My Towmater Patch - Yet More Beginner Questions

[OldGuy43]

Staking: Currently I have my 8 plants in those metal cage thingys. I got to thinking, "Maybe plain old stakes would be better because it would make them easier to weed?" What are your recommendations/suggestions?

Hoeing: Do I just hoe them for weed control or is there some other reason to do so? If so, how deep?

Their instead of there.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

I use cages or trellises for mine. If you mulch real good around the base, you won't have to weed under them.

 

[vfem]

Just like Sweet, I use cages of trellis as well. Those tomatoes get so heavy each branch seems to need support, not just the main stem.

And I live by the phrase... "MULCH MULCH MULCH"! It will help with weed control, water retention and most important disease control. Many things that ail tomatoes live in the soil and by mulching you keep the soil from splashing on the leaves and contaminating the plant. I learned that after a mistake one year, and was fighting early blight before I knew what was happening!!!

 

[digitS']

Staking: Currently I have my 8 plants in those metal cage thingys. I got to thinking, "Maybe plain old stakes would be better because it would make them easier to weed?" What are your recommendations/suggestions?

Hoeing: Do I just hoe them for weed control or is there some other reason to do so? If so, how deep?

Their instead of there.

I am not sure what you are asking about the hoeing. Perhaps, should you cultivate more deeply to benefit the plants? I think at this stage, you'd better try not to disturb the roots and just use the hoe for killing weeds. You can also "hill up" around the plants. A "dust mulch" doesn't amount to much but it is of some benefit - it is just loosened soil.

Pulling soil around the plants is no guarantee that weeds won't grow but it helps. I think mostly, hilling brings more plant nutrients close to the plant's roots. A tomato has the characteristic of being able to grow more roots from its stem and can gain from that.

It is really a good thing to put down a little fertilizer about 4 weeks into the growing season and cover that with soil. I have my problems with a hoe, mostly from childhood experiences . If there aren't many plants, I forgo the hoe . . . and just gather loose soil by reaching around the plant with my hands.

I don't have any misconceptions about the plant food value of the gravel in my garden. Still, even a stone mulch is of benefit .

Stakes? You can make a useful cage with 3 stakes and baling twine. With very many plants, a lot of stakes are required that way but something like that is a good deal more sturdy than the store-bought wire cages. Those 3 stakes probably won't make hoeing easier than having a cage, however.

Steve

 

[OldGuy43]

Okay, mulch it is. Any suggestions as to what to use? I was thinking about pine shavings. I already have some and can buy more cheaply.

 

[momofdrew]

Pine shavings aren't a good idea because as they decompose they will steal nutrients from the tomatoes...

 

[897tgigvib]

For mulching them, the easiest way if you don't mind spending just a couple bucks per plant, is buy some bags of compost. The cheap but decent bagged compost is usually made of composted shavings that won't heat up or take nutrients away. A bit more deluxe would be bags of oak leaf mold. Something cheap, even potting soil on sale would probably work.

Before ya open the bag(s), sit down in front of the tomato plant, get comfortable, have a small bucket, and pick the worst of the weeds first. Well, doesn't have to be perfect.

Slop a few inches of whatever compost or stuff you have for mulch around the plant. Might want to put a circle of sticks or stones around it to keep the mulch in place.

For staking them, go ahead and try a few different ways, a bit different on each plant. Try a few with just one stake, a couple with 2 stales, try a couple different wire cages, and a couple different wood cages. Find what works for you. What's easiest to whack together and what the plants seem to like best.

Heck, you can get 3 feet of chicken wire, fanagle it into a circle, whack 4 sticks in the ground around the plant, and slide it down, and then run some sticks through ithere and there, get some lineman pliers, and cut some holes in the chicken wire to reach in for moving branches and picking tomatoes. That's one way.

Or get 4 4foot sticks and 12 2foot sticks and make a square cage that way with 4 uprights at the corners, and 3 horizontals on each side.

Or try a couple store bought wire cages.

Or look at some the folks here have made and copy their design

or think of something yourself new and unique and try it on one.

 

[OldGuy43]

Thanks for the answers. I'm not ignoring you. My subscription gizmo isn't working apparently. I had another idea, cedar shavings. Might help with bugs?

 

[digitS']

The idea with wood products is that they may have a lot of microbe activity but probably not. What the wood doesn't have for the microbes is protein - it is nearly 100% starch. So, if there is any protein around (maybe even around before all the wood showed up), it immediately gets scarfed-up by the critters! There must be microbes feeding off of microbes feeding off microbes -- a dog eat dog world . . . and probably not much life, anyway.

So, there's no nutrients available for the plants.

If you don't work your wood into the soil, it is possible that life goes on as usual below the soil surface. You may NEVER want to work any wood into the soil - just remove it before any cultivation is done.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are lots of different ways to mulch and things to use. The organic stuff will decompose and the bacteria in the soil that does that can tie up the nitrogen in the soil. Those bugs that break it down use nitrogen as a fuel source so some nitrogen not available for the plants top use until they are finished. The simple solution to that, don't mix it in the ground. Just lay it on top.

I often do something that a lot of people don't do. I put a layer of newspaper down around the plant, then cover that with mulch. I just make it one or two layers thick and put a layer of mulch on top of it. Regular mulch helps keep the weeds and grass from sprouting and it makes them a lot easier to pull when they do sprout. It keeps the soil damp and the weed roots pull out a lot easier. The newspaper under it helps keep the seeds that sprout from breaking through to the sun. Like I say, a lot of people don't use the newspaper, but I like to be different. I'd suggest not using the newspaper with colored pictures though. Some of those colors contain chemicals or elements you might not want in your garden. Everything gets complicated.

I use different things as the basic mulch. Wheat straw is a favorite. It still has some seed in it, but not many. If you pull them up when they sprout, they come up really easily. Rice straw, oat straw, some other kind of straw may be more available for you. A lot of the time, I put a bale of wheat straw in with the chickens for two or three days. If I take the wire off the bale, the chickens rip it to shreds so it is easier to put down, plus they either eat or thresh out an remaining seeds with their scratching. It may not have many seeds in it, but they are aggravating when those few come up.

I sometimes use dried grass clippings. If you don't cut the grass until it goes to seed, you can wind up putting a lot of grass seeds in your garden. I don't recommend that, but if you cut it before it goes to seed, it works pretty well.

I get wood chips from a local city, $10 bucks for a front end loader full. Sometimes you can get them from a local utility where they are clearing trees from around their lines. If they are working in your area, they may appreciate being able to dump a load locally instead of having to take them to a dump. I don't put these fresh into my garden though. I either pile them up for a year and let them age and rot down, or I put them in my landscaping beds for a year. I don't know what chemicals may have been sprayed on them before I got them, so I let them age a year so any possible chemicals will break down. I also sometimes get some seeds in there too. I get a lot of catalpa trees sprouting from that stuff. But the main reason I let it age a year is that it will not break down after a year in the garden. I have a lot of aggravating wood chips in the ground if I put it straight in the garden. But if I age it a year, either in a pile or in my landscaping beds or around trees, then put it in the garden as mulch, it has broken down by the next planting season.

I don't use them, but I'd think the wood shavings would work well. As thin as they are, they should break down before you need to replant.

Hope this helps some. Good luck!