The 2009 High-density Garden Blog – Week 1

In the Summer of 2008, we tried something a little different for the garden. We knew we did not want a huge garden, but I wanted a little something. We experimented with three hanging planters for tomatoes. The planters came from Gardeners Supply. The tomato plants came from Lowes and were a Celebrity (one I have had a lot of experience with in years past, a Big Boy and a Grape tomato).

The experiment was a success. There were a couple of bumps along the way. The planters come with a self-watering reservoir. We did not have good success with this and in fact, the reservoir blocked rain from getting to the plants. We removed these and the plants recovered and did well. Production was not high, but after the accidental drought imposed on the plants, we were happy that the plants produced at all.

Now it is gardening season for 2009. The nine year olds started getting excited about the garden in February. We decided to expand the high-density garden experiment.

Sunday (5/24/2009) we planted the garden. We are using the planters from Gardeners Supply and have added 6 more to the original 3. We are reusing the liners from the first 3 and we will see how that goes, as they seem a little fragile. We also have some plants in planters.

This year’s garden has 5 tomatoes in the upside down planters (2 grape tomatoes, 1 Big Boy, 1 Red Beefsteak Heirloom, 1 patio tomato, 1 summer squash, 1 zucchini, and 2 bell peppers). The tomatoes are from Lowes and the squash, zucchini and peppers are from Johnson’s Farm Produce (a local nursery). We have Kentucky Wonder pole beans, Super Sugar Snap peas and Nantes Half Long carrots in pots. The seeds are all Burpee’s. The planters are actually biodegradable rose plant protectors we bought and never used for roses. They make nice planters, but again we will see how well they weather as planters. The beans and peas have tomato cages for climbing. There is a fourth pot of scallop squash with a tomato cage for climbing.

So far all of the plants are doing well. I will be posting weekly updates with photos all summer so we document our experiment.