Garden Experiment Updates

I have several ongoing experiments in and around the garden. They are each seeing varying degrees of success and failure. Following is an update to each of them.

The Healthy Tomato Plant Experiment

The garden is so overgrown you can scarcely see how
awesome Esther Epsom looks.

The experiment with my tomatoes was a noble one. I chose four different tomato plants and side-dressed one with epsom salt, one with coffee grounds, one with egg shells, and one was left to accept its nutrients from the soil. The dog immediately ate the plant that was treated with egg shells. The day after I updated the experiment, the dog also demolished the plant that was treated with coffee grounds. The experiment was no more. However, I did continue giving epsom salt to one plant and nothing to the other to see what would happen. The tomato plant with the epsom salt treatments grew fast and strong and was the first to bear fruit. It has many more little green tomatoes than the other one, though the other one is looking quite healthy now as well. Still, I'm more than ever sold on the merits of epsom salt on tomatoes.


The Power of Epsom Salts
I have heard and read that epsom salt is an amazing choice for gardens. Supposedly, it makes leaves greener, vegetables brighter, and the soil healthier. I have used epsom salt throughout the garden, both on inground plants and in containers. I have learned that epsom salt is excellent on tomatoes, peppers, and flowers. It definitely had the opposite effect on the cucumbers. While the vegetables themselves are still going strong, the leaves are very unhappy.

Brown cucumber leaves due to a direct
application of epsom salt.

Natural Pest Repellents
I have used no chemicals on my garden this year to repel bugs, a trend that I plan to continue. I tried several methods and found the ones that work and don't work:

• Peppermint rubbed on the undersides of leaves repelled nearly all pests from squash and okra. The okra plants were covered in aphids until a quick treatment with peppermint.
• Ground chili pepper around the perimeter of the garden kept rabbits away. This had to be replaced after rain, but after a while they just stopped coming around.
• Coffee grounds keeps slugs away. However, the coffee grounds must stay on the soil and can't actually touch leaves, especially lettuce. 
• Lemon balm and garlic were ineffective in combating pests.

Gardening in Shade vs. Full Sun

A number of plants were given to me and I conducted an experiment with them, putting some in an area that is shaded for the majority of the day and the rest in a spot that receives full sun all day long. The results were a bit surprising to me. They do not receive the same amount of water - I have been watering the sun-plants every day and the shade-plants every other day. They are in various sizes of containers and some of the shaded plants are in the ground.

Sunlight is a foe when temperatures are 105.

I expected the shade garden plants to die quickly. Quite the opposite is true. All but one of the sun plants are dead. The high temperatures and extreme sunlight has destroyed them almost completely. On the other hand, the shade garden plants look okay. They are certainly not dying, but they are not growing either. In fact, they look pretty much the same now as they did when I first planted them almost a month ago.  

Shade Garden: June 17

Shade Garden: July 5

Tomato Plant in Shade Garden: July 5

Planting the Fall Garden
My 6-year-old and I are planning the fall garden and we decided to start our plants as suggested. We had to place the seed tray outside due to lack of adequate sunny spots in the house. We chose the filtered sun of the shade garden for the location of the seed pots. I'm happy to report that, after only three days, seedlings are already emerging. In fact, all of the varieties have sprouted and only three out of fourteen seed pots do not have signs of life yet. Now the question is, can we keep the momentum going until it is time to plant these little guys in the ground?

Seed Pots: July 5

Planting a Kids' Garden
I let Gus decide what he wanted to plant, when to water, where the seeds would go, and basically gave him complete control over the destiny of the kids' garden. He placed a variety of vegetables and herbs through the garden in an assortment of containers. I am pleased to report that the pumpkin, green beans, and cucumbers are growing very well. In fact, we are ready to begin pruning back some of the growth. The rest of the plants have not yet grown and it looks unlikely that they will at this point. I have mostly found that giving the kids their own garden helps them to be excited about the entire process.  I consider the kids' garden to be a huge success.

Kids' Garden Container Pumpkins: July 5