Saturday, May 31, 2008

Tomato party

(Go tomatoes go)
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These fellows really took off with the 70F+ temps this week. When I went to repot them into the SWCs, I cut off most of the lower branches and planted them as deep as they would go; now all 8 plants are very well rooted. They seem to like the constant cool water on their feet that the SWCs provide-- the abiding rule of growing tomatoes is cool wet feet and warm dry leaves, and you should never let the soil dry out. SWCs are perfect for that.
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I'll feed and mulch them tomorrow, and they simply MUST be caged. The plan is to build bamboo supports with a center coil for each tomato hung from the top... but I've sort of been, um, avoiding the task. I can't avoid it anymore, so that's tomorrow's garden job number one.
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At this rate of such healthy growth, I can easily forsee a total production of 60 pounds of tomatoes per pot by end of season.

4 comments:

Robbyn said...

Girl, your garden is exploding!! Welcome home to the jungle! :)

heather t said...

Awesome! Can you give us some details on the SWC pots? I have had terrible luck with tomatoes (not enough sun, I think), and I'll take any help I can!

So impressed with all your produce - can't believe you are growing corn in pots - didn't think that was possible. And your calendula is so pretty!

ilex said...

Miss Heather, self watering containers aren't great for everything, but they are amazing for many crops. I'll write up a detailed post about SWCs tomorrow.

RG said...

Yep .. em's Maters! Very good looking ... thanks for the crop update! Your green thumb and brown soil is clearly showing! Is the building beginning to list yet?

(Howsa bunns?)

Calendula grows and reseeds very profusely here .. I pull them like weeds!