Tomatoes are one of my favorite foods. Last fall, I had the grand idea to grow them. The main challenge in this pursuit is that I live in Seattle where there is not really very much sun. And sun is really what makes tomatoes flourish. This, however, was the hottest summer in Seattle on record, so one might think that I had a significant upper hand. However, my timing was a bit off and the overall crop was small. However, I learned several things of which