In Loudoun County, Virginia, the threat of frost is gone, and hot weather vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are going into the garden. As you get ready to plant those tomatoes, try the following techniques that will allow you to harvest 2-4 weeks before others and will give you some of the healthiest plants around! If you have always planted your tomatoes one way, why not try a new approach? You might LOVE the results!
Step 1: Plant in a trench
Typically when transplanting tomatoes, people dig a hole and stick it in and cover the root ball. In the trench method, the basic idea is to plant tomatoes on their sides in a shallow trench. This allows the plant to grow more roots, allows the roots to absorb more heat, and in turn makes the plant grow faster and stronger. Here is how you do it:
- In the space where you plan to plant your tomato plant, scoop out a shallow 2-inch trench the length of your transplant. Sprinkle a handful of compost or organic fertilizer along the trench. Remember tomatoes are heavy feeders, the better you feed them, the better they will grow.
- Take the tomato transplant from its container, and strip off all of the leaves except the topmost cluster. You will be burying the majority of the stem which will them be converted into roots. It will provide you a very sturdy plant that will have a great root system that will be able to more easily seek out the water and nutrients. I know it seems odd, but trust me, this works!
- Lay the plant on its side in the trench, and push down the root ball into the trench. Then cover almost the entire stem EXCEPT the few leaves you left on the plant. It may look like the plant is at an angle, but in a few days I guarantee it will perk up and start growing up!
**For images of this method, check out these pictures scanned from the book, Dick Raymond’s Gardening Year
If you have an issue with cutworms, consider making a collar of newspaper to wrap around the neck of the tomato where it sticks out of the soil. This barrier will stop a cutworm who can literally chew through your tomato stem in one evening!
Step 2: Single stem method on a support
Tomato plants are actually vines and can grow up to 10 feet long (find out the differences between determinate and indeterminate varieties). There are typically many offshoots (suckers) off of the main stalk which are essentially new plants which grow and multiply as well. With the single stem method, the concept is to prune the plant to a single stem so all the energy goes straight up the main stalk. You may feel like pruning will reduce your yield, but it will actually increase the number and quality of the fruit you have. If you are still unsure about cutting off the suckers that come off of the main stalk, try this trick. Stick these suckers in soil or in water and they will grow roots and can be the planted as your second harvest of tomatoes. Follow these tips:
- Build a vertical support to help support the single tomato stem. Make sure it is tall enough and that you can easily tie the stalk to something. Note: I do not recommend the tomato cages that are sold at garden centers as they are only 3ft tall, when tomatoes can grow triple that height! For determinate varieties that grow to 4 ft tall, these can be used. A majority of tomatoes are indeterminate and grow much taller than the support these cages offer. See my article on vertical gardening for more ideas on how to create a supports.
- Every few days, prune off any suckers from the main stem. These are the leaves that grow from between the main stem, and the leaf. (see image here)
- Use soft cloth strips, or tomato tape to tie the step to the vertical support.
THAT IS IT!
These two simple techniques will allow you to grow stronger plants that will produce fruit earlier than other planting methods! Why not give it a shot this year and see if you can notice the difference.
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