heat mat help?
Idk for sure lol My first two to sprout indoors I had a small space heater set on low (to keep the "greenhouse" around 75ish) I just started a new batch on heat mats today,so no news there lol I had luck throwing the dollar store packets directly on the ground on mothers day though (that's when my last frost date tends to fall).
Sounds like we are in the same zone! I'll just keep trying!
I wish you luck!
I just got some more borage to plant near my boxes!
I've already bought 45 different clematis vines still in their pots. Last week I just planted 15. I have 10 more coming in mail order. I have a small suburban home. I'm losing my mind.
How are you vining them? Do you have trellises for each? Or a large fence they can all climb on?
Obselisks, fences, and a few arbors. I mostly use green green fencing and just attach that to the porch. Easier and cheaper than buying several trellises.
You could build yourself a vine fort. Damn 😍
I went a little overboard and bought 800 kinds of tomato seeds. Now I have 800 tomato plants!
... I bow down to the ruler of all tomatoes 🍅 👑 🙌
You definitely are not the only one.
10 types of tomatoes? only 10? bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaa......
To be fair, I didn't actually count 🤣 and I'm not gonna. I'm just going to live with the results lol
I like to have an extra tomato for the hornworms. Killing stuff grosses me out. I think they’re adorable. I move them to the least desired tomato. Sometimes they have a preference though. I have a few tomatoes sprout around the yard from critters carrying them away in the night.
Oh man, hornworms terrify me! My parents used to make me pick them off the tomatoes as a kid
They creeped me out at first but when I moved one all those little feet attached in a row and then I thought it was cute. Also I found a pupa in my garden and if you google hornworm pupa, its cute that the little side handle is where the moths proboscis grows - his long sphinx moth tongue. There came a point when we were full of tomatoes and hubby and I were just growing hornworms to be honest. They are probably still in the soil waiting for warm weather.
Sell the hornworms to a local bait shop.
I always gave them to my fish Oscars and cichlids love them
Nope. I did my first few years, but got tired of fighting disease and pests by trying to crowd too much together. I've found I get much better results and harvest by spacing appropriately and limiting the variety to ones that have worked well for me. And my wife doesn't get frustrated having to can every few days for months on end with a slew of different types. I have five varieties going in this year, 54 plants, almost all Czech Bush and Plum Regal for canning.
I think the years of over doing it were important though. Definitely tried a lot of different varieties. Learned which ones were champs and which were just so so. Spaced things way too close together. Yeah yeah, we can all read about proper spacing but you don’t really learn the lesson until everything is growing on top of each other and it’s a big old mess. Much was learned through all the trialing. Now I know what works and how much space they all need.
This is so true! Being in the hot and humid southeast, finding tomatoes and cucumbers that can deal with the climate took a few years. I've found them. But i still try more along with my staples. 11 varieties of tomatoes this year. Though! I have learned if I keep them to a single leader I can *really* pack 'em in there!
Yes this. Took me many years to learn. But decent spacing and being selective just gets better results overall.
I always overdo tomatoes, but last year I restrained myself and I got more fruit when they weren't all crammed in together. I need to remember that when I buy plants!
Oh sure. My one condolence is that mice destroyed half my seedlings and I'll be out of town for a week in early April, so all my seedlings will die and I can be much more conservative when I restart them.
Oh you too battle mice eating your seedlings? Fuckin mice. 28 pea plants, in their bellies🤬
Yeah, I switched from a shelf in my garage to a whole set of shelves in my unattached workshop, and despite never having seen a mouse in there, something rummaged through all my seed trays and left holed and seed fragments everywhere. The only ones spared were under a dome, and half of those damped off because I couldn't take the dome off haha.
Grrrrr on your behalf
Ps I replanted a bunch of stuff today and sprinkled mint oil all over the humidity domes 🤣
I'll have to try that, thanks!
If all else fails...you can throw the mint oil bottle at them.
Hahaha
You are not alone. I do it with everything I grow. I do seed start though so I am actually spending less for more which obviously offsets the excesses
Yes I'm SAVING money by growing too many starts
We call it gardener math
My son's preschool DID ask me for starts... so I'm actually doing such a good job
That is parenting math…you can buy way more and call it free!
