Thanks Sjoerd, I noticed that there is a little stick placed from the watering hole to the plant on each and every one of them. May I ask what is the purpose and err ... were they there before? Sorry I do not remember seeing them before
Thanks Sjeord I can't risk putting them out until the end of may, could get a late frost this morning it's -1c.
yeah I wish we could start ours earlier too, we can't put ours out until the end of may as well... darn weather!
They look great Sjoerd. I have tried that planting method when I first grew seedlings, and I had wonderful roots and healthy plants - I just ran out of time. Mine go in today, fingers crossed. You and your bride will have a wonderful crop. ( an aside....I had a smile when I saw her watch on her wrist. I'm assuming the one that warranted the trip out and about, with the lovely day).
Sorry Sjoerd, I guess you must have missed what I wrote and I am very curious about it. Sorry I have to borrowed your photo. Thanks.
Thank you so much for asking again about the sticks—that’s me with a red face of embarrassment. You are 100% correct: I did miss your posting somehow. Please forgive me. The sticks. I could have made that clearer in my original posting. The purpose of the sticks is to show me where the stem is underground. This is important when the tomato foliage and the marigolds are growing. This is important for giving water. The black watering hole is primarily for he uptake of water and the stick shows where to give water with “food”. The tom plants take up food with their more shallow roots, that’s why I do this — to give the plants a lot more roots for the taking up nutrition. Otherwise the toms would have to take up moisture AND food from the same small rootball. Look at this piccy from last years’ tom roots. The long bit was the bare stem that I had removed all the leaves from. I think that you can easily see where the cut-off stem is, where the root ball is and the bit in-between was the original stem that became the feeding root system. I was well chuffed with all those feeding roots that formed. Once again, mate—I apologise for missing your question.
Thank you so much now I understand not only the purpose of the sticks but I have also learn something new. I have to be aware of what is going on down under as much as what is above. Now I'll have a good look at the roots of the plants that I pull out to understand them better instead of just dumping them in the the compost bin. Thank you again.
Homestead is an heirloom tomato bred in Florida for hot humid climates. I've never grown it so no first hand experience, but I do have some seed and I'm going to try to put them out with my other Fall tomatoes this year. It seems like there was another variety from Florida that was heat tolerant but I cant remember what it is. Maybe you can get it in your country.
We can get Homestead here in the UK. I can't remember if we've grown that variety or not. Maybe Zigs will remember @Mater - with an avatar like that I shall want to keep calling you Tom
We do not have names for our toms here. It is either cherry or just tomato, F1 (Hybrid) or just tomato. This supplier that I am buying from is the only one that I know mention whether it is determinate, semi-determinate or non-determinate type. When it is a hybrid, they never mention what is their specialty like heat tolerant or pest tolerant or whatever. Thanks for your recommendation Mater.
Each variety of tomato has its own taste profile and growing habits. You aren't going to have consistant taste results with a system like that. Can you order seed online or something else that says what kind of seed it is? Another thing is, you won't be able to save seed because you don't know what kind of tomato you are buying. If you know another gardener in your area that saves seed and has a tomato you like, then that might work, but you may not know what variety of tomato it is.
