Ed's Experiments and Stuff

Why are planters V shaped? Plant roots don't want to grow closer together the deeper they get, they want to spread out. Seems to me planters should be A shaped. Sure it would be tougher to fill with dirt, maybe harder to water thoroughly, and repotting would be more interesting getting the plant out of the old pot and into the new, but the roots would have more room to spread out. As I am having lunch with some buddies of mine I'm looking at the drink cup and it seemed to me that this would be perfect for starting garden seeds in the spring; tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, that kind of thing. The root benefit would be there and I wouldn't have to worry about repotting - they would be used once and then recycled. Using the glass lid as a base would allow the straw hole to be used for bottom watering. As my first try I started a couple varieties of patio tomatoes. It seemed like a good choice. They won't grow fast or big. I might not ever have to take them out of the

My Overwintered Tomato I had read an article in Mother Earth News awhile back (I don't remember the issue or date and can't find the article) about a guy who took cuttings from his tomato plants in the late summer or early fall, rooted them, and brought them inside for the winter, growing them by a big window. A couple of years ago I tried it but my cuttings had bugs and they didn't make it too long. This year I tried again and it is working pretty well. Unfortunately I didn't think about doing it last fall until I heard there was a frost warning one night. Even a light frost will kill tomatoes so I went outside and took 3 cuttings. There are two kinds of tomatoes: determinate and indeterminate. Determinate varieties grow and then flower and produce fruit over a relatively short period of time. After they fruit they may continue to grow and fruit some, but not as much. Indeterminate varieties continue growing, flowering, and producing fruit until frost kills the