As someone who has been trying to grow tomatoes in containers for about 10 years, I can confirm that it really is difficult. It took me about 5 years to achieve fairly consistent results and get the hang of properly amending the soil, planting correctly, watering, pruning etc. And I still have years where the production is really low, largely due to fungal diseases.
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1984@lemmy.today 1 day ago
A lot of dreamers here who never actually tried to grow something. A lot of YouTube video knowledge but no practical experience.
hydroxycotton@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
see what you should have done is just toss some rotten ones onto your driveway or behind the shed and ignored them and next year you’d have had the biggest baddest bitchingest tomato plants you’d ever seen
lepinkainen@lemmy.world 1 day ago
We planted tomatoes on the backyard last year and we drowned in them, kilos and kilos of the stuff
It also would’ve been a lot cheaper to get the same amount from the grocery store 😅
1984@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Yeah. I have the largest respect for people who manage to get that far. It really is not easy.
CentipedeFarrier@piefed.social 1 day ago
Not wanting to add complexity or anything but have you considered trying a deep water culture (DWC) hydroponic system? That’s all a fancy way to say a dark colored large 5-ish gallon bucket of water with specific hydroponic nutrients dissolved in the water (I use a generic balanced powder and it works nicely) and an air pump to keep the water from going stagnant. As long as you keep the air pump dry, you can do the whole thing outside without issue. I hang mine under a plastic camera guard and it works nicely.
I’m terrible at growing things in dirt because dirt remembers what you did to it (holds salts and nutrient excess unless you flush the soil), but hydroponics is a totally different thing. You can just toss the water and give it new when it starts showing signs of nutrient deficiency/toxicity. The roots end up massive and healthy and everything grows faster since there’s zero resistance in the growth medium. Just sucking up everything they can. Tho since the typical advice is to just completely toss the water at least weekly once it’s grown up (great for outside gardens or houseplants after the tomato buckets), you usually don’t end up with imbalances like that at all.
Proper care of a hydro system makes for a bountiful harvest most years, and if you want, you can very easily keep a tomato clone over winter to keep some smaller amount of production going. Hydro works very well inside because you don’t bring most of the bugs you would with a dirt pot.
Throw like 4 standard screw-in daylight bulbs of 60+watt-equivalent leds and you’ve got a grow space. No fancy expensive nonsense required.
dejova281@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The best is community roles in a collective. If you try to do everything yourself you’ll fail but in specializing you’ll succeed. For produce, one neighbor specializes in tomatoes, the other cucumber, the other onions, etc etc… that’s how human society survived in tough times and that’s actually as a species how we’re supposed to operate. As a community. Another reason why everyone is so dang lonely and depressed. Anyways, I digress…
bluemellophone@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yep, find your local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and get a membership
KeenFlame@feddit.nu 1 day ago
As a species we were never supposed to operate by giving all labour and spoils to tree people, it’s speciciede
Agent641@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Buying dry food is probably better than canned. It’s lighter, stores for longer, and is much more compact.
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Are we talking like, bags of rice and beans?
Agent641@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Rice, lentils, peas, beans, wheat berries, barley, oats, etc. But if you buy in large bulk (which you should do for the cost savings), you should repack the goods into smaller individually sealed containers. Because a 25kg bag of rice, once opened, will take a small family all year to get through, and having an open bag of rice attracts rodents, weevils, moisture, mould and dust. Pack it down into half kilo or 1kg containers, ideally vacuum sealed or with some other preventative treatment. Then only open 1 container at a time.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 1 day ago
I planted horseradish into the ground, neglected it, and it grew anyway.
morto@piefed.social 1 day ago
I grow a lot of stuff in a relatively small space. Sometimes I cave to give stuff away because it’s too much for me. Maybe living in a tropical region helps? or maybe because I grow mostly native stuff that needs near to zero care.
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 1 day ago
LOL yeah. Stuff actually grows in tropical regions! :p
I’m happy for you there. (Although I imagine pest control gets interesting haha)
Southwestern U.S desert? Yeah, another story. Hydroponics are basically the best bet for your typical suburbia-dweller, I think.
morto@piefed.social 1 day ago
Indeed, I have some trouble with pests, especially with the guava tree, but I’ve been using the technique of covering the young fruits in clothing bags so that pests can’t access them, and it’ has been effective so far. Needs a bit of work, but it’s cheap and doesn’t need using any chemicals. Sometimes, a naughty possum comes and takes something away, but it’s not so frequent, so I let them take their share lol. I once planted a broccoli that was growing so big and nice-looking, but had it suddenly disappear, eaten by a group of caterpillars.
But I simply avoid the things that attracted pests and favor the ones that grow without much need of maintenance, like acerola, cassava, some pumpkins, passion fruits, some wild grape-like fruits, and so on. My backyard looks like an abandoned house with the wilds taking over, i admit, but well, I like it that way…
FeatherConstrictor@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Living in a tropical region definitely helps. Up north, the selection is difficult. Where and when you plant different items is really important, since you can very easily kill the plant if you plant it too early or late
morto@piefed.social 1 day ago
That’s interesting to know. I never paid attention to timing when planting. We can plant most things in any season without much difference. Sometimes, thing grow “spontaneously”, like the papaya tree that appeared last year and is already mature and giving fruits. Looks like I’m playing real-life stardew valley in easy mode >.<
Draconic_NEO@mander.xyz 1 day ago
I agree that people should definitely keep a good store of non-perishable foods in case of hard times, but you also should try to grow food as well. I don’t think anyone is trying to say it’ll be easy, like anything at first it is difficult. It’s definitely worth trying though, if you can and have the space. Like I said, don’t go all in as your only option, keep non-perishable foods on hand, like canned goods, or dried goods. If you’re able to grow your own food you get fresh fruits and veggies, and you won’t use up as many canned goods.
bryophile@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Haha, are you speaking from your own practical experience, in which you failed and decided to buy canned food instead?
It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either. It depends on your circumstances.
And there’s an in between as well: grow some of your own food and buy canned foods as well. Or share a garden with people who know what they’re doing.
Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, my peppers got too much calcium and had black ends. Cucumbers got too yellow. Cabbage worked fine, but I fucking hate cabbage. Beans were seriously lacking. Shit certainly isn’t easy, and it’s way to easy to think, hey, I can do this no problem!
Nikls94@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Bro my cacti died. Both of them.
Auth@lemmy.world 1 day ago
ok you can stay away from the garden and take a more motivational role
couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
This is how capitalism starts
Auth@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Good. Captialism is based
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 hours ago
I can do that. I’ll keep track of everyone’s food, you know, in exchange for food.
Samskara@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Cacti are more difficult than other plants to grow.