T2 — TOMATO PART 2: Planting a few ideas

Less than 10 days from our last frost, and my tomatoes are growing. This picture is from May 25th in Central PA.

 

Did you ever have one of those days where you had only three things to buy at the grocery store? One thing led to another, and you ended up with two carts full of groceries, and a case of beer. Not a problem … until you discovered you completely forgot about the original three items on your list.

(Well, you remembered beer, so things aren’t that bad.[ Coming soon: why beer is good for your garden] ) But you get the idea.

The Tuh-MAY-der post Part 1 was kind of like that. There were so many things to say, that I missed a few tiny details. Such as planting.

 

What do you mean Dave? You said to plant them. Like, put them in the ground. Duh.

 

Well, sometimes how you do something is just as important as knowing that you need to do it.

 

The woman in your life asks you “Do these pants make my ass look fat?” Knowing how to answer the question is even more important than knowing that you need to answer in the first place.

 

Anyway, here are a few things to remember when planting tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. No trenchcoat needed for this trench
   Don’t dig a round hole. Make it more like a long trench

2. Deeper, baby! Deeper!
   Dig the hole for the tomato deeper than you intend to plant it. This helps lighten the soil and aerate it. The roots don’t have to work as hard to get to nutrients and water

   

   A manure martini? None for me, thanks, but the plants would love to have one.

3. You’re full of manure… with a twist of lime

   What’s that supposed to mean? Have you been drinking?
   My sobriety has nothing to do with this…. I love you, man….Woooooo!!!
   No, what this means is you should be adding compost to the soil mix in this hole
   I may use composted manure, among other types. As for lime. Add it to the soil for calcium. Calcium deficiencies can cause blossom end rot. Don’t lose your crop to something easily prevented.

4. 

   Tomato planting- Illustrated

   This entire situation has gone sideways
   And so should your tomato. Remember the trench? Your tomato plant should be planted at an angle in this trench, closer to horizontal than vertical. Plant the stem up to the lowest leaves. (Don’t plant any leaves. The lowest on the plant can even be removed if there are sufficient healthy leaves remaining.) The stem will grow roots and add to the root system. The soil surrounding the root system will warm up sooner and grow faster

5. How about a drink?
   For the plant, that is. Give it a decent watering after planting. Do not compress the soil when you water. You don’t want to cancel out the soil aeration from earlier.

 

With your feet planted firmly on the ground, and your tomatoes planted firmly in the soil, you can eat some Planters nuts then  go over to that special someone and plant a big wet kiss. Let me know if this planted some ideas.

Oh, and if you want to know what my favorite answer to the dreaded “Do these pants make my ass look fat” question, leave a comment on this post, and I will send the answer to you privately.

 

I hope that you enjoyed Part 2. Stay tuned for Part 3