ask gardening LJ
I'm trying container gardening again this summer. This time I have 3 Topsy-Turvy planters and a potted sweet basil. The sweet basil is growing like gangbusters...most successful basil I've ever had, in fact.
The others are having varying degrees of success. One planter has 2 Patio tomato plants, one has 2 Roma tomato plants, and one has 2 bell pepper plants (one yellow and one orange). The Romas and peppers are hanging out in the open, off the mostly-disused monkey bars on the play structure in the backyard, and should be getting quite a lot of sun and rain. The Patios are hanging on the back porch, right at the edge, and probably don't get quite as much sun and rain. I have some organic plant food that I've given them a few times since planting.
The Roma vines grew out and up and initially looked quite vigorous. They are currently displaying 7 fruits and numerous other blossoms that I expect will eventually turn into fruit, but the vines are also yellowing and a couple of fronds are starting to die off at the ends. I am not sure what could be causing that, nor what I should do about it. Anyone got any advice for me?
The peppers are just starting to set fruit (3 so far) and have several other blossoms as well. They are also doing the grow-out-and-up thing, except that they did not grow far enough out to keep them from growing up right into the bottom surface of the planter. I'm thinking of weighting them down a bit to see if that helps. They look otherwise healthy.
The Patio vines did not grow nearly as much as the Romas and took much longer to blossom at all, and only one of the two plants is doing so. Even now it's mostly sort of bushy under the bottom of the planter, and only one or two fronds have grown out. Those are going more out and down instead of up. No fruit yet. Is there something I can do to encourage it?
The others are having varying degrees of success. One planter has 2 Patio tomato plants, one has 2 Roma tomato plants, and one has 2 bell pepper plants (one yellow and one orange). The Romas and peppers are hanging out in the open, off the mostly-disused monkey bars on the play structure in the backyard, and should be getting quite a lot of sun and rain. The Patios are hanging on the back porch, right at the edge, and probably don't get quite as much sun and rain. I have some organic plant food that I've given them a few times since planting.
The Roma vines grew out and up and initially looked quite vigorous. They are currently displaying 7 fruits and numerous other blossoms that I expect will eventually turn into fruit, but the vines are also yellowing and a couple of fronds are starting to die off at the ends. I am not sure what could be causing that, nor what I should do about it. Anyone got any advice for me?
The peppers are just starting to set fruit (3 so far) and have several other blossoms as well. They are also doing the grow-out-and-up thing, except that they did not grow far enough out to keep them from growing up right into the bottom surface of the planter. I'm thinking of weighting them down a bit to see if that helps. They look otherwise healthy.
The Patio vines did not grow nearly as much as the Romas and took much longer to blossom at all, and only one of the two plants is doing so. Even now it's mostly sort of bushy under the bottom of the planter, and only one or two fronds have grown out. Those are going more out and down instead of up. No fruit yet. Is there something I can do to encourage it?