Tomatoes

Historically, I haven't had much luck with tomatoes in the ground. Early on, when I first moved to my house, I planted tomatoes in pots on my deck. This worked well, generally. In recent years I've planted them in the ground with, except for yellow cherries and red grapes, disappointing results. My favorite greenhouse seedlings are my tomatoes, and I'm getting better results in the ground also.

Last year I moved the tomatoes to the South garden, backed by a large blank wall of the cream-stucco house. Perfect! The heat reflects off the wall onto the tomoatoes: heat and sun provide a great environment. Last year, for the first time, I had a tomato harvest. Never one to leave well-enough alone I enlarged the plot, mixed beautiful leaf compost into the clay soil, and planted 3 dozen tomato plants; some were determinate bush, some Roma (source: Johnny's Seeds). I use drip irrigation on a timer for the South garden - nothing fancy here. I usually ground my seedlings on Mother's Day, but this year was so cold that it seemed too early. I didn't get them in until mid-May. Typically, I lose a few when they go into the ground, so I save extras. Few gardeners have had experience with determinate species, so I tend to give away the rest to my friends and colleagues.

This year, for the first time, my husband helped me in the greenhouse. He was so excited to plant the seeds in the growing mixture. We were very careful to keep the tomatoes away from the nicotiniana seedlings to avoid tobacco mosaic virus. They popped up right on schedule, and thrived as they always do. In addition to the "regular" and the roma tomatoes, I once again planted yellow and red cherries.

It turns out that red peppers are not the only veggie that my pup Rufus enjoys eating. He has learned how to pick cherry tomatoes off the vine. Needless to say, it's difficult to keep him away from cherry tomatoes growing in the ground. Consequently, this year I did an experiment:

upside down tomato plants! I bought 6 upside down planters and hung them from my new trellis (yes, built expressly for this purpose). It's too early to say how they'll do, but so far they're still alive. Additionally, as always, I plant cherries at the beach for weekend enjoyment.