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starting another garden

Yeah, I just can't figure it out. And it's been going-on a long time. I originally thought they might be toned-down for American tastes and the American markets, right? Unlike decades ago, today everyone in America eats Jalapenos! But, even the Jalapenos in the tiny Mexican stores where no English is spoken, and the customers are predominately immigrants, have the same milder Jalapenos! What gives?

So now, I add Habanero or those tiny Asian Thai 'finger peppers' for my heat. Which is a shame, because Jalapeno works so beautifully with beef, with their bitter green flavor. But you know what? Even that 'bitter flavor' seems to be lacking, these days. Some Jalapenos are now so mild, they taste closer to sweet green pepper in flavor, rather than that bitter, green, 'Jalapenos-ness' I like!

--

BTW - Not many Taquerias have fresh Jalapenos as a 'topping' option these days, either. There often used to be a bin with chopped & diced fresh Jalapeno, alongside the cilantro and chopped onion bins, to spoon onto the tacos before wrapping them & putting them in the bag. Fresh Jalapeno on a steak taco kicks but! Insiide a steak burrito, too! Way better than the marinated in vinegar commercial stuff, IMO.

Anyway, I fear the old-school Mexican culture and ways is becoming Americanized, just as with all the other immigrant groups I grew-up with - including my own! And that means the food authenticity slides-off, over the decades of assimilation, and we - sadly - loose that!

So true! That sad part is some of us don't take advantage of learning the old ways and then it's too late.
 
Wow. All I do is buy a bag of composted manure and small tomato plants, put the manure deeper in the hole and the plants above it, in a place with mostly sun.

You will not buy a store bought tomato that tastes as good.
Thanks for the tip. It could have been worse. I could have been on Jeopardy! and had the last question, which would have been:
"How do you plant and grow tomatoes?" I'd have answered: I let the bugs eat them out of ignorance"
 
Thanks for the tip. It could have been worse. I could have been on Jeopardy! and had the last question, which would have been:
"How do you plant and grow tomatoes?" I'd have answered: I let the bugs eat them out of ignorance"
I planted a dwarf apple tree years ago, when it was only about 2 ft. tall. It's about 7 ft. now. Plenty of apples each year, but they are small too. The first several years, the squirrels would steal them. Now they are too heavy for the squirrels. Too bad. I didn't mind feeding them.
 
I put the wire cages around them. So you have to tether them?...and adjust them? I thought they would just grow up the cage. I bought some fertilizer
but probably used the same fertilizer that I used on the other vegetables. Dear God, I feel like I murdered my little friends.
The poor bastards didn't stand a chance. Plus I watered them a lot (I drowned them) I did notice the squirrels during that time were fat and happy.
Hey..Thanks. I'll research some before I plan to annihilate any other innocent plants this spring. On Edit: I had about 20 plants but wound up with a few pounds of something that looked like distant cousins of tomatoes.

My point wasn't that they absolutely must be staked, as much as that they need to have adequate support. I used stakes; others use cages. But the key is they must be supported!

It's been quite awhile for me, but my experience - in my local spoil - is they grow like weeds!

As to watering them, obviously I don't know your climate & soil conditions. But what I can say is, you don't water them every day, but rather several times a week. And when you water, you water 'slow & deep'. The idea is to get the water to go down deep, forcing the roots to go deep on the days you don't water. You want those roots digging in deep.

FWIW, I Googled a random pic on the net. Here's what a decent crop looks like, below. My plants were lower and "bushier', due to I believe the guy in the pic using a different variety than mine. My grow from chest to shoulder height. Maybe 4 feet high, or so. My yield might be about 70% of his, but it's hard to tell given that yields keep producing - so you can only tell when the season's over. I might get a dozen decent sized tomatoes from each plant, but that's just a WAG.

Obviously the guy in the picture has exceptional yields. But it shows what is capable, and you should get maybe 50% minimum of his, if you're doing things right. At least from my experience.

Also remember tomatoes need sunlight - big time. If in Northern climes, plant with a Southern exposure. My exposures all were 100% and Southern. Tomato plants love sunlight, as long as you properly irrigate.
 
Wow. All I do is buy a bag of composted manure and small tomato plants, put the manure deeper in the hole and the plants above it, in a place with mostly sun.

Yep!

Sun, and lots of it, is critical. It might be the most important consideration, IMHO.

You will not buy a store bought tomato that tastes as good.

You got that right, brother! (y)
 
So true! That sad part is some of us don't take advantage of learning the old ways and then it's too late.

When we're kids & teens, we all want to be, "American!". We don't want the old ways! When we become adults and mature, then we miss not getting those old recipes and learning the language. It's the same for every immigrant group. So much we gain from America, but there's stuff we lose too; good stuff! And the stuff we lose breaks our parents' & grandparents' hearts! It's the same old story!

I'm convinced the way to immigrate is to take the best from the old country, and leave the bad; then embrace the best from America, and leave the bad from here too. Impart that upon your children, and they will have the best of the world has to offer, and hopefully none of the bad! Keep all the good; et rid of all the bad! (y)
 
My point wasn't that they absolutely must be staked, as much as that they need to have adequate support. I used stakes; others use cages. But the key is they must be supported!

It's been quite awhile for me, but my experience - in my local spoil - is they grow like weeds!

As to watering them, obviously I don't know your climate & soil conditions. But what I can say is, you don't water them every day, but rather several times a week. And when you water, you water 'slow & deep'. The idea is to get the water to go down deep, forcing the roots to go deep on the days you don't water. You want those roots digging in deep.

