Today’s post is about the story of how I got into gardening and my guide to a successful crop of tomatoes….
THE STORY
Three years ago I was about to get married and my plumber gave me six tomato seedlings the month before my wedding. In a previous post I mentioned how I used to almost cry when my now husband suggested I help in the garden with weeding etc…So of course I had no idea what to do with these seedlings.
Not being able to bare the thought of leaving the seedlings to shrivel up and die, I shoved some compost from our compost bin into an old concrete washing tub out the back of our house and planted the seedlings. The funny thing is that I broke off the tops of thetomatoes a few weeks later in error and I made a break-through discovery, that you can just shove them in the ground right away and hey presto! New plants! (You don’t even need rooting hormone!)
In the weeks leading up to our wedding, I popped out each day to check on the tomatoes and weed etc. It was great stress relief and made me feel really good each day.
The day after our wedding and reception (about six weeks after planting out the seedlings), we had our guests join us for a relaxed BBQ in our garden. Everyone kept asking what was planted in the concrete tub – I think most people were really shocked that I had actually planted something…that summer we enjoyed copious amounts of tomatoes and the thrill of growing something far surpassed my previous fear of gardening. I was hooked and I spent the next winter dreaming up plans for a full vegetable garden and landscaping project which saw the removal of a huge pond.
Needless to say, thanks to my plumber, gardening has become a way of life for us now. We don’t buy any veges whatsoever, and eat everything we grow. And some days it only requires 10 minutes of attention! I freeze and preserve excess veges and of course, give lots away to friends and family when we have an excessive glut.
MY GUIDE TO PLANTING OUT FOR A SUCCESSFUL CROP
So here are our tomatoes (Yates Tomato ‘Grosse Lisse’ & Yates Tomato ‘Small Fry’) and 2.4 metre stakes! Trust me, our tomatoes go crazy here and need those long stakes. I find it best to put the stakes in when you’re planting, so you don’t disturb the roots later on.
I then plant them out in our fabulous compost mixed with manure, leaf mould, pea straw, potash and mustard dug over from winter. And use my special mix when planting out for each seedling:
- one old banana per seedling
- 2 tablespoons crushed eggshells
- a cloche over the top of each one (using 1 litre juice bottles)
- watered in using diluted Yates Nature's Way Seaweed Emulsion
- pea straw place over the soil as a mulch
…and now the wait begins! Basil and marigolds will be planted out later with the tomatoes.
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