I have made some significant changes to my patio garden. The red tubs just were not working out -- their shape mostly, and I erred in drilling drainage holes 4 inches up instead of in the bottom, as the bottom portion turned into a sludge type of mixture. But, space was the biggest problem, as I could not put two rows of the tubs, because of their width. So on the 13th of this month, I changed back to the totes. That was a big job, and took a lot of heavy lifting and bending over, and I paid the price with severe back aches for a couple of days, it is just now starting to get back to normal, and this is the 18th.
Along the south wall, I have the white large tote, which will hold strawberries as I can still get plants. If they do not do okay, then I will plant some other summer crops and try strawberries again next year.
In the SW corner, I put one of the large green-cover totes, and then along the west wall on the south side, the other green-cover tote. These are for my indeterminate tomatoes. I transplanted two of my three beefsteak tomato plants today, 4-18-20, in the SW one. I buried some food scraps in a trench in the middle of the tote, and added some coffee grounds and egg shells to the surface, mixed in with my hand rake. I used juice I made from grinding the egg shells to water the transplants. In the W tote, I will put in a purchased Early Girl and another variety of indeterminate tomato plant, probably a Jet Star, as those always did so well for me in Hutchinson and Damar. For staking, I cut two of my 1x2s in half, and put one at each of the long ends of the totes, and I will use cement wire to make cages for the tomato plants. I can get it from Mead's by the foot, for 99 cents a foot. Each tomato plant will have its own cage.
Along the east edge, I put the 5 smaller totes, 3 grey and 2 black. The black tote on the north, I replanted the potatoes I dug out of the red tub. If they do not do well, I will plant another summer crop. Next to it is the grey tub with spring crops -- a row each of, from east to west, radishes, beets, carrots, onion, and garlic. This tub has a layer of Pro-Mix Organic soil on top, as there wasn't enough soil from the tubs. The planting was done on 4-16-20.
Next to it, going south, is another grey tub. I divided it in half and planted 3 rows of lettuce and 2 rows of spinach. I reserved the unplanted half for a second planting.
Next to it, going south, is another grey tub which will be devoted to herbs. The last tub on the east edge, next to the strawberry tub, will be devoted to various peppers.
On the North edge, I placed 4 5-gallon buckets as there is not enough room for more totes. I used the last two buckets to put in the rest of the sludge from the red tubs. These are the two buckets eastward. I have another smaller tote that I have put next to the tomato tote in front of the patio door, and I will take some of the sludge from each of the two buckets and put into it, and then cover the sludge with some new Pro-Mix Organic soil, which I have to wait until the check from the treasury for the covid-19 CARE package comes in to buy it. I will add Pro-Mix to the two buckets, also, to cover up the sludge. I will use one of those two buckets for pole beans, and the other for pole peas. The smaller blue tote I will use for determinate plants, most likely cherry tomatoes.
Along the west wall on the north, I put a new green-cover tote which I just purchased this week for that purpose. In it transplanted my two watermelon cups and two cantaloupe cups. I mixed in some coffee ground and egg shells before doing the transplants. I put the two cups of cucumber transplants in the two buckets westward on the north side. In the green-cover tote, I plan to put some flowers in the front half of the tote. For a trellis, I am purchasing the cement wire, as that will make a sturdy trellis. I will be able to buy the wire at Meads and carry it home on my scooter, and cut the wires myself to make the correct size. The trellis will be along the west wall to the sliding glass door and along the north edge, and will support the watermelons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, beans, and peas. On the north side I will put in two heavy stakes to hold it up, and on the west side, I will put the ends of the trellis into the rim of the tote and secure them to the tote. I would have preferred to have the trellis in place before I did the transplants, but timing was not on my side.
So, I have 4 larger totes, 5 smaller totes, 1 small tote, and 4 buckets, that frame my patio and leave only the opening for the door.
I am pleased with this setup, and now just wait for my stimulus check so I can purchase the plants and the rest of the supplies that I need.
The one problem that is not solved is watering. I threw away the hose I had from last year as it crinked so badly. For now, I plan to haul the water from the kitchen faucet to the plants. I will put a lot of mulching on the plants to keep the moisture in, so hopefully it will not be a daily watering thing.
In the process of changing from the tubs to the totes, I lost track of the worm count in each. However, I did notice the worms are very large, and even in the sludge, they seemed to be thriving. Some of the biggest worms were in the sludge.
