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Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

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Old July 5, 2011   #1
Hilde
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Default Surpricing difference in tomato patch.

This year I have a friend grow vegetables in two of my four raised beds. (It is an arrangement that benefits both of us as she has a severe deer problem on her property and I am going away to Europe for a month and she can take care of the plants during that time.) She is growing lots of different vegetables in hers, and 6-8 tomato plants. I have 24 tomato plants and two currant bushes in my two (currants were small volunteers that I didn't have the heart to uproot) along with 48 marigolds.

We can get compost cheap at a nearby compost facility, and after having gotten a cubic yard, the beds weren't filled all the way up. My friend didn't see the need to get more compost. I wanted my beds filled up and got more for myself the next day. When planting I always plant deep, but I didn't pay attention to what my friend was doing when she planted, so she didn't plant hers really deep. I planted mine really deep, pinched the lowest leaves, so the seedlings looked small after I had planted.

I have never planted shallow and deep side by side before to see how much of a difference the deep planting makes, so I am very surprised by the big difference, and I feel bad for not paying attention when my friend planted hers. My plants are so much bigger than hers, much thicker stems, wider, taller etc. Half of my plants get more sun than hers, the other half gets quite a bit less sun than hers (shaded by the shed), but there is no difference in size between mine despite of this. All the plants are watered well, they have the same soil and mulch with the difference that I have a twice as thick layer of compost on top of the soil that was there already, which also contained a lot of compost. All the tomato plants come from my seedlings and we have many different OP varieties, like Stump of the world, Dr Lyle, Carbon, Humph, Absinthe, Dice's Mystery Black, Wes, Chapman, etc.

I might have been the only one who didn't know what a big difference the deep planting made.

Hilde
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Old July 5, 2011   #2
feldon30
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It's great when you get to see such a difference. And if you feel guilty, you can share some produce if you have too many tomatoes (no such thing, right?).
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Old July 5, 2011   #3
Hilde
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Hehehe, no such thing as too many tomatoes, Morgan, but I LOVE to share my crops with everyone I know. People are stunned by the flavor of the tomatoes we grow here in Tomatoville. :-)
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Old July 6, 2011   #4
Sunsi
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Your tomatoes sound incredible, Hilde. Reminds me when I first started gardening at our old home I took to heart what I read about French Intensive gardening and double-dug the entire gardening lot. Whew, that was some back breaking work but it paid off--my garden was the envy of the neighborhood.

At our new home we built raised beds that allow deep planting and it does make a difference. The only problem I'm running into is having enough room to properly rotate the crops. So far there doesn't seem to be out of control disease problems but next year I may have to plant some tomatoes where they were planted this year. I think turning the soil in spring unearths some potential bug problems plus we will plant a cover crop this fall which adds to the fertility of the soil.

I wish you great luck in your harvest, Hilde, and would love to see some side-by-side pictures to see the difference between yours and your friends plantings, would be interesting.
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Old July 6, 2011   #5
Tom C zone 4/5
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There is nothing that answered my own internal questions of, which is better. Than a side-by-side grow out.

Be it a gardening style, or one cultivar vs another.
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Old July 6, 2011   #6
tomakers
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My father and grandmother both said plant them deep and I have done it as long as I have been gardening. Of course, having leggy transplants at times may have had some influence.
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Last edited by tomakers; July 6, 2011 at 11:45 AM. Reason: stupidity - I didn't mean to imply I always had leggy transplants for the last 40 years.
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Old July 6, 2011   #7
Hilde
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Sunsi, I have been wondering about crop rotation too. Last year I was in Europe and only had weeds in my raised beds, so I think I should be good for the next couple of years. An alternative would be to increase the number of raised beds and grow a bigger variety of vegetables. Now I just grow tomatoes in the raised beds, and peppers in another bed. I am in zone 5b, so I don't think I can grow a cover crop.

I will see if I can take some pictures. Plants have been in the ground a month now.

Tom (C), I have never thought to plant shallow and deep side by side! Like tomakers I have leggy transplants. I have planted deep to avoid a tall thin plant that has to be supported from the first day, and I also know that the stem that is below ground will grow roots, giving the plants a good root system. I just never thought the difference would be this big. It is good to know the effect of it, but I wish it would have been the result of my own experiment and not because my friend did it differently! I am doing side by side grow outs of several things this year, though. Green when ripes (Humph, Absinthe, Green Giant, my friend has Grub's Mystery Green, Ananas Noir which is a greenish tricolor) Large pears (Cuori di bue, Franchi Red pear and Giant Pear) and I have three and my friend one plant of what I assume is an F2 of a pepper that was supposed to be Hungarian Hot Wax, but came out with the size and shape of Hungarian Hot Wax but with a red color and no heat. I am curious to see how they turn out. Gardening is just so much fun!

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Old July 7, 2011   #8
Sunsi
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Hilde, I'm in NY zone 5 and grew a cover crop last year so it can be done--our only mistake was waiting too late but it still grew. And come spring it starts to grow again quite nicely. I should mention that we used rye but want to try vetch this year because of the nitrogen fixing qualities.
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