Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Yes, The grow boxes are open bottom sitting on very poor soil. The
garden has had some very nice topsoil put in about 10" deep over they
same poor soil.

The plants were all grown from the same seeds.

A couple of times I did forget the water and let it run too long. I
plan on putting automatic timers on next year so it will be very
consistent.

Thanks
Bryan

Bryan & Group:

In your original post you mentioned that you only fed the tomatoes 5 times. That's not enough, and I would feed perhaps 8 times, even in your extremely short season. And you might try to extend the season beyond the frost by protecting the plants and providing some heat.

Jim Kennard

On Aug 19, 2011, at 3:39 PM, Bryan wrote:

> I finally got my 1st ripe early girls from the garden. (Hey don't
> laugh, that's pretty good for Montana!) They have a much better
> taste and texture than the ones from my greenhouse.
>
> Is there anything that will help the greenhouse ones taste as good
> as the garden ones?
>
> Both get pre mixed weekly feed from Steve Regan. The instruction say
> to stop weekly feed 8 weeks before expected frost, so the garden
> tomatoes only get 5 week of fertilizer.
>
> The garden gets soaked about once a week. The greenhouse gets
> watered almost daily, a few times when I was gone three or four
> days, I would give the greenhouse a good soak.
>
> The garden is furrow irrigated, the greenhouse has the PVC pipe w/
> small holes drilled.
>
> June is typically quite cool with highs in the 60's and 70's, July
> and August have high's in the 80's and 90's, nights usually in the
> low to mid 50's with high 40's starting about mid August. With the
> doors open my small greenhouse isn't much hotter than ambient during
> the day and about the same after sunset.
>
> A normal year we plant after Memorial day, and expect frost any time
> after Labor day.
>
> So on a good year I might get tomatoes for 3 or 4 weeks out of the
> year. The greenhouse nearly doubles my season, but they taste like
> store bought.
>
> Bryan & Group:
>
> Are you growing with open bottomed boxes in the greenhouse, so the
> plant roots get into the soil? Are the varieties the same?
>
> The greenhouse reduces the sunlight by 10-15%, so that is something
> you can not improve except by using glass as your greenhouse
> covering, and the loss of sunlight certainly affects flavor.
>
> regular watering should IMPROVE the flavor, unless you are washing
> out the nutrients. And the warmer temps in the greenhouse should
> also improve flavor.
>
> Jim Kennard
>
>
>

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