Transplanting Tomatoes Into The Garden

Here it is March 24th already.  This weekend was jam-packed with things that needed to get done.  As The Steve Miller Band sang, "Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future..."  Since the first week of January, I've been nurturing some tomato starts that I planted from seed when 2019 was brand, spanking new. 

The tomato seedlings are tall, leggy, and in need of some fertilizer.  You can tell because they have a yellowish tint to them.  Once I get them into the rich garden soil, they'll be fine.  I'll also hit them with a dose of fish emulsion in a foliar application.  They'll be happier than a pig in mud.  I separated them into different groupings of varieties.  I always plant more than I need as "insurance" in the event the germination isn't good or I have an early crop failure.  I'll have plenty for us as well as to give some away.

As I explained in a post in early January, we planted eleven varieties of tomatoes, including: Creole, Roma, Pink Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Amish Paste, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Black Vernissage, Thessaloniki, Big Rainbow, and a variety I call "Mrs. Linda" tomatoes.  Additionally, I have 6 tomatoes that I rescued from the garden in the fall and brought them through the winter.  They are very tall and, believe it or not, one of them already has a bloom on it!:

So let's take a look at where I am planting.  I experimented with "metal mulch" this year.  It's just tin left over from a barn expansion project that I laid out on top of the garden soil in the winter.  For the most part it blocked out 98% of all the winter grass.  Furthermore, the soil underneath was rich, moist, easy to work.  It was teeming with earthworms, too!

In contrast, just a few feet south in the garden, here's what the soil would have looked like had I not laid tin out.  I'll have to work harder to get this area worked up to plant corn and beans!:

  
Using a no till technique, I used a post hole digger to dig holes about eight inches deep.  I plant the tomatoes in the hole, adding a tablespoon of organic tomato food before filling with composted leaves and garden soil.  Later this week, once I have all the tomatoes planted, I'll lay out hay (with a little goat poop and cow poop mixed in) between all tomato plants.  This will serve as a mat to crowd out any weed growth and maintain soil hydration.  A thick mat of hay mulch really aids in keeping the soil moist and cool in the hot summer months that are coming.

After working Sunday afternoon from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm, I got three rows of tomatoes planted.  I planted them 18 inches apart on the row with rows separated by a 34" walkway.  I estimate I am about halfway done with tomato planting.  I should finish hopefully Tuesday afternoon if the Good Lord's willing.  Here is a shot looking east.  You can see the post hole digger and bag of organic fertilizer.

Here is a shot looking west.  As I pick up rows of metal mulch, I simply move them to the south.  When I am ready to plant my next crops, like peppers, corn, beans, squash, okra, etc., perhaps some of the winter grass will be dead or dying underneath the tin.

Hopefully traffic will ease up tomorrow and allow me to get home at a reasonable time so that I can get our tomato seedlings transplanted.