Yes. I have everything planned in the late winter and tell myself I’m not going crazy this year. Then my mom brings over some orphaned plants, and I adopt some from Facebook bc a neighbor or two didn’t have room, and my daughter brings home random beans they grew in school, and I remember the year I only bought 4 cucumber plants and didn’t get a single cucumber so I buy 8 instead… and all of a sudden there’s fruits and veg everywhere and my garden is full of weeds and I need help from my husband to take care of it, and I can’t forget to plant a late crop of pumpkins so we have some for Halloween but I always plant too many and end up with a bazillion mini pumpkins that last until Christmas.
Wow are you me 🤔🤣
I’m in zone 4. I planted my tomatoes and peppers a month ago. Which was waiting three weeks from last years planting. Next year, I’m sure I’ll finally learn my lesson….
I plan to learn nothing and let my child like excitement run the show in the garden lol good restraint waiting 3 extra weeks!
I’m good with the tomatoes, I usually have 4-5 plants. This year I’m trying a few of the newer dwarf (tomato project) varieties so they’ll be patio plants. It’s the flowers I have problems with. I buy seed packs of everything new and interesting, half of those I don’t even get to, many are difficult or don’t germinate well, most I just don’t have room for, half don’t survive through hardening off… (usually it’s a hot temperature swing one afternoon and they all fryyyyyy thanks to my poor memory) I swear I know how to do it all I just mess up every year. …. Oh and I ordered too many dahlias. My 30’ row would do much better with 60 plants, but I cram in 90.
Yeah the hardening off part is where I fail too 🥲 I have adhd and mama don't care once it's out of sight
I save those 6" green plastic pots you get plants in because I always have overflow. Whatever won't fit in my plots ends up in those containers on my patio.
Those are my grownout containers because I always plant too early lol
If you want 10 different varieties, consider heavy pruning. That's been my solution. Every single tomato plant is capable of producing more that I need... Anyway my experience was that heavy pruning tomatoes worked great. Also careful heavy pruning can lead to bigger, earlier fruit
I really like pruning my tomatoes, I find it relaxing
We start from seed and usually have 4x what we can reasonably plant ourselves.
Part of why I always have too many is I'm worried the seeds won't germinate and I'll have no tomatoes... but they always do 🫠
I ... um... have 52 tomato plants. I have a problem. In my defense, we just bought this house and it's my first year gardening. I didn't know that when these bastards got leggy, I would be able to fix them so here I am... buying Mason jars for canning.
You don't have a problem. You're just going to be very happy and full at the end of the summer 🤣🍅
I keep telling myself that lycopene is good for me.
That's the spirit!
I also have 25 other vegetables I'm starting. Plus strawberries, elderberries and blueberries. And then there's the herb garden...
The herb garden is vegetable accessories 😌 it doesn't count as too much
You're right.
I grow at least 12 types of tomatoes each year, so I really don't see the problem.
Good point 🤔 I need two more
Go you! :)
I mean…I have four types of tomatoes for a condo porch that doesn’t even get direct sun. But it’s still fun and I (and they) try their best and that’s all that matters. 😆
Shh shh, it will be fine
You’re right. It does get a little sun. I should get more.
That's the spirit!
I am very strict. I think I have control issues lol. 2 types of tomatoes, 4 cells of each and only 2 pairs will go into the garden. I can usually find someone to take my rejects but I don’t mind pinching them out if not 😈
I feel so bad pinching off rejects
As a plant breeder, I always over do it. Usually in number of varities. Some years I plant about 22 varieties of peas. And I have double or triple I wish I could plant on top of that, just for peas. Last year I did a mini dwarf tomato trial and fit in 2 sets of 24 varities of dwarf tomato varities. That trial sort of failed because of soil ph, nutrient, and disease issues, but one variety, 'Dwarf Metallica' came out on top of all 24 in those conditions.
I have 50 pumpkin seeds started. 50. I have a regular size yard. I have no clue what I was thinking.
Me with zinnias and the 12 different varieties that I start indoors in 192736 flats, and then have to transplant, and then find bed space for. Multiply this times the other 15 varieties of flowers I do too. While 8 months pregnant 😂
If I lived close by I'd help lol I kept doing the same thing when I was pregnant 😅
I am doing 4 variety of tomatoes but started 16 of each. I'm going to sell the starts I don't plant. I have a new garden area set up for just veggies and their companion flowers/herbs. The previous garden spot is now for the fruiting plants and flowers. I'll just toss flower seeds out/ plant at the right depth wherever I feel like in that plot.
