Time To Clean The Greenhouse

Well, the last toms were harvested this past week, leaving only a couple of the paprika plants still productive in the little greenhouse. There were four pap plants and two were picked clean...but the ones still in there have paprika's that are not yet red enough.

Greenhouse gardening is totally different from the "normal" form of gardening outdoors. However, some of the rules and chores ARE the same. Take cleaning-up, that must be done...and today was the day to do it.

This first foto is shows how much stems and leaves came off the plants that we lifted today.


Many of you know that I plant and grow toms in an unconventional way. You recall that I let my seedlings grow leggy on purpose and then strip[ all the leaves off except the top two and then plant my tom seedlings in the ground horizontally instead of vertically.

I have commented on why I do it and in the next pic you can see how well the stems produce feeding roots to take up the minerals from the soil to produce the flowers and fruits. It may be interesting to see just how much feeding roots the stems create during their growing cycle.
I have cut the tom plant's stems off, only leaving a small green segment above the roots.


Now, in this next shot, one can see the soil just after all the tom plants had been removed. There were some weeds that were removed after taking the foto.


Then after everything had been cleaned up except the paps, I stepped to the back of the greenhouse and looked back at the doorway and took this shot. Doesn't it look nice and clean?


Here is one of the paprika plants, sporting it's fruits. It had grown tall and has produced seven fruits. The pap's; while essentially hollow, are weighty enough to bend and break the stem of the plant if I had not tied it up. It had to be re-tied as it was because of how it had grown when the toms were in there.


Not wanting the season to end, We decided to experiment and plant some pak choi in the greenhouse for a late harvest. I had germinated them a couple of weeks ago and wanted to get them in there as quickly as I could. This meant that I would have to germinate the seeds a month later than is normal and then plant them late also.



There are a couple of things against this working: the lateness of the germinating and planting-out, as I have said, but also the heat factor. I am gambling that there will be an end to the warmth here in a week or two. Like all brassicas, they do best in cool temps. The time of year is right, so fingers crossed the weather will return to normal levels soon.

I have leeks, parsnips and Swiss chard still growing out in the garden and I am planning to plant some winter purslane soon as well--so, we shall have some veggies for the late fall and early winter. These pak choi's will be great to have fresh if they work.

 

Oh.... kind of a sad day, huh? but!!!! it is also a little bit of a reprieve to not have it to be taking care of daily. Mine is still up and running and I just fertilized it again today expecting that we will have enough decent weather to get some more fruit from it. The boc choi is a great crop, I hope it does well for you.

 

It is sad when everything is gone. I hope your pak choi does great. The weather is always hard to predict. Our garden was frost killed about 2 weeks ago but the tomatoes will be safe in the greenhouse until a hard freeze.
We also plant tomatoes the way you do.

 

CAROLYN-- Yeah, it is a bit sad, but I am already making plans for next year, so one phase just sorta fades into the next one. How much longer do you reckon that you can smear the season out there? You are going to be ready for a bit of a R'n R arent you.

Thanks 2OF--We have another six days of sun and warmth ahead of us at the moment. I hope that your toms will continue to produce for a while longer.

 

Sjoerd, I felt the sadness this week also. My gardens are looking quite bare. And I also planted toms horizontally. They did great. Pak Choi has become a favorite of mine. Going to plant more today.

 

S, I am hoping to keep the tomatoes in the one house until November... depends on the weather. If it gets too cold at night time and I have to heat it I will probably just start pulling them out. boo hoo hoo! :'( :'( :'( :'(

 

I'm going to have to remember your tomatoe planting technique. And your clean-up looks... well... clean!
Good luck with the rest of your veggies.

 

EILEEN-- thanks for the comments. Oh...I was happy to hear that you tried that planting method this season. I was even more delighted to hear your results.That was great news indeed.

DONNA-- How nice that you tried the horizontal planting this year. I am glad for you that it turned out alright. I hope that your pak choi turns out well for you. I know that it is way too late to attempt this, but heck--"No" you already have...perhaps you can get "yes" but attempting this. Know what I mean? Fingers crossed for us both.

CAROLYN-- I am rooting for you. I sincerely hope the weather holds out.
You asked me about those "yin-yang" beans. Most folks dry them and then soak them later when they want to eat them. One can also just pluck them and eat them while the pods are green. At any rate, they are not just a novelty to look at, they are to EAT!

Thanks for your comments CHERYL--I appreciate them very much. BTW: Good luck next year with your tom planting.

 

Thanks for showing the roots of the tomato plants. Now I know how to dig up my tomato plant with the problem to inspect the roots. The plant seems to have stopped growing.

 

Sjoerd, Well, an end to another satisfying gardening season. You have done a good job with your Fall tidy.
I still have growing, producing Tomatoes, and my flowers are not ready to give it up yet! I am quite stubborn about finishing my gardens in the Fall! I am ambivalent about the end of summer, every year!
At my job, we have not begun the Fall clean ups, with all the wonderful rains , the plants are still looking good. In fact, we still have about two more weeks of planned tree, shrub, and perennial installs to do. Hope I don't jinx it by mentioning this, and we have a weird cold snap!! The farmers are harvesting corn, and beans but not complete yet.

 

KK--Howe strange that your tom plant has stopped growing, or seems to have. Personally, i do not believe it wise to dig up the plant at this stage, because if you decide to plant it back it will be an additional 2-3 weeks before it can overcome the trauma of being dug-up and then re-planted.
What sort of tom is the one in question? Not a dwarf sort?
The most common reasons for cessation of growing is weather, water and food. Of course there could be some evil beast disturbing the roots, but then I would expect the tom plant to be wilting. It is a curious problem that you have there.

KAY--Thanks for your comments. I am jealous that you still have some gardening time. Make the most of it, meid.

 

Oops!!! Too late, I already did that yesterday. Thanks for you comments, it was a difficult decision and I did it after considering all the facts. The additional 2~3 weeks to recover is not a problem but the not knowing whether there was beetle grub eating the roots was killing me. There was a boom in beetle grubs about 2 months ago in most of my pots and I had since clean out all those pots. The affected plants showed the same symptoms, yellowing of the lower leaves but no spots and growth was arrested. I think they will wilt and die eventually.

Comparing it to the other plant from the same package, I am quite sure that it is not a dwarf type. On its packaging it was mentioned "Large Red Cherry" and nothing else.

I guess digging it up did solve some of the mysteries.