Gardening – Tomato bounty

I got a bit overenthusiastic with my seed sowing in late winter and early spring, and now I have a huge amount of veggie, herb and flower plants that need to go in the ground. Trouble is, I’ve already planted out every raised bed that we have. I’ve even pulled out my pathetic crop of rust-affected garlic early, as I needed the room and a failed crop just isn’t worth the space.

So now I’m going back to a technique that I used as a commercial grower – I have about 50 tomato plants which are being planted in black plastic PB40 planter bags. These hold about 20 litres of soil, which I mix from about 1/3 each of quality garden soil, my own compost and recycled potting mix for drainage, plus a couple of handfuls of mixed dolomite, gypsum, blood & bone and potash per wheelbarrow of soil.

I put a layer of 5cm or so of this soil in the bottom, place the tomato plant on top, then fill to about half the height of the bag, while burying the stem by up to half the plant height. Once the plant is well established and setting its first fruit, a couple of handfuls of sheep pellets are sprinkled on top. When the second truss is setting, another layer of soil is added, then another couple of handfuls of pellets for the third truss set, another layer of soil for the fourth truss and a final layer of sheep pellets for the fifth truss.

This sequence of soil and fertiliser matches the root growth and nutrient demands of the plant as it grows. Peak demand occurs when the fifth truss is setting, as the first truss will be ripening by then. New roots grow from the stem as it gets covered by the soil, similar to mounding potatoes.

Using planter bags instead of planting in the ground means there is less leeway for taking your eye off the ball with watering. To give me some of that leeway back, I’ll install a dripline on a timer. That’ll provide a proportion of the water they need, with the rest coming from rainfall and hand watering if the rainfall doesn’t arrive.

I’m not a fan of keeping tomatoes heavily pruned to one stem. That’s fine for a high-density commercial greenhouse, but a waste of plant potential for the home gardener. I let no more than three to four stems grow on each plant as the demand on the restricted root volume in the planter bags can stress the plant, reduce fruit production and increase the risk of disease.

These extra stems need to arise from near the base of the plant to be most effective, any lateral shoots that emerge higher up are pinched off before they get too big. Pop these in water to set roots, then plant them out to be your replacement plants as the original plant starts to lose vigour. These techniques will ensure you have a bounty of tomatoes all summer and autumn!