tomato advice

seedcorn

Garden Master
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
9,651
Reaction score
9,979
Points
397
Location
NE IN
I plant 100% indeterminate. 80% of harvest comes on all at once so getting enough to use is never a problem.
 

seedcorn

Garden Master
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
9,651
Reaction score
9,979
Points
397
Location
NE IN
I just clean out the sheep lot and put it on the garden. I guess it composts in place.

I also have a Super Duper Pooper Scooper dance.
One can only imagine...... I bet you keep your husband entertained-along with your grand kids.... that’s a compliment. Don’t let it go to your head as I will be mutterin* about you soon enough with beautiful garden while I’m fighting snow. :)
 

majorcatfish

Garden Master
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
6,869
Reaction score
11,342
Points
377
Location
north carolina
One can only imagine...... I bet you keep your husband entertained-along with your grand kids.... that’s a compliment. Don’t let it go to your head as I will be mutterin* about you soon enough with beautiful garden while I’m fighting snow. :)

hehehehehehehe said the evil gardener......

2d6ffc3d5b608178d6bf41ee8740193c.jpg

really need to find one of these....
 

baymule

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
18,810
Reaction score
36,945
Points
457
Location
Trinity County Texas
One can only imagine...... I bet you keep your husband entertained-along with your grand kids.... that’s a compliment. Don’t let it go to your head as I will be mutterin* about you soon enough with beautiful garden while I’m fighting snow. :)

2018 will be my 4th garden here and it will be awesome! I will be sure to post LOTS of pictures. You can print them out and hang them on your snowman. :thumbsup
 

ducks4you

Garden Master
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
11,769
Reaction score
15,573
Points
417
Location
East Central IL, Was Zone 6, Now...maybe Zone 5
@baymule gave you a picture book to follow and @Beekissed is right about planting what does well in YOUR climate.
You live in the desert, so you have the warmth that tomatoes like.
They put fruit out at night, and it cools down where you live, so that is what they want, too.
What you lack is humidity. Tomatoes are a tropical zoned plant. My SIL (now passed) lived in FL and she used a couple of indeterminate tomatoes on the outside of her bathroom instead of a curtain for years bc it was unlikely to die as an annual there.
Just like tropical palms, tomatoes crave water. But, they don't want to live in a stream, either.
Where I live a tomato plant in a pot without a drain will drown and die, and I have winessed this. With drainage a tomato plant will spread when we get heavy rains.
I suggest that you dig your tomato plant bed 2 feet deep and mix in manure based compost to hold moisture. Tropical soil is rich in humus, but not necessarily deep. Still they won't grow well in a rain forest, where the soil is shallow.
Use a soaker hose and water every night or before the sun sets so that the roots can soak it up.
Start your tomatoes outside as soon as possible in 2018.
Heritage tomatoes are wonderful for My climate, but YOU should grow hybrids to get a lot of fruit.
Most years I do ok. I WOULD have done great in 2017, but I got my plants in the ground way too late. I still got 9 quarts.
 
Last edited:
Top