The teepee planters are filling in a lot already and I thought you'd like to see just how much they've grown over the course of one month.
If you missed it the first time around, a couple of weeks ago I showed you how to build a sturdy bamboo teepee. I made some for myself as I experiment with growing things in pots which we can blame on Sarah Raven's book and another book I've been reading, which I don't think I've told you about.
The Cottage Garden is a book by Danish gardener Claus Dalby. Don't be fooled by the word "cottage", which doesn't mean small, it means casual. The gardens featured aren't small, but they're informal, casual and enchanting.
I've grown in pots before, but this is the first time I'm experimenting with watching how things grow in them and how far I can push and prune them into submission.
I have very low hopes for the potentially massive Supersweet 100 tomato plant growing in the smaller bamboo teepee. I expect it will reach out and kidnap anything that moves past it within the next month or so.
It's always hard to imagine how big a plant will grow when you first plant it. It seems so tiny and the growth so incremental.
Below you can see the growth over a series of weeks.
Photo taken June 11th
(2 weeks later) Photo taken June 26th
Right now, 1 month after the first set of photos were taken, the SS100 looks magazine worthy, picture perfect, an absolute doll of a behaved tomato plant.
It'll soon be out of control so I have to figure out how I'm going to manage the unmanageable. Now that the tomato has reached the top of the bamboo teepee and the branches are still pliable I'll start to guide them.
I can either attempt to get them to start bending straight down (using twine to secure the leaders downwards) or I can start bending them down and around so the leaders spiral down the bamboo.
Or I can leave it and forget I ever started this experiment.
The other option would be to add a string above the tomato teepee and twirl it up the string like I normally do with tomatoes. But that then makes the teepee a bit redundant so it's not my favourite option.
OR I could build a bigger teepee for it, like the one I built for the sweet peas which are doing really, really well.
Again I have comparison photos, this time of the sweet peas.
And now a look at the sweet pea vines as they looked today, July 11th, 2024.
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The Sweet Peas in the galvanized pot, growing up a larger teepee are doing an impressive job considering the late start they had. I held them in their small pots (always a bad thing with deep root producing sweet peas) for about a month longer than I should have before planting them.
I didn't have time. What are you going to do?
You push on, plant and hope for the best.
The Beaujolais Sweet Peas are now producing flowers. You can now see, why I chose this variety to plant with the Merlot lettuce.
The sweet pea variety, Beaujolais, is a good match for the lettuce variety, Merlot that was growing at the base of the trellis.
About that lettuce. The lettuce has bolted. You know your lettuce is bolting when the stalk starts to grow tall and the leaves are no longer tight together but inches apart. Lettuce bolts when it gets too hot, and when it bolts, the leaves get bitter.
Which is why in the next week or so we're all going to plant lettuce seeds to replace our early lettuce that bolted.
Before that post appears in your inbox you're going to want to buy some lettuce seed if you don't have any. I grow Merlot (red lettuce, Bauer (an expensive hybrid seed but I really like it) and Paonia head lettuce which I always struggle with starting.
Those are just the ones I've landed on after years of growing, but there are a ton of really respectable lettuces out there so don't feel compelled to grow the ones I do.
I pick the lettuce by pulling off the lowest leaves that have been growing the longest. I find that having 8 lettuce plants gives me just enough single leaves to be able to have salad every night while still giving the plant time to generate new growth.
Get those lettuce seeds, and get ready for an upcoming post on how to get the MOST out of the lettuce you grow.
All the lettuce has been removed, replaced with new starts, other than the head lettuce growing at the base of the tomato. Head lettuce doesn't bolt as easily and takes longer to grow than leaf lettuce.
Thoughts on Pots
I have to tell you that there's something to this growing in pots business. The dahlias I planted in pots are twice as big, twice as healthy (almost no pest damage) and earlier to flower than the ones I have in the ground.
The tomatoes also look good and I have an entire pot of celery growing that is producing better looking and more vigorous celery than I've ever grown.
Sooooo this weekend I'm going to add another experiment to the mix and do a late planting of carrots in pots. My early garden planting of carrots has resulted in a few carrots sprouts with the rest being as curmudgeonly as carrots usually are.
Randy P
It is true that although I have no interest in gardening per se, I am will to try this whole Teepee planting thing. How deep a hole would you suggest for the average roll of Charmin?
Karen
I missed your usual midnight comment - I assume you were crafting your crappy comeback. ;) ~ karen!
Randy P
I was out of town on a roadtrip - got back well after midnight. lol
Cara
Metal containers: This year, more than previous years, we have had a severe problem with rabbits eating a large variety of leaves/flowers/stems. I, for one, put $ and energy (and a sense of humor)into raising flowers from seed. Most have been consumed: Cosmos, Mexican sunflowers, Sweet William, nasturtiums, etc.) (People with deer face further problems). Using large pots is very interesting and I'll probably try it next year. Bunnies jump up pretty skillfully. I now have 2 layers of green flex fencing around "mature" seedlings. My garden looks like a fortress - fencing and stakes charming. Animals still manage to get in. I use large beach stones to make the base rigid. And so, not only will I need to exclusively use NATIVE PLANTS (that also attract pollinators) but give up some of my more whimsical ideas of how I want my garden to look.
Question: do you always make holes in the bottom of your large containers?