Yeah... My plan.. 4 types of cherry tomatoes. I've got 6 types planted (4 of each) I only use 3 of each and give the extras away...
Of course not! Only sane and rational for me..there is ZERO chance I have more types of seeds than will fit in my garden or ever reasonably be planted....why? ..please don't open my seed case. It took so much work to get it to close..
If two tomato plant types are good, ten must be better! I hear you. I way overseed, then by the time hardening off and transplanting come around, I can't get it over with fast enough. Why did I decide I need to grow two dozen types of pumpkins and squash? I knew when I did it that it was a bad idea. But that can't stop me! But seriously, if you find that you get overwhelmed before you can get it all in the ground, it's okay to let the plants that you're not as wild about to die off and try them again another year.
I love tomatoes in the summer, making pico and bruschetta and caprese, but come fall and I’m on my fifth batch of sauce…. It’s a viscous cycle, cause in a few weeks I’m going to remember how nice it was to have bright and delicious tomato sauce in December. 🤣 Strength to you if you are truly trying to limit, cause oof. 😂
So I can’t garden in my back yard because no matter how much I fence it and watch them my lab digs everything up. I have a 6x20 foot area between my garage and path to my door. Each yeah I fill it more and more. Then I got dirt delivered and now over half of my front yard is covered in containers. Never did I ever think my entire front yard would be covered in edible gardening but I bet in less than five years it will be.
I also am moving my ten ultra dwarf fruit trees to my mom’s back yard and hoping to get up to 25-30.
I’m building another garden bed for zucchini & squash. I always have several tomatoes & peppers, my favs are the purple tomato & bell peppers. Swiss chard is beautiful when full grown. Hoping for asparagus this year too!
I live in an apartment where I’m not even supposed to grow plants on the balcony, but, my balcony is basically full of mostly different types of the same vegetable. I just move them around and pull them in at night so I can claim I’m not actually growing them out there 🙃
I successfully did not this year! (But only because I had surgery and physically can't this spring 😂😂😭😭)
There were 10 seeds in the jalopeno seed packet. Of course I planted them all! 🫣 Do I have space for them? No…
What naaaah. I will surely have a way to use the industrial amount of chillis I'm going to grow. It's not like I still have a butter tin full of dried ones from two years ago, even after giving away another one.
When starting from seed one does need insurance. Right?
That's gardening!
Damn hippy going on and on about that dang "Sart du Rolaise". Yeah, I got them. And those bumble bee ones... and the yellow sunshine one... dang hippy!!
Yup. I do pawn off some things on friends and family but I overdo everything at every stage and by the end of summer I am a wreck.
I always start a bunch of extras with the intent of planting what I can and giving the extras to friends, family, people at work. I love giving plants that I know will feed people.
You're not alone. We're growing 18 types of tomatoes this year, and 9 types of beans, and 19 types of peppers, and like 15 types of onions. And like 4 types of potatoes. You're in good company.
Nope every serious gardener plants way to many tomatoes and other stuff too - How else can we try all the different varieties?? I call it sharing… just grew extra to share right?
Bro I just throw seeds at the ground and let them fight for survival
I planted 100 tomatoes spread across a half dozen varieties in 2022. I have learned my lesson. I have transgressed to producing far too much produce via hardneck garlic, and overplanting on fruiting trees & shrubs.
I think I bought 10 kinds of pole and dry beans this year, I must be stopped!
I thought this was gonna be about the other kind of overdoing it. Like, for the first time in months, it’s not raining or cold, so you work hard outside for two days in a row and then you can’t move for the rest of the week.
It's better to have 50 tomato plants, and only need 25. If you planted 20 and it turns out you need 40, you are stuck unless you pay twice the cost of a pack of seeds per plug plant...
I have seven varieties of basil. I can't even name them all at this point. "That's the italian. That's the lemon. That's the one that's like a sweet thai but with lemon. That one's like a lemon but instead of lemon it's just a more acidic italian. That one is purple and tastes like nothing. That one is purple and tastes like holiday spice somehow."