Giant tomato diary

[MontyJ]

For the giant tomato contest I decided to start a diary of sorts. Now I can document my success or complete failure in public. As with the beginning of every season, hopes are high. But you just never know what mother nature has in store.

At the head of tomato row:



I dug a few trenches:



I filled each with soil from the bottom of the compost pile:



Then I blended the soil from the sides of the trenches with the compost to make a fortified trench about 12 wide:



Checking for fit...looks good:



Loosened the root ball and planted:



And finally made a watering berm:



I planted four instead of the six I had previously planned. The variety is Delicious. Churches would have been my prefered variety for something like this because I like its growth habits better, but Delicious does grow some big tomatoes. And since I didn't start any Churches this year, Delicious will have to do.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

good luck!! great pics!

 

[bj taylor]

it will be fun to watch your tomato adventure. I bet they will be big ones

 

[skeeter9]

Wow! Look at that soil! I'm so envious!!! Hope your Delicious do well.

 

[majorcatfish]

you go monty....

 

[baymule]

This will be fun to watch as your giant tomato diary progresses. Looks like you are off to a good start!

 

[journey11]

Delicious is one of my favorites and in my garden every year. Good luck, I hope you grow a wheelbarrow full of whoppers.

 

[the1honeycomb]

That would be impressive put Burger King out of Business!!!
Do you use home made fertilizer or what and how often do you fertilize?

 

[ninnymary]

Monty, did you start those tomatoe plants from seed? They sure look nice and big.

Mary

 

[MontyJ]

That would be impressive put Burger King out of Business!!!
Do you use home made fertilizer or what and how often do you fertilize?

I'm not sure what you mean by home made. I never use a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10. I prefer to add the macros individually at different stages of plant developement. For tomatoes, I feed small amounts of N via Alaska Fish as well as P and K in small amounts. P helps build strong roots and K stimulates growth by helping water and nutrients move through the plant. When the flowers start to form, I stop all applications. By now there is plenty in the soil to carry the plant through. If the weather is unusually hot, I may feed a little more K to keep the water flowing through the plant. If I'm not happy with bloom production, I may add a little more P.

...waiting for Bay to crack about me p'ing on the maters...

Every season is different as far as plants go.

Mary, yes I grew these from seed. I start everything from seed. These four look big because they were crowded together in the hoophouse and actually got leggy. Normally I wouldn't prefer to see them like that, but in this instance, it's actually a good thing