Tomato time

Sitting out my garage watching the dogs do their little games----Looking around I found a new place I could plant some tomatoes--of course the longer I sat there the more grandiose idea came to me--DIGGING the hole is probably going to be the worst --effort and bending over seem to give me chills and fever--just thinking of how I'm going to it--I don't actually get chills and fever--18 " inches deep and 20 inches square--add two shovels of pet moss and make up some soil using topsoil 1/2--nature's helper--1/3 and some good potting compost from Home Deposit--with fertilizer added--then I add lime--sprinkling--0-- 40-- 0 phosphorus--and a generous amount 1 and 1/2 hand fulls of 10-10-10 mix all the ingredients together--get the plants and set them out usually 3 plants to the hole--I can only say I'm already tasting them now--big and juicy--sometimes I don't put all the same variety in the hole--mix but they do require care and pruning--pruning them to two stems that I'll keep going the whole summer--watering--for sure and watching for sign that the plants give me visually--will keep me on my toes--that's one of the reasons--I'm planting it near my seating area--visually if you go thru your garden area--at least once a day--you solve and can take care of a lot of problems before they happen or while their not overwhelming--if it gets to the point it's overwhelming you haven't been visiting the garden on a daily basis and you're kidding yourself--by not doing it--it's worth it--believe me--a vegetable garden walk--insects and diseases work night and day--so stay on top of it by walking thru it--look for the following--they will surprise you-- how well they can hide--one minute they aren't there then they are--before you can stop them they can rid you of a lot of leaves--

the next pictures is for the plant itself--when looking at it you will notice from day to day it's habit of growth and it's color--watching the color will tell you how well your gardening chores are doing--so look over the following pictures and study your plants by them

I've grown Tomatoes in all different ways but the one I've been sticking with--as of now is the hoop system and below is the way I do it--I haven't been pruning the tomatoes in the hoops but this year I'm going to do my best to prune to a two stem system--keeping suckers out--and making sure of watering and feeding because I'm going to be real close to these guys--

when I make my wire hoops I usually count off eleven squares and then cut off the and leave the the long pieces so i can use them to wrap around the last wire--I might need a picture here so I'll try and locate one or you try it and you'll see what I mean--the bottom wires I also cut them off so I can stick the sharp pieces left in the ground but I also use stacks to hold up the wire hoops cause as the season goes along the tomatoes and hoops get heavy and wind can play havoc---

Before planting you should mix two cupfuls of dolomite lime into the planting media--it will prevent "Blossom end Rot" which is caused by lack of calcium…also other factors are not enough water and too much nitrogen…

I usually give my plants one gallon of water a day during the growing season--I make up a fertilizer solution by using dry fertilizer--one high in phosphorus--5-10-5--about a half pound--it makes almost two gallons of liquid fertilizer--I put this on the plants once a week--

RingsIf you want all rings there same size,allow 5' 3 " of concrete reinforcing wire with 6" mesh for each ring.Count 10 squares (5 Feet), cut next 6" section in half. Bend and crimp this 3" extension to form ring; cut off other 3".  Also secure with a 6 or 7 foot stake as the year goes along the tomatoes plants get so big that a big wind will blow them over but with the stake --they want--no pruning is necessary --I try to keep branches inside hoop--watering and fertilizing water everyday at least a gallon per plant--fertilizing I do one a week--