Monday, May 17, 2010

Planting Tomatoes and Expanding the Garden

planting tomatoes
Ok, I need to make this post quick because I have to go to bed! Last Saturday, I spent much of the day transplanting the bulk of my tomato plants - around 26 plants...add that to the 9 I planted out a few weeks ago and the 4 to 6 yet to come. (I will have to list all of the varieties in another post). These tomatoes are located in the back garden (aka the prior owner's abandoned garden), which gets full sun. I planted them in a double row, spaced about 1 and 1/2 feet apart in all directions (tight, I know). Into the hole went some compost, slow release fertilizer, bone meal, a sprinkle of Epsom salt and some crushed calcium and aspirin pills. I snipped off all but the top few branches before deep-planting the tomatoes. The tomatoes I transplanted a few weeks ago are now doing very well. I hope these will too.

expanding garden 1
On Sunday, I went to work on expanding the back garden. First, I started off by marking the new boundaries with some metal stakes, which will be used to hold up the new fence. Then I went to work on digging up the sod to create a series of mounds spaced about 2 to 2 and 1/2 feet apart. I used a garden fork to loosen and turn over the soil, into which went a good amount compost and slow release organic fertilizer. I ended up with 7 mounds on the front end (left)...

expanding garden 2
...and 14 mounds in the back end. Into these mounds I will transplant the bulk of my melons, cucumbers and maybe some summer squash. I also cleared an area for my raspberry canes, which I should have planted out weeks ago.

Expanding garden 3
Next, I put down a layer of leaves (from last fall) on top the grass followed by some grass clippings. Then I placed a plastic cup (recycled of course) at the center of each mound so that they will be easier to find once the black landscape fabric gets stapled on top.

I'm choosing this more passive approach to expanding the garden 1) to save myself from having to dig up all of this grass and 2) in addition to smothering the grass, the leaves and grass clips will decompose by next year, adding additional organic matter to the garden.

expanding garden 4
And here is how it all came together at the end of the day...neat and tidy if you ask me. Hopefully the melons will enjoy the added heat generated by the fabric. My only concern is that the ground might heat up too much due to the decomposing mulch underneath. If that's the case, I'll place a layer of straw on top of the fabric.

You can see the raspberry canes at the bottom. I treated them with some Agri-Gel before planting out. Hopefully they will do well here too.

And that was my weekend in a nutshell. Good night!

21 comments:

  1. You should get really good results with your expansion efforts - both this year with the melons and cucumbers and next year with the new larger bed area.

    Look forward to updates on how the tomatoes do after settling in.

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  2. My goodness, you've been busy! You definitely deserve a good night's sleep.

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  3. WOW! 26+ tomato plants? I'm jealous! What types did you plant? I can't wait to see how they grow!

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  4. This is great garden expansion; you will get much larger area for your plants.

    I think that all those plants you are planning to transplant there will enjoy more heat (both from the compost and the fabric).
    I know that the best results for melons and summer squash are from throwing few seeds into compost or manure.

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  5. Well done! I think it took me about a month to prep my area for pumpkins and melons last year.... I grow quite a lot of raspberries - if they are anything like mine they sucker like mad, and so you may want to keep a 'mowing strip' down the side of your bed to keep them under control :)

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  6. Thomas! Great way to both expand the garden and draw heat for your melons.

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  7. Nice job and you have been hard at work! So are you cutting holes and planting the melons to grow on top of the fabric? I wouldn't think they would mind the heat below one bit, and it may help keep bugs off! Can't wait to see your tomato patch grow! I had to tarp my tomato alley of container plants yesterday due to the unrelenting downpours we have been having, I am afraid of drainage related fungus or something - one big advantage you will have with yours in the ground!

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  8. I love the logs- I put some down in a new bed a few weeks ago only to have my husband pull them out. I wanted to kill him! (Finding the correct diameter and length to make a rectangle was hard work!)

    Holy tomatoes Thomas, you will be chucking them at passing cars, like Erin with her peppers! ;) The new garden area will be covered in green in no time!!

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  9. Nice. I've been out planting too and have to get out again today. Hopefully I'll have some time to blog about it.

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  10. My God, man, when do you find time to eat???

    Everything looks spectacular! I do notice many of our growers in my area have the black weed cloth down with just their plants poking through, exactly as you do. I think you should be ok with the heat, as they leave the black on all summer long.

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  11. I am envious! I have lots of space but I don't have lots of space in the sun. All these oak trees may add the property vallues but it sure frustrates the gardner.
    Love what you are doing

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  12. Very neat and tidy! All your really hard work is going to pay off in a big way. I'm already envious. Hope you had a great night's sleep.

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  13. Wow! The new beds look great! This is my first year planting melons. How much space would you leave between the hills? Do you let the vines grow free or do you train them? Thank you!

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  14. Hi Claudia - I spaced my hills 2 feet apart although the melons would probably be better off planted 3 feet apart. I will train a few and let most of them grow free on the warm landscape fabric.

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  15. I just can't get over the color of your soil. It's amazing. I'm so used to looking at red clay as "soil" that I forget how dark it can be in other places. That's just amazing to me.

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  16. I love watching the progress of your garden; you're a good two weeks ahead of us here in New Hampshire. Your expansion method looks great, and I'm sure the melons are going to love the heat. You may call it passive, but it sure looks like a ton of work to me!

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  17. Thomas, the new beds are looking great! I like to grow LOTS of tomato plants too...btw my Cherokee purples and Komohana grape tomatoes are doing awesome...I'm getting lots of compliments on them....thanks again for the seed : )

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  18. That's a lot of hard work. Just wanted to quickly comment on how much I love see bed expansion and removal of the yawn. Looks great.

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  19. Hi Thomas,
    Thank you for the tip! I will let you know how it goes. I think I am going to try the landscape fabric too..
    :)

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  20. You have me thinking about putting down landscape fabric to give that extra boost to our melon growing efforts. Two years ago we had fun with our first watermelons. They were planted in a very warm location next to the house and just took over. Last year it was too cold and I didn't get a single ripe melon. Perhaps the landscape fabric can improve my odds for this year.

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