Âmillworkman said:Rich is in Atlanta and has a true winter kill so he cuts way back and over winters chosen plants. His grow logs are truly inspirational if you aspire to grow organically.
I overwinter and have bigger more productive plants from it. The key is to give them the root space they need. A second year plant will not be happy in 5 gallons. It will lag behind new starts in no time. Put it in the ground and feed it properly and you will have a beast that will out perform most new starts.
Could you link to his grow log? I would be interested to see what goes into his soil. The largest plants I have were started from seed this past Feb and 30 of them are now at 5ft and still growing, The other 50 plants are more like 3ft but they don't get as much sun. Lots of pods ripening this week! I have had a compost pile for a few years now. I mix that in with the native soil (I grow in the ground) and I also have chickens which provide a high-calcium manure. I'm a big fan of the bone meal fox farm makes because it is more like a powder compared with espoma. I'm lucky that my native soil is already in great condition, not the clay soil that many people have to deal with.Â