Linda in illinois
Karen
Curious as to what soil type you used in your pots and what type fertilizer you use if any. Absolutely absolutely love your garden. I grow my tomatoes mostly in pots myself. This year I tried cucumbers in pots, a trellis with chicken wire and they did great for a bit, they put off small cucumbers, and now they’re dying very fast, so probably cucumber bore.
Linda Weber
Karen how do you control earwigs on your dahlias? I drown them by emersing the flowers in water to drown the little beggers which hide inside the flower. I have read to spray soapy water on the leaves but what about the flowers where they all seem to hide? And my huge dahlia in a pot has already given me a bouquet whereas the ones in the ground are just starting to bud. Oh well, something exciting to look forward to.
Mary Martin
I love your posts. I always learn from you and I appreciate you sharing. Love your screech owls - they are really beautiful. It's really sad that the environmentalists decided they need to "hunt" 500,000 because they are encroaching on the spotted owl territory. I hope yours will be safe.
Kathy Savage
Every year I grow tomatoes in pots, on my balcony. I put an S hook on the eaves and attach a $ store coated string down to the pot which I affix to a tent peg. As the plant grows I twist it up the string. My tomatoes are 5' or so. It works so well.K
K. Savage
Every
Chris W.
Your SS100 really is doing nicely but you're right - some day very soon it'll be eating up all the other plants in the vicinity. We found,on Amazon, some really cool little clips that will actually snap onto whatever string-type thingy you decide to use and because it's only about 3/4" around, it won't damage the tomato stem. The minimum we could order was 300 so we're supplied until the next century, as they're reusable. They've been working wonderfully for us. Our tomatoes are growing like crazy - these little clips support them really well and allow for slight movement that provides the air the plants need. Hope this is helpful. Your garden really is beautiful!!!
Terry Rutherford
I love the sweet peas in a galvanized pot and the proportions are perfect. Did your Bauer bolt too? Mine haven’t but I have a LOT of them to give away before they do. (Seriously . If you live near Sarnia, free lettuce!) They look so little when you plant them, it’s amazing. Likewise kale and Swiss chard, never thought they’d live, so little at planting. The first time (obviously) for them. Good luck with the tomato plant, same dilemma in the ground in cages, they’re all too tall do what to do. Obviously I don’t string train, my bad. Hornworm season is upon us btw! Sorry for the information dump, but gardening… I’ll look for that book now, many thanks!
Hettie
Another super post! Thank you! I've placed a hold on The Cottage Garden at my local library and on another by Claus Dalby called Containers in the Garden. If I'm crazy about either of them I'll go to Amazon (I always shop Amazon via your site, even when buying eye patches for my grandson), and buy them.
I gave up on growing celery. No luck at all. This year, I'm growing celeriac instead. So far, it's outperforming all the celery I've ever tried. But I've never tried growing celery in pots. That'll be next year's project.
I don't know where I'd be without you leading the way in the garden, Karen. I've probably told you that your blog is why I tried growing food about six years ago. Now, I have a big veggie garden that supplies me and my family with all sorts of delicious, fresh produce.
I want to let you know how much I appreciate all the good things you make happen. Not just for yourself but for lots of other folks too. I'm always delighted to see a new The Art of Doing Stuff email in my inbox. And that's saying something! Normally, I just hit delete, delete, delete... :D
Ann
Now you are just teasing all us southern gardeners, with your sweet peas and lettuce in the middle of July!!! We barely can grow sweet peas at all. I planted mine in January and prayed that they were protected enough during our remaining cold spells and got to enjoy them for a few weeks in April...
But honestly your stuff is just gorgeous and I do envy your milder summer. We haven't had rain in over 5 weeks and our daily temps have been between 90-100 that entire time. I do have a productive garden going, haven't bought a veggie from the store or farmer's market in weeks. But as I go out at 6 am to start my watering chores, I do yearn for your more temperate summer weather
Carol Bower
I planted my SS100 tomatoes in a raised bed about 6 weeks ago, and they look like yours. I'm afraid I pruned them too much, because there are only a few clusters of fruit. Usually I don't prune at all, and they are loaded with dozens of clusters by now. So is pinching off the suckers really a good thing to do?
Kat - the other 1
My lettuce always looks like that, no matter what type I try to grow. 🤔
Your stuff always grows so fast! After six weeks most of my tomatoes are still piddly, I've only gotten two beans, and not a single squash (7 plants, 4 varieties). I have gotten about 8 Ichiban eggplants. Oh and the stupid pepper maggots waited till I thought the peppers were safe to hit, grr! The last 3 eggplants I didn't think I had room on the tray to roast all of them, so I tried to "hassleback" them. Not bad. And something ate all my potato leaves argh! I only had one pot this year, only one came up (successfully) and now its nearly eaten. I do have a couple sprouted potatoes I'm thinking of adding to the pot, but I don't know what is eating it. 🤔 😕 Just tried planting some shelling peas in a pot that is in the only semi shaded spot in the entire yard (although it's not my yard so someone may do something mean and stupid to it yet). Got about two weeks till I'm supposed to plant for fall (even though that doesn't happen for almost sure till November but we usually get a frost in October just long enough to kill the frost sensitives). I've not yet gotten this "seasonal" planting / planning " stuff down, but I'm trying. Doesn't help when everything is so slow, and we never had normal seasons before the weather got wonky (SouthEast). Lovely plants and planters you have my dear!