Wednesday 29 May 2013

The Tomato Planting - at last.

Finding something to do in the garden at this time of year is not a problem. It is more a question of what to do first. I determined that today would be the day that I would plant out my tomato plants in the greenhouse border. According to my diary it is now eight weeks since I sowed the seed and just over four weeks since I pricked out the seedlings from the seed tray and potted them on. What an exciting life I lead!

With rings having seemingly disappeared from garden centres and horticultural suppliers I have been forced to improvise so that I can continue growing my tomatoes in the same manner I was shown in the ,"60's." I now use large plastic pots and those bucket containers that fat balls come in with the bottoms cut out. These are sunk in the border and I half fill them with garden compost from the compost heaps. They are then topped up with purchased compost from the garden centre. I find that this is a sufficiently rich medium for the young plants until they set their first truss and I start on the nitrogen feed.

I planted a total of twenty four tomato plants, - three rows of eight. After giving them a good watering I then erected my bamboo scaffolding. It may look a bit , "Heath Robinson," but it provides the necessary support for the tomato vines. I like to put this in place immediately after I plant the tomatoes so that their disruption is kept to a minimum.
Last Years Tomatoes

2 comments:

  1. Interesting that you use nitrogen feed after the first truss has set.The usual thing is to use ahigh potash feed.

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    1. The feed which I use does of course also contain potassium and indeed phosphorous.but the proportion of potassium is somewhat less than would be generally used for tomatoes.

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