In the Garden And How I Plant Tomatoes

Our ADLF has past so thought have turned to planting the garden beds.  Ideally cold loving plants such as chards and lettuces are planted 2 weeks before ADLF but my beds will be planted a bit late this year but well within the time frame for a good harvest.  I will be planting tomatoes on the May 24 weekend.  According to gardening legend here gardens need to be planted by May 24 for corn to be knee high by July 1.  So as long as my garden is planted by May 24 I'm a happy gardener.

In the meantime this is a good time to work compost and other soil amendments into the soil and prep the beds for planting.  It is also a good time for me to prep the beds with the square foot grid.  This year rather than using yarn I'm using gardening twine.

I plant a lot of tomatoes as well as grow tomatoes year round indoors.  Since most of a tomato plant's root are in the top six inches of soil I like to plant in a trench at an angle rather than a deep hole.  This keeps the roots growing near the surface warm and creates a stronger root system for the plant.  I add 2 - 3 tbsp epsom salts to the trench when planting the tomatoes then sprinkle 1 tbsp per foot of height around the base of the tomato plants every two weeks.  Epsoms salts provide magnesium and calcium for the plant resulting in better growth, fruit set, and less blossom end rot (BER). 

I use the square foot gardening method in raised beds for planting tomatoes outdoors so one plant per square foot.  I put the supports in when planting as they are easier to do when the plants are small.  Since my tomatoes are trained to grow up the supports slugs are not a problem.  I also protect my raised beds with a trim of copper tape around the perimeter of the beds to control slugs.

Happy Gardening!  

Garden Gnome
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