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| 8x6 Oil on Masonite |
I painted one of my seedlings a couple of years ago...
I must really like tomatoes!
Mrs. Ardis rooted roses, azaleas, and hydrangeas by the dozens. She planted her cuttings in old coffee cans. Each was covered with a bread bag making a mini hot house. She grew her vegetables using seeds she saved from one year to the next. Once, she pinned a leaf to her kitchen curtain that sprouted tiny little plants all along the edge.
I was fascinated.
I was remembering her and her Dixie Cups filled with tiny tomato plants yesterday when I was working in my vegetable garden. I have wonderful memories of my sweet little Mrs. Ardis.
My first round of tomatoes were planted 5 weeks ago when they looked like this...
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My first round of tomatoes were planted 5 weeks ago when they looked like this...
Now they look like this...
Planting Tomatoes
- Plant a few hills early in the spring. If we get a frost, I just cover them up. I just planted 3 more hills and will add another 3, a month from now. I stagger my planting this way so that when one planting begins to play out, another one is just getting started -- I don't get all my tomatoes at once.
- I purchase plants (shame on me) from the garden center. I like Celebrity and Sweet 100's and I look for plants that are not too leggy, stand upright, have no wilted leaves and no blooms.
- Grow two plants for each member of the family who will eat lots of tomatoes, as a rule of thumb. If you plan on canning tomatoes or making fresh and canned salsa, use up to four plants per person.
- Plant in a sunny spot. Place tomato plants in a site that gets full sun (7 hours or more daily). Tomatoes need lots of warm sunshine.
- Prepare the garden bed by adding lots of well rotted compost if you have it.
- Remove the leaves from the bottom half of the plant and plant deep in the hole burying 50-75% of the plant. This is hard for me to do when I buy such a nice, tall plant but it's a must! It makes for a stronger plant.
- Give each plant about 1 gallon of warm water within ten minutes of transplanting to avoid transplant shock.
- Space tomato plants 18 to 36 inches apart. Don't forget to leave yourself enough space to get in between the plants to water, weed, and harvest. Those cute, little seedlings may not remain that way for long.
- Use a tomato cage or a tall stake to support the tomato vine about 14 days after transplanting.
- Choose whether to use chemical fertilizers. I am lucky to have chickens and all the chicken poo I want. I use soiled hay from my coop as a mulch for each plant being careful not to let the mulch actually touch the plant. This is the only fertilizer I use because I have a chicken tractor that's been on all of my planting beds so the chickens have already fertilized each bed. If you choose chemical fertilizers make sure they are made for vegetables and not grass and follow the manufacturers instructions!
- Shake your plant poles or cages gently once or twice each week for about 5 seconds once flowering starts to promote pollination of the blossoms (from one flower to another).
I'll have to post about chicken tractors soon but here is a look at mine in last year's garden...
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| Click on the picture if you'd like a little backyard tour with some pretty shocking "before" pictures! |
Ha! Notice the tomatoes gone wild!
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I'll be hooking with these fun ladies...
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