Sunday, May 31, 2009

Tomato Planting

This weekend, amongst many other tasks, I managed to plant the remaining five tomatoes into the garden. The other 11 plants were planted last weekend. I was holding off planting the last five due to lettuce, spinach & radishes that needed to be eaten to make way for them. We ate all the radishes & spinach but didn't make it through all the lettuce. I decided to just plant the tomatoes within the lettuce and then harvest the lettuce as needed. Here are some photos of how I planted the tomatoes and a photo of each tomato area.

This is a consensus of what all the tomatoes looked like before planting.
They are sturdy but rather long from being to close together. They all are
about 24" high.

I always plant my tomatoes deep as they root along the stem
but these ones were planted particularly deep. It's hard to see
from the photo but they are 12" deep.

They then all got a stake and tie.

Followed by a tomato cage. These particular cages are about
double the thickness of your average tomato cage and a little taller.

This is the group of tomatoes that I planted in the raised beds. This is my first
time growing tomatoes in soil, previously I have grown tomatoes in large
containers for the past 5 years. I am hoping they develop better in real soil.

These are the three topsy turvy's. They are growing really well so far.

Finally the last tomato group in the oak barrel. These ones are 'Jersey Devil'
paste tomatoes and they seem to be limping along. I am hoping for a rebound
if it ever warms up.

15 comments:

  1. You have some really interesting varieties there. How is Mr Early tomato? Shame you ate all the radishes, I got a cool cookbook yesterday and one of the recipes is for a tomato and radish nibble thing, kind of something you would serve at a party!

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  2. Thanks for the comment about my hydro strawberry!

    I can't believe your transplants were 2' tall. They are going to get an amazing start on the season.

    My neighbors are doing topsy turvy tomaters. They look really good. Do you think they will be beneficial through the whole season?

    Red

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  3. Prue - Mr. Early is still green, maybe a late June tomato :-( I seeded another row of radish about a week about. You should send that recipe to veggyblog@gmail.com

    Red - I hope the early start will give them a head start. It wasn't really planned, I just got impatient and seeded to early. I am guessing the upside down tomatoes will crap out in August. They do hold a lot of soil but I am guessing the heat/drying out will do them in.

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  4. There is something about the planting of tomatoes that declares the gardening season is well and truly underway. I hope your weather stabilizes for you soon and gives the new transplants a good start into the growing season.

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  5. kitsapFG - I hope it warms up soon too, its been pretty chilly for June. 41f tonight, burr!

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  6. I planted some of my outdoor tomatoes yesterday. Red Alert - a very tasty bush tom. Those cages look interesting - I've never seen them here.

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  7. Dan - those were some big transplants! They were reay to get into the ground, that's for sure. As I stated before, I'll be very interested to see how those topsy turvy planters perform. Good luck!

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  8. It must be nice having your tomatoes all in now. With each plant that gets in or germinates I'm closer to my summer garden. I can't wait.

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  9. Where on earth did you find cages? Seriously here in London (ont) I've been to Walmart, Home hardware, home depo, Canadian tire and some random shop. Not a single one had cages...they've all gone to a single support stand or bamboo arches!

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  10. Our yard is finally drying out so I hope to get the purple tomatoes in the ground this week :-)

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  11. I've been having a hard time with my tomatoes, by from what I've seen of yours I've been putting them in the ground far, far too early.

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  12. Ron - Don't be over worried about your tomatos :) I put mine in the first week of may (we had two cold snaps after as well) they've all rebounded by now. Some fresh plant feed or fert. might perk them up a little.

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  13. Vegetable Heaven - Tomato cages are pretty common here but most of them are flimsy and fall over under the tom's weight. I was lucky to find these sturdy ones.

    EG - I am guessing the upside down tomatoes won't last through August but only time will tell.

    Daphne - I can't wait either!

    Waters Deep - These cages came from Home Depot and were about $2.29 each. You should call around, one of them should have these study green ones.

    Skeeter - Good to hear your garden is drying out. I planted your marigolds the other day with the veggies and the vinca will be going in any day now.

    Ron - Like waters_deep said tomatoes can take a good amount of cold. I will stop by your page and check them out.

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  14. i love the topsy turvy tomato planters!!!

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  15. My toms are long from being close together, too. I had so many going. They're looking good tho. Nice foliage, sturdy stems. I'll be planting them deep as well.

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