FWIW, I Googled a random pic on the net. Here's what a decent crop looks like, below. My plants were lower and "bushier', due to I believe the guy in the pic using a different variety than mine. My grow from chest to shoulder height. Maybe 4 feet high, or so. My yield might be about 70% of his, but it's hard to tell given that yields keep producing - so you can only tell when the season's over. I might get a dozen decent sized tomatoes from each plant, but that's just a WAG.

Obviously the guy in the picture has exceptional yields. But it shows what is capable, and you should get maybe 50% minimum of his, if you're doing things right. At least from my experience.

Also remember tomatoes need sunlight - big time. If in Northern climes, plant with a Southern exposure. My exposures all were 100% and Southern. Tomato plants love sunlight, as long as you properly irrigate.


Thank you so much for your advice. I look forward to tomatoes that resemble the ones I used to eat when I was young. I live in Sarasota but the place I bought
was a small chicken farm ..1 1/4 acres (way back) I suspect the soil needs to be checked (A kit) and fertilized for growing things. Tarzan shall learn.
 
Thank you so much for your advice.

Not at all!

I look forward to tomatoes that resemble the ones I used to eat when I was young. I live in Sarasota but the place I bought
was a small chicken farm ..1 1/4 acres (way back) I suspect the soil needs to be checked (A kit) and fertilized for growing things. Tarzan shall learn.

Well, my experience was predominately as a kid into my teens, as my family always had substantial gardens even though we (mostly) lived in the city.

I've yet to get back into it in a serious fashion as an adult. I also suspect some things have changed, particularly plant varieties and fertilizing and pesticide agents.

But we all know the internet is our friend! Right?

Best of luck! Remember, 'lots of sun', good 'support', water 'slow & deep' - only several times a week! Keep the varmints away!
 
If you are also throwing in jalapenos and thinking of tomatoes why not also go with some cilantro? Just need the onion and you got some very fresh pico de gallo.
Cilantro is tricky in texas, cilantro bolts ie focuses all of it's energy on seeds if the temps get too hot, and texas can reach 100+ by june on some years, texas weather in unpredictable, so plants that want warm but not hot weather are already a no go.

I have had the same issue with tomatoes, I usually use the early girl tomatos because they tolerate texas summer heat well, while the vast majority of breeds give up when it get's above 85 degrees and die.
 
Thank you so much for your advice. I look forward to tomatoes that resemble the ones I used to eat when I was young. I live in Sarasota but the place I bought
was a small chicken farm ..1 1/4 acres (way back) I suspect the soil needs to be checked (A kit) and fertilized for growing things. Tarzan shall learn.
Check the soil indeed, tomatoes are magneseum dependant, and epsum salt is a dirt cheap solution. You do however need to test the soil or observe the plant as it grows, as too much magnesium can be bad as well.
 
We're doing the same thing. I started growing herbs in my AeroGarden, and we're going to start planting veg in containers. We hope to be out of this rental by late summer, so if we container-plant, we can take everything with us.

Once we get into our new place, I plan on transplanting everything into raised boxes. Easier on our knees, and keeps the rabbits away.
How does the aero garden work? From what I understand it is supposed to be aeroponics, but I have never used it. I do have a cheap hydroponics set from amazon that so far seems to be working good, I plan to have the plants as winter producers while my outdoor plants just end up overwintering to survive the cold before they produce again in the spring.

Also have you ever tried aquaponics? Aero ponics like the aero garden are good for growing faster, but aquaponics uses basically an in ground fish pond, fish and other pond animals, as well as plants are there to create nutrients, which is then pumped into the tank holding the plants, if done right it is a self sustained system where the two systems produce everything they need and the only external need is power from the pump, which can be solar powered as well.
 
How does the aero garden work? From what I understand it is supposed to be aeroponics, but I have never used it. I do have a cheap hydroponics set from amazon that so far seems to be working good, I plan to have the plants as winter producers while my outdoor plants just end up overwintering to survive the cold before they produce again in the spring.

Also have you ever tried aquaponics? Aero ponics like the aero garden are good for growing faster, but aquaponics uses basically an in ground fish pond, fish and other pond animals, as well as plants are there to create nutrients, which is then pumped into the tank holding the plants, if done right it is a self sustained system where the two systems produce everything they need and the only external need is power from the pump, which can be solar powered as well.

I absolutely love the Aerogarden. If you get good pods, you're good to go. If your pods are duds, they'll replace them for you, free of charge. Right now, we are growing the herb gardens. The Genovese basil is insane. Two plants growing faster than we can use them. We are also growing dill, thyme, mint, parsley, and a couple of other herbs. They are grown in water and we use the provided liquid nutrients to feed them. Not sure if it's aeroponics because they're grown in water, but not sure if they're aquaponics because they aren't given nutrition by fish or pond animals. If I can remember, I'll take pics tonight when I get home and show you how well they are growing.
 
How does the aero garden work? From what I understand it is supposed to be aeroponics, but I have never used it. I do have a cheap hydroponics set from amazon that so far seems to be working good, I plan to have the plants as winter producers while my outdoor plants just end up overwintering to survive the cold before they produce again in the spring.

Also have you ever tried aquaponics? Aero ponics like the aero garden are good for growing faster, but aquaponics uses basically an in ground fish pond, fish and other pond animals, as well as plants are there to create nutrients, which is then pumped into the tank holding the plants, if done right it is a self sustained system where the two systems produce everything they need and the only external need is power from the pump, which can be solar powered as well.

I just realized I had a halfway lousy pic of our herbs. Snagged this from a TikTok video lol. Not a great pic, but gives you an idea of how well it works.

275738533_3133139943628747_4218207192538829116_n.jpg
 
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