Always plant tomatoes deep, and on their sides.
Dig out a shallow trench. Remove the lower stems and branches off the tomatoes, leaving only the upper most top leaves.
Lay the entire plant down a trench on its side and cover with soil. Leave only the top leaves showing. Don't worry if the foliage is pointing to the side, it will right itself and grow upright in a few days.Planting tomatoes on their sides allows the entire stem that is buries to form roots, giving the plant the best foundation possible and allowing the plant greater ability to absorb nutrients and water. Plus a larger root system near the soil surface will meant that more heat will be available to the plant, producing earlier tomatoes. 
I built this little hoop house over my newly planted tomatoes to protect them from frost if we happen to have any in the next week or two. It should warm up the soil a bit too to speed up fruiting.
I built this little hoop house over my newly planted tomatoes to protect them from frost if we happen to have any in the next week or two. It should warm up the soil a bit too to speed up fruiting.
I think you'll need the hoop thingy! It seems to me to be a LOT colder today. So answer me this, if you were growing tomatoes in a pot (as I do) how can you do the plant-them-on-the-side thing? And, by the way, I don't think those are your hands, they look too old and rough!
ReplyDeleteThey are not my hands. I could not take a pix of my own hands as i only have two. I found those hands on the web.
ReplyDeleteYour pots are big enough to plant the toms on their side. no need to dig a trench. Just a spot wide enough for the toms. They are not very big.