Growing tomatoes and basil

[texmex]

Does your band have any recorded work online?

We have constant difficulty with in home, diy recording technology, so mostly we've captured live video
https://www.facebook.com/reesasmonkey/videos
It us what it is. A barrel of fun chaos.

[VictorMackay]

It's awesome that you're diving into growing San Marzano tomatoes and basil. Both are fantastic additions to any garden, especially for pizza lovers like us! One thing I found helpful is to really focus on soil quality and drainage. Basil loves well-draining soil, so adding some perlite or sand can help. Also, try to avoid overwatering, as it can lead to that minty flavor you mentioned. As for tomatoes, they're pretty forgiving plants as long as they get plenty of sun and water. If you're tight on space, consider building a metal raised garden bed. I stumbled upon this site, https://www.mklibrary.com, and they have some great DIY ideas. Raised beds can help with drainage and make it easier to manage your plants.

[PapaJawnz]

It's awesome that you're diving into growing San Marzano tomatoes and basil. Both are fantastic additions to any garden, especially for pizza lovers like us! One thing I found helpful is to really focus on soil quality and drainage. Basil loves well-draining soil, so adding some perlite or sand can help. Also, try to avoid overwatering, as it can lead to that minty flavor you mentioned. As for tomatoes, they're pretty forgiving plants as long as they get plenty of sun and water. If you're tight on space, consider building a metal raised garden bed. I stumbled upon this site, https://www.mklibrary.com, and they have some great DIY ideas. Raised beds can help with drainage and make it easier to manage your plants.

This is good info, though if you are growing a container plant, I would use perlite instead of sand due to the weight.  Sand may drain well, but it is extremely heavy.  Perlite on the other hand is practically weightless in the amounts we use.

I like to use Happy Frog medium which already has perlite in it.  The soil drains well and has enough peat moss to retain moisture.

[kori]

If you want production plant your tomatoes in straight manure (4-6 years old) from a farmer, the tomato plants will take the heat. Not those bags of manure from Walmart you want the pure stuff right from the pile. The plants will thrive like you've never seen. Lots of water.

I know of another plant that does very well in straigh manure. 

[SourRoses]

I like to use Happy Frog medium which already has perlite in it.  The soil drains well and has enough peat moss to retain moisture.

Happy Frog and Ocean Forest are awesome soils! Great suggestion! 

This year I want to try Tomatoes in Bubble buckets. I already have most of the stuff.  Every time I try in soil they get root Nematodes (from our sand) or some other issue. Then those awful Hornworms come along and devour everything before the blossoms have set! So I want to make a mosquito screen net house to protect them from all the bugs here (would have to hand pollinate I guess).
Best time to plant in FL is June, for a late fall harvest when it's cooled down. I have some seed from San Marzano Redorta, it's pretty old now but I hope it's still viable, the tomatoes are supposed to be a little bit bigger. 

[PapaJawnz]

Happy Frog and Ocean Forest are awesome soils! Great suggestion! 

This year I want to try Tomatoes in Bubble buckets. I already have most of the stuff.  Every time I try in soil they get root Nematodes (from our sand) or some other issue. Then those awful Hornworms come along and devour everything before the blossoms have set! So I want to make a mosquito screen net house to protect them from all the bugs here (would have to hand pollinate I guess).
Best time to plant in FL is June, for a late fall harvest when it's cooled down. I have some seed from San Marzano Redorta, it's pretty old now but I hope it's still viable, the tomatoes are supposed to be a little bit bigger.

Nice!  Yes both are great soils, the ocean forest I found has been a bit hot and the bags of happy frog I got last year were as well.  Once the plants were established they handled the mix well.  I then follow up with epsoma garden tone or tomato tone with earthworm castings on top to help the epsoma stay moist and work.  The soil out here is clay and shale, very dense and low drainage.  I have to grow in pots/bags and that makes for a lot of watering.  We also don't get much rain here, so the super hot times when we dont get rain for 3-4 weeks it's a lot of work but the fruits of the labor well worth it!  I hope to get some san marzano's going this year, I will for sure do better boys for sandwiches, and for basil I think I'll just keep it indoors in the windowsill.  They are doing great there in small pots!  I pluck them about 2-3 times a week and they always seem to regenerate by the time I'm plucking them.  Tomatoes here are very challenging, lots of hail and wind which can wreak havok on an outdoor garden.  I should build a hoop house but I'm worried it will just blow away in the wind.  My neighbor has a 12 month greenhouse that has keep him with herbs and some vegetables year round but I think it set him back 15k.

Oh yeah I am always growing chile's too, luckily they like dry hot conditions!