Week 11 was the week the growhouse got dismantled. The tomato plants are either now in bags or pots with just a few stragglers sat on the garden table still waiting to be planted out.
Among these were Red Robin which are minature , only growing 30cm tall . So remaining small and compact in their 10.5 cm pots and therefore staying off my radar in respect of needing slightly larger pots and fresh compost. This has now been put right; they’ve been upgraded to Wilkinson 32cm pots which may be a bit too big but they seem to have been forgiving about size so far .
It was a week topped and tailed by glorious weather with some hairy moments, mainly caused by wind, in between. Most of the tomatoes now look happy. I’ve got used to the horrible bit where you take robust looking plants, put in them in new home , decide it’s time for a cup of tea so stand back to admire your hard work and find yourself looking round on droopy, unhappy plants. Instead of thinking ‘ what the ….‘ , I now think ‘it’ll be fine’. Settling in somewhere new leaves us all a bit out of sorts at first !
I am also learning the bind of ‘I’ll be happy when….’ as applied to growing things. A few weeks ago it was all ‘I’ll be happy when I get flowers on the plants‘. Now it’s ‘I ‘ll be happy when they set‘. I can see how this list will develop !
Summary Week 11
Plants: All out, day and night. Mostly either transplanted to larger pots or grow bags with just a few remaining to be put into bigger pots.
Watering: Have watered a couple of times. I’m giving each plant about 2 litres when I put them in new pot/bag and then 1 litre at a time after that.
Flowers: I don’t know what the tomato equivalent is. Think Father Christmas, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny. Yes, the Tumbler came good and took delivery of 3 trusses of flowers ! Here’s the evidence.
There is of course , something wrong with this picture. Tumbler is bred for tumbling, from a height, in baskets and I choose it with that in mind. Could there be anything nicer for the tomato lover than a cascading hanging basket dangling tomatoes directly at mouth height ?
What I didn’t consider, in the cold dark days when I ordered seeds, was ‘ Do I have a wall, strong enough to support a hanging basket that also gets sun ? ‘ Answer, no.
Some Tumblers await my ingenious solution to this oversight. Others are in pots with a stake. Will they realise they’re in the wrong place ? I’m gunning for backwards evolution; they lose their head for heights, stop letting it all hang out and grow happiliy upwards.
The Cream Sausage has 4 flower trusses and the Darby Stripe has 2. No sign of fruit setting.
Feeding: None to date as no fruit set yet.
And how are other tomato growers getting on ?
Last week we took a look at upside down hanging containers. If you want to make some of your own (we already know my problems with suitable hanging spots although in these pictures the support is a fence posts. My fence posts look like keeping the panels upright is job enough so I’ll pass !) then Single Family Home Remodelling, a practically minded Tennessee family website give very clear step by step instructions. They promise to keep posting pictures through the season which hopefully will answer the question I have which is :
How does the upsidedown plant support the weight of the tomatoes!?
Jackie’s Secret Garden on the Central Coast of California is testing 3 methods of tomato support : cages, stakes and interweaving between twine . By the look of the tomatoes, all work well.
And in Alabama Our Engineered Garden is growing tomatoes for his dad to enjoy. What I like about looking at tomatoes growing in different countries is coming across different varieties and methods. In the US ‘Mortgage Lifter‘ seems to be a popular variety. A Credit Crunch Munch ? I don’t know ! And in the US I don’t see bamboo canes but do see a lot of round cages. I think they’re called Texas Tom Cages. There are some good pictures of them on Our Engineered Garden if you want a closer look.
Whatever the differences, one thing everyone has in common is : Will it be a good year for tomatoes ?
How are yours doing ? I’d love to compare notes !
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello again Sally,
Time for an update! The seeds I sowed at Easter all appear to be doing very well, like you I used peat pellets – 3 seeds per pellet in my case which seemed to work just fine.
I chose 3 varieties; Gardener’s Delight, Alicante and Marmande and ended up with over 20 plants from 8 peat pellets, too many, so I decided to keep 3 of each and found good homes for the rest.
Last weekend I planted them out so you were spot on with your 7-8 weeks from seed. Bit worried as I fed them at the time and have since discovered ‘no feeding at least until the first flowers’ and none of my plants have flowers at the moment but they seem OK to me.
I live in hope of flowers…..
P.S. I’ve got some tomato plants growing in one of my flower beds, self-sown from when I dug in some compost from my compost bin. I’m going to leave them be, bless’ em, and if we have a really long hot summer, who knows?
Hello Nick,
It’s great to have an update. Great to hear the Easter seeds worked out. It seems a long time ago now ! I hadn’t thought to put 3 seeds in a peat pellet but that’s an efficient way of using them so I ‘ve made a note to try that next year.
I find the ‘when to feed’ confusing. I think the principle is that the food contains potassium/potash which helps the fruit form so until there is some set it doesn’t do anything. I am sure your flowers will come . On my own grown plants the ones I have are on the Tumbler I planted on 16 March so a good while before Easter.
I love that you have got some extra plants from the self seeding. No peat pellets, no cosseting indoors and they still come through. Find that comforting !
Thanks for the update and let me know how the planned and unplanned planting continues !
Container or bucket gardens are pretty easy to get started with.
Your tomatoes look like they are doing well. Nice Pics.
I created an upside down bucket planter within 10 minutes.
It only cost be a $1.50 and is working nicely. You can take a look at my step by step pictures if interested.
http://gravitygarden.com/bucketgarden/?p=351
Gravity Gardener..
Hello,
Thank you for getting in touch. I have taken a look at your photos. The bucket may only have cost $1.50 but it looks very impressive ! I will keep visiting to see how they grow and what they look like when ripe with tomatoes. It’s an ingenious idea.