28 October 2024

Labour Day and I’m pleased to say I’ve got our tomatoes in.  Now strictly speaking the Last Quarter moon phase is not the best time to plant tomatoes, so they’ll probably sit there for a week or so and shoot away after that.  But I had a chat with Rob and we decided my plants had to go in as they were big enough and might get stressed by leaving them much longer in their pots (ie they were running out of nutrients).  In our opinion, common sense always has to play a part when you’re gardening by the moon.

So here’s how we plant tomatoes.  The biggest job is preparing your garden bed.  This bed below is the one that had the mustard cover crop which I chopped down and put a weed matting over towards the end of winter.  I always work a bed over with a fork first to aerate it.  All you’re doing is lifting the soil, not turning it over.

Structure-wise this bed has that chopped material in it, so I’m adding the finer material out of our Hungry Bin into a central trough. 

Then a bag of chicken manure for its nitrogen primarily and it also adds structure.  Then with a fork, mix it lightly together.  Fortunately we had a good rain after I prepared the beds, so that really helped consolidate it all before planting.  Then in with the waratahs. You can use all kinds of supports, but I chose to invest in these and I can use them year after year.

In my other tomato bed there had been a brassica crop, so firstly I aerated it with a fork.

Then to improve structure and add nutrition, I added the last of our most recent compost which was well-broken down. 

On top of that went a bag of chicken manure.

And I worked it all in lightly with the fork and positioned the waratahs.

Then we get to the good fun bit, the planting.  Just before that however I apply a few handfuls of sulphur prills (bottom right in image below) to both beds because last year we tested our soil and found it was too alkaline, plus tomatoes like a soil that tends toward acidic, and sulphur helps keep fungal infections like tomato blight at bay.

The first bed has the indeterminate varieties – I have Sweet Million red cherry, a black cherry, Moonglow, Chefs Choice Black and Moneymaker.  Three good products to have while planting are gypsum to provide calcium to help avoid blossom end rot, neem granules to help keep psyllids away, and Morganics for an all-round mineral boost.  Pop the gypsum and neem granules at the bottom of the hole, in goes the plant and apply a handful of Morganics round the plant once planted.  Water in well.  I don’t net at this stage, so I hope the birds can control their desire for worms till the plants get established.

This second bed has six Romas for sauces and relishes, as well as three Scoresby Dwarfs which don’t need staking and are good for both eating and preserving.

Happy planting!

 

From Jan and Rob

6 Responses

  1. Have to agree re beans! I’ve sown twice so far and all I’ve got so far is 2 seedlings and they’re in near on perfect soil and get plenty of sun so my next plan is to sow butter beans and not green too see if I have better luck! Peas on the other hand has been the complete opposite and I noticed today that their flowering last year the were my ‘bust’ and beans were my ‘boom’ crops

    1. Hi Shani Yes, sometimes it comes down to the seed, sometimes how much rain we get, sometimes temperature and so on. Keeps you on your toes. Pleased you have a good crop of peas. Persist with the beans – you’ll get there eventually! 😊

  2. Loved write up HOW WE PLANT OUR TOMATOES, including the photos which were both very helpful. Also I forgot the mustard seeds end of season! Your suggestion re light forking and clearing central channel will be useful for end of season.
    Regards 🌸

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