I wanted to thank everyone for their kind advice on my first post.

I’ve got my plants in the ground, and I figured I’d give updates on my progress so I can get more guidance and contribute to the content available here on Lemmy.

From the back of the bed by my chain link fence, I’ve got two pairs of two varieties of cucumber, with some lettuce planted in the back corner. I intend to train those cucumbers onto the fence to ensure they didn’t take over the bed.

In the middle, I’ve got one each of rosemary, dill, African basil, sweet basil, and peppermint.

On the front, I’ve got some determinate and semi-determinate tomatoes to include one Celebrity, two Roma, and one Green Zebra plants.

I’ve lined the front and left side with Marigolds, transplanting six plants and seeding some more in the spaces in between.

I’ve also got an indeterminate Whopper tomato plant in a big planter a short way to the left of the bed, and a container with onion starts.

I realize that my depth will likely not be enough for the larger plants, but I’m trying, nonetheless. I’m particularly hoping the determinate tomatoes might work out.

I’ve got pictures of most everything, but I wasn’t sure if it would be obnoxious to post them all.

I watered daily the first week with a can, then deeply watered at the end of the week with a new wand I bought for my hose. The next week, I backed off to ensure I didn’t over-water, but I made sure to do the finger test daily to ensure the soil was staying moist.

With rain over the last few days, my tomatoes have started to flower, though they haven’t gotten much taller. The marigold seeds have broken ground, along with the lettuce and, surprisingly, my onions, with I had started much later.

I’m considering what I need to do next. Two weeks in, I’m thinking some fertilizer is in order. I’m also wondering whether I need to do some sort of spray or something for pests. A few of my cucumbers seem like something is eating the leaves.

I did prune some tomato leaves that were dragging on the ground. I’ve heard it’s important to do that to avoid fungal issues.

One issue I’m concerned about is that there’s a lot of shade in the morning. However, the bed does get full sun in the afternoon for 6-8 hours. I’m hoping the early shade will offset the brutal summer sun here in South Carolina. It gets terribly hot and the UV seems high here, and I’ve seen at least one gardener I follow on YouTube just to the northeast of me who recommends shade cloth for tomatoes and cucumbers as temperatures rise

What do you guys think so far? Would you like some more pictures?

  • dgdft@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    1 day ago

    Great start OP! Some blunt honesty: it’s overcrowded to the point that you will not be getting optimal results - but you’ve set yourself up for some good learning experience nonetheless. Further guidance:

    • Get some balanced granular fertilizer (e.g. 5-5-5) and apply according to package instructions, mixing into the top 1-2 inches of soil beneath the mulch without injuring roots. Do not be afraid to use basic-ass Miracle-Gro or the like; organic ferts do not have magical properties that make them more effective than inorganic.
    • Don’t overtreat for pests: get a spraybottle of insecticidal soap for spot treatment of aphids and the like. Hand-pick larger bugs like hornworms. If you have a problem that the two above steps can’t solve, reach out to your ag extension office for ID help and further guidance. Eschew neem oil; it’s noob bait.
    • Figure out how you want to support those tomatoes. Premade storebought cages will suffice for this year, but you’ll want to make your own cages from wire panel (100x easier than it sounds) or set up a staking system eventually.
    • “Full sun” is a bit of a misnomer: in practice, it’s a shorthand term of art for 8+ hours of direct light. Fortunately, everything you planted will be happy with that 6-8 range. You’ll be sacrificing about a third of your max yield, but you’re spot on that it’ll make life much easier in the summer.
    • Planting mint in-ground is a home gardening rite of passage. You will learn from that. Welcome to the club ;).
    • slingstone@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      9 hours ago

      Thanks for the tips! I’m going to respond to your points in reverse order:

      • Looking at the peppermint this morning, it’s sending two runners out along the ground. Do I need to trim these back? It does, indeed, appear to have aspirations to take over the bed 😂

      • I’m going to be curious how the shade/sun mixture works out, and I think you’re right. The plants are largely healthy, but they’re not exactly exploding in growth. They are still young, though. Hopefully feeding them will help.

      • I’ve got stakes on all my tomatoes as of last week, and cages my neighbor gave me on three of them. I’ll monitor and add support, but I think I’m good for now.

      • I’ll look for some insecticide today. With the tiny pests, will I need a magnifying glass to see them? I haven’t seen anything yet, but I’ll be watching carefully.

      • You caught me–I haven’t properly mulched yet. The organic material in my soil mix appears to have formed kind of a crust at the top that seems like it’s holding in water, though. I was planning on getting some straw to mulch, but the local store was out last weekend, and I had to go out of town yesterday, so I’ll try to grab some today.

      • With the fertilizer, though, how strong is too strong? The compost I used had a .05-.05-.05 rating (there was supposedly manure in it), so I was worried if I fertilized too soon, I could burn my plants. I know that’s a very low rating, but I used enough to make up closer to half my soil. I also added a big bag of generic Miracle-Gro style garden soil at the very end, and I know that had some fertilizer in it. The tomato and veggie food bags I’ve found had numbers like 20 or 18–is this too much? Also, what about the “shake and feed” products-- are they any good? Finally, on my lettuce and onion seedlings, I’ll want to wait a bit, won’t I, and just fertilize the established plants?

      I appreciate any further guidance you and the others have.

      • dgdft@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        14 minutes ago
        • I don’t want to spoil your fun with the mint, but the runners above ground aren’t the ones to worry about. Mint likes to spread through its roots… a lot. Best kept in a container ;).
        • Most pests are visible to the eye, but there are a few exceptions like spider mites. You’ll typically know you have them by other obvious signs though. A loupe can be helpful for insect ID, but isn’t crucial.
        • You can mostly ignore the nutrition from that compost. You’d have to do some math to know the impact of that fertilized garden soil, but it’s likely quite modest. Feel free to use 1/2 - 3/4 the recommended amount of granular for the first month or two if you want to be conservative.
        • High NPK numbers aren’t necessarily good or bad, but they are more concentrated and can be more liable to burn things, depending on their form factor and nutrient release pattern.
        • As for lettuce/onion seedlings, ideally you till some fertilizer into the bed while you’re prepping it. You could give them some liquid fertilizer at half-strength to make up the difference - but yeah, they’ll still do fine if you just sidedress in a couple of weeks. Both those plants really like higher-nitrogen feeds, so you might want to think about getting a different fertilizer for them down the road.

        All that being said, don’t feel obliged to follow any of this if you don’t want to. You’ve definitely set yourself up to get something edible and tasty, so don’t sweat the details if it starts getting in the way of your fun. Hope it helps and happy gardening!