::tomato planting::

 

Four tomato plants in the cottage garden

AND 18 in the orchard garden.

That is a whole bunch of tomatoes.

All different colors and shapes and sizes and glorious-ness.

 I spent the winter reading about different techniques for tomatoes.

~Because I am a big geek~

I decided to plant them in rows covered with black landscape fabric on top.

Then when they are big and tough I will heavily mulch them with grass clippings.  The black fabric makes the soil hotter making the tomatoes grow faster.  Then latter it keeps down weeds.

I also followed a tip from my father inlaw and cut off all the leaves but the top set and planted them on there sides.  So only the top leaf set is above ground.  This gives a much larger root base and a stronger stalk, plus it keeps the initial roots closer to the surface making them hotter faster so they grow like crazy.

Why the hula hoop?  It is the exact size an average tomato plant needs to thrive - 3ft.  I used mark off my spacing in the row. 

I really do love sticks.

Cheap and effective.  

(Just like me?????)

See how short the far row is and how tall the plants waiting to go in are?

All that goes back to this planting them on their side idea.

This winter I also looked into the many ways to stake them.

I didn't really want to do cages for the orchard garden.  

Too much material and storage space.

Plus - again - I am cheap.

I stumbled across a technique called Florida Weave.  

I will post about it as it goes in.

Link here to learn more now.