What to plant?

Fielding more questions today. When I am deciding which tomato plants to put in my garden I plan for success. To do this I plant both determinates and indeterminates. Determinates produce lots of tomatoes at one time and the indeterminates produce fewer tomatoes but at different times so you have a constant supply of tomatoes coming off the vines. I also plant early producers like the Early Girl and mid to late producers. I hedge my bet my also putting in a more heat resistant tomato like the Celebrity or Solar Set. If I plant a grape or cherry tomato, I do have my favorites. I LOVE the TAMI-G Grape tomato. This is a wonderful producer that will fill your bucket all summer long. If I am planting a cherry tomato, it will be the Husky Cherry Red.

A well balanced choice of plants will ensure a more successful tomato production and keep you and your friends happy until the first freeze.

2011 Garden YEAH!!!

Well it is that time of year again. Ready? Some folks have been asking me why my tomatos grow so large and produce such huge harvest each year. Hummm I don't know. What I do know I will share now. A tomato plant is like a factory, a tropical factory to be sure. It needs only three things. HEAT, FOOD and WATER

The biggest mistake people make when planting tomatoes is they fail to bury the plant deep enough. A tomato plant needs to be buried with at least 2/3 of the plant in the ground. Do not pull the leaves off. This creates a larger root system and assist your tomato factory produce larger plants and more tomatoes. The FOOD I use is Berger BM-7 it contains peat moss, composted pine bark, calcitic & dolomitic limes, perlite and Canadian sphagnum. The peat moss makes up about 65% of the mixture. Berger 1-903-945-5403. I add to this cow manure, about 20 lbs. per pot.

Next HEAT I use 27 1/2 gal. blue plastic barrels. These are 55 gal. plastic barrels cut in half. I use a magic marker and a yard stick and make dots. I then connect the dots and use a circular saw to cut the barrel in half. Black barrels get too hot and you have to water too often and white barrels don't get hot enough. Blue barrels are the ticket.

Lastly, WATER I collect and use rain water. I am not sure how much this helps but I believe the taste is imporved. Maybe not.

Well now you know what I know. Best of luck with your tomatoes. Jerry Beare