To keep it short i've taken up botany/gardening in a sense where i'm growing plants for fun from seeds. So far I have a male flowering pumpkin plant, Morning Glories, Sweet Bell Peppers, Zennias, Lupines, and Tritomas to name most of them. About two weeks ago I got some tomato plants and they are coming along quite nicely as well. However i'm having some questions and need some answers.

1. Concerning tomato plants what's the best way to transplant these into the ground? Read i'm supposed to lay them on their side then bury them however i'm not sure if that would work quite right. Also should I just keep the plants in their pots for now till fall/winter is over or could I transplant them now? The large plant has fruit on it that is about to turn ripe while the others just started growing flowers that will slow turn into tomatoes.

2. With my pumpkin i've read it can take 7 to 10 days after the first male flowers before the females start growing. Sadly it's been close to 10 days and I have not seen any females growing how long should I wait exactly? Concerning pests how do I keep those pesky caterpillars off of my plant they are eating it alive.

Final question I have deals with those silly water bulb things they sell in gardening stores. Are they really worth using or do they cause more harm than good? Right now i'm sticking to the plan of using a 1 gallon jug then watering each plant carefully using up about 4 gallons per day between 12 to 16 plants.

As far as the tomatoes go, I've always just transplanted them right as they are, being careful not to damage the roots, as they are particularly soft. Not sure what you'd gain by laying them on their side, but maybe it will help the base of the stem thicken?.. Not too sure on that one. Would seem to me it'd take unnecessary energy it could use for growing trying to straighten itself out.

Can't be of much help with the pumpkins.. I usually just toss the seeds in the corner of the plot and let them do their thing.
The caterpillars are best to just be picked off by hand every day and put in a jar of water to drown. If you are squeamish just use a pair of gloves, or they make special "tweezers" for those that don't want to touch them.

The water bulbs you see in garden centers actually work really well, but they are more for going away, or the absent minded. If you are really wanting healthy plants, water the surface of the soil evenly with a watering can or even just a cup/old bottle, etc. It'll keep the roots from growing lopsided, helping the over-all health of the plant.

I'm not an avid gardener but I do grow some things like tomato plants. I buy transplants and go from there but it's certainly cool to do it from seed.. I've heard the lay them on their side thing before but I usually just plant them up to the first set of leaves. When you should plant them depends on where you are living and what zone you're in. I'm in Canada and I don't plant my tomatoes outside until around the first of June. I plant mine in big plastic containers that I refurbish with compost I've made in the back yard.

I always leave my tomatoes in pots year round. It's easier for me to deal with, especially if we get that rare hard freeze and I have to move them in.

And gardening advice really does depend completely on which zone you live in. Personally, I have the choice to plant pretty much anything in the ground during "winter" because I live in a tropic/subtropic area. Where are you?

Water bulbs - again we go back to the fact that I prefer container gardening. My containers only have to be watered every few days to weeks, depending on the plant growing, as they are self-watering. We've tried the small glass bulbs indoors though, and they do seem to work well enough.

Hope that helps a tiny bit. lol

I own a chainsaw. I use said chainsaw to "trim" things. And by "trim" I mean I cut stuff down till they no longer exist. My wife asked me one time to trim a bush that was in the front of the house. My chainsaw trimmed it real good. So good that I didn't have to trim it ever again.

I hate plants.

Live in a good sunny area myself here in FL since i'm near the gulf it stays pretty warm. However last year we got an INSANE amount of cold with it dipping into the low 30's to high 20's on some days. Luckily it's mostly been in the high 50's low to mid 60's at night time being around 73 to 78 degrees for right now.

Main reason I ask about the water bulbs is that i've made some myself using soda bottles and some straws. I make sure to water the plants myself so I guess they really aren't necessary but i'll be sure to keep them in mind.

Avid gardener.
Before you transplant anything, make sure that the plant will get optimal sunlight. Transplanting is best done in the afternoon, to give the plant a chance to recuperate. Photosynthesis requires energy. It is also wise to "harden off" the plants before transplanting by taking them in their container to the spot they will reside, so they can become acclimated to the light levels.

Tomatoes should be planted standing straight up. You should also know whether or not they are determinate, or indeterminate. The former will grow to a specific height and then stop. The latter will continue to grow, and can block light to lower level plants in the garden. Indeterminate tomato plants do well in hanging baskets and on trellises. Some folks like to plant the tomatoes with the bottom set of leaves covered, as they develop into roots. some prefer to remove the bottom leaves to avoid having them aquire soil based diseases. As a rule, moist soil should not touch exposed tomato leaves. I would suggest adding a layer of compostible material into the soil, and mulching the plants after transplanting to conserve water, maintain soil moisture and keep the plant warm. (Decompostion releases heat, and moisture retains it)


Pumpkins and for that matter, curcurbits (gourds, pumkins, winter and summer squash, melons, cucmbers) have both male and female flowers, and require cross pollination. Cross pollination can also occur within curcurbitae families. For instance, a butter nut squash and a calabaeza could cross pollinate and bear fruit.
Male flowers have long stems, females short ones, and a swollen base. Males tend to flower earlier in the day.
You can use a paintbrush to remove pollen, put it in a film canister or other small container, and apply it to a female flower. I have had much sucess with this, as well as planting a bee-line. A bee-line is strategic placement of flowering plants that draw pollinators in. Morning glories are an excellent flower for bees. I left pollination up to the bees this year, and harvested over twenty pumpkins.

As for bulbs, don't know how big your garden is. MULCH. Mulching helps the soil retain moisture, keeps the plants warm, and provides an eventually decomposing product to the soil, further enriching it. Mulch can be made of pine straw, leaves, shredded newspaper, hay, but not rubber tires. You could make a soaker hose, from an old crappy hose. Lay it out before planting, poke holes with an ice pick, cover with soil. You can also make a rain barrel that uses collected from a garbage can, some inexpensive faucet parts and rubber gaskets. You turn the faucet connected to the soaker hose on and water as needed.

Caterpillars: Simplest, less toxic method is horiticultural oil mixed with water in a spray bottle. The emulsion made by the oil and water blocks the breathing spicules of the caterpillar and suffocates it. You can also knock them off with spray from a water hose, hand pick them, and crush them, then make a concoction of bug guts and water that you spray on teh plant. The pheromes released by the dying bugs are supposed to act as a deterrent. Me, I use horticultural oil.

Lastly, soil.
If your soil is not the correct ph for the plants, they won't perform. If your soil is poor in nutrients, plants wont do well. Test your soil, and amend it if you need to . I would suggest starting a composting bin as well as a vermiculture bin. Compost and worm castings work wonders on plants when added to the soil or brewed into a casting tea or compost tea.
I live in North Florida, winter nights here regularly get below freezing. I grow tomatoes up until Jan-Feb, outside. There are cold hardy varities of tomatoes, such as the Early Girl, that do well in colder climates. The worst time for a garden in Florida is the summer. The heat is wicked, and the humidity oppressive. The only veggies I can grow then are ho, peppers, okra, eggplant, summer squash. blackeyed peas, and mustard greens.
Since you are a fellow Floridan, now is the best time to start roses, (they love the cool and expand their root systems) brassicas such as lettuces, kales, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbages. Alliums such as onions, scallions, leeks, garlics. Root veggies such as beets, carrots, potatoes, turnips, radishes. Best of all green peas. Nothing like nibbling sweet baby pea pods right out in the garden.

Thanks for the info just transplanted the Tomatoes today and they seem to be doing quite well. Did it in the morning since the spot I have picked out is relatively speaking the best spot. Sadly they will only get about 6hrs of sunlight before the sun goes behind the trees. As for the tomato plant types I have a beef steak tomato variety and a roma tomato variety not sure about the other one. Also have some sweet bell peppers which are in a tiny starting pot and will probably have to transplant them soon.

How impressive. :rolleyes:

My mum is. She loves her plants.

I grow grass.














..on my lawn

Yeah but Malta's so small you're allowed one plant. For the whole Island.

I should have said "leaves". My mum loves her 7 shares of leaves situated on the right side of the plant.

:laugh:


Oh, you guys....




I'm not much one for gardening myself. Our garden seems to be a haven of death and destruction for all things great and small. And the damn grass keeps growing back after you cut it.

I couldn't garden to save my life, to be honest. My idea of weeding is to take a spade and simply turn the entire bit of land over.

I own a wimpy spade, and not a manly chainsaw. It makes me feel like less of a man

Chainsaws wouldn't have done us much good trying to clear our garden to prepare it: the enemy wasn't overgrowth, it was rubble, and lots of it. I lost count of the number of full-size skips we filled with builder's rubble, five or six, and it's still not fully cleared by any means. And we're not the first to try it, either. Sigh; it's not an uncommon problem, apparently, finding that the builders have shipped in waste from other sites and hidden it under a few inches of earth, though many people don't realise until they wonder why their plants won't grow. <_<

Anyway, in spite of that, and other challenges, like our back garden being north-east facing, not very big, an awkward shape in that it's wider than it is long and points downhill and is home to a large tree stump and three manhole covers positioned at fairly random heights, I'm proud of what we've managed to do. I think it's an interesting place to wander round, it's low maintenance and the sort of "cultivated woodland glade" effect has worked well: it's a nice, relaxing place to be and to look at, and the local wildlife seems to like it. Though we haven't seen our tandoori-eating hedgehog for a while...

Squashes, and pumpkins in particular drink loads of water. Be careful that the bottoms of the fruit don't go rotten in all the moisture. When they appear, place them on a board to raise them off the wet soil/roots system.

Also, a good anti-bug spray is to make a thick soap solution from shavings of organic solid soap (I use Sunlight Soap). It puts flies and caterpillars and slugs off, without chucking anything nasty into your garden.



Fear not. Chainsaws are cheating. Real men use axes and other non-mechanical metal instruments to care for their delicate seedlings.

No, but I do know Ava Gardener.

My mum and dad pretend to be in the summerish months here, but it ends up with me out digging up the garden trying to destroy the clay while they plant the lovely little plants and bushes in pots that the rabbit then jumps into or on and eats them all within ten minutes...

Yeah we like gardening, seriously I love digging up the garden

have never thought of Stormrider as unmanly, he could co- host the Manshow with Jimmy Kimmel.



My husband has three chainsaws, but only two of them work. because he busted one cutting down a mulberry tree. (It was a joint effort between the city electric crew and us. They trimmed seventy percent of the upper canopy, FOC, and we got the trunk and remaning canopy. I stopped him from chainsawing down my two year old tangerine tree.

His idea of yard is fence and grass. My hubs does not simply go prune things, it's like Frodo simply walking into Mordor.
His eyes roll back and glaze over when I try to explain how I differentiate plants. He's not botanically inclined, To him the difference between deciduous and non decidous, pennate, oblong, ovate, bifurcated, semi annual, annual, periannial, etc shall remain forever a mystery.

I was once weeding the garden and he informed me that I had missed some. I replied that no, I had not, that those were onions sprouting up. He was flabbergasted, and I explained that knowing the difference between a monocotlydon and a dicotlydon can be applied to germination and weeding. If I had let him weed, we would have had no plants.

If I need things built, repaired, or dismantled, though, he's the man. He's taught me about home repair and home improvement. I especially enjoyed masonry and tile work. That was kinda fun.
I know this much_) I don't use screwdrivers as chisels, and that there are screws for metal, wood, and wallboard. My eyes glazed over one day while he explained the various types of circular saw blades.




Boards are a bad idea to put under pumpkins, use newspaper or mulch. Lumber that has been pressure treated can contain arsenic, and that is toxic.