I didn’t post about my first attempt because it didn’t last long enough to be significant. I bought 6 tomato starters, transplanted them, and then thought that 15 degrees at 11:00pm meant that it would not freeze that night. I was wrong.
Poor Tomatoes
I did things a little bit differently the second time around and I’m hoping and praying for better results. I actually said a prayer over my tomatoes.
Since I killed my first 6 tomato plants in less than 24 hours of purchasing them, I have learned a lot about tomatoes. Some sites I read say that they are easy to grow. Most say they are not. They can either be “hugely satisfying or a flat out disaster.” Here are some of the tips that I learned:
- They do not do well in cold, windy, harsh weather.
- Cover them at night.
- Fertilize regularly (every 2 weeks or so) until they start blooming.
- Water lots but don’t over water.
- Avoid getting water on the leaves.
- Make sure your pots drain well.
- Make sure they get 6-8 hours of sun every day.
- Pinch off all except the top leaves when transplanting because the fuzzy things on the stem will grow into roots.
I also got a couple of (free) ebooks off Amazon. I don’t have a Kindle but I put the Kindle app on my phone and computer. I have two ebooks specifically about container tomatoes and several more about gardening and container gardening in general. With all the reading I have done, I’m hoping for a bumper crop of tomatoes in the fall.
Tomato Babies
Uh oh!
So yesterday I transplanted my tomatoes, with eggshells at the bottom of the hole, and put them in a sunny spot on my deck. I made sure to bury them up to the top leaves and watered them well. I was feeling pretty good about myself and held high hopes for the future of my baby tomatoes. Until the wind started. We had just over an hour of extremely fierce wind mixed with a touch of rain. So I dragged all of my containers in the house. Just as I put the last one inside and shut the front door, my tomato babies were viciously attacked by a baby bear! My littlest munchkin thought it was great fun to have dirt in the house and decided that containers with soil are just as much fun as the sandbox. Then he got upset when I reprimanded him and took it out on my plants. Half a leaf was torn off. That plant had an extra prayer said over it. Worst case scenario, it dies. I have a few back ups just in case.
Today is looking sunny already, albeit a little bit windy. My littlest allowed me to sneak away this morning and slept just long enough for me to move my containers back outside and water them well. He will realize they are out of his reach and my little spitfire will certainly let me know his feelings on the matter but, for now, both the tomatoes and my little guy are content. Now to see if I can keep them alive. The tomatoes I mean. I’m pretty good at keeping my kids alive for longer than a day! Please tell me that I’m not the only one who has had such terrible luck with tomatoes. And if you have good luck, what’s your trick?
The irony of it all: I don’t even like tomatoes. I only want them to make homemade spaghetti sauce.
I was too scared to try tomatoes, this being my first time with a true garden. My MIL does tomatoes every year, albeit, she is a pro, but she basically has to hire a babysitter for her tomatoes when they go camping for longer than a weekend. She’s done both seed starters inside with a lamp and potted plants. Both are finicky, but, oh so worth it. You’ll have to post your homemade spagetti sauce recipe. Love, love, love spagetti. It also saves my life (but certainly not my waistline).
One day I will certainly do that. I’ll add it to my list of topics to post. But, if I’m being truly honost, it is not actually my recipe. I was inspired by Ragu!
On Saturday I stuck my tomatoes outside and lost about 10 of them to the Saskatchewan weather. My only advice is to plant lots and pray for the best. Some of the plants are bound to survive.
After 10 years of tomato attempts, I no longer purchase tiny seedlings. Rather I buy the gigantic plants that are 3 feet tall and do not remove them from their monster buckets. It hails too much in central Alberta and my tomato plants need a quick getaway. Last year my plants looked like they were shot with bullets because the hail was so horrendous!
So I guess tomatoes in my first year of gardening might be setting my hopes a little too high. I have another friend who is an avid gardener who told me that she can’t get tomatoes to grow either. I somehow always give myself the most challenging thing to do when I learn a new skill. My goal for next year is to have a green house. For herbs and tomatoes. That would be wonderful! Though I do it all in containers anyway at this point so I can still move them if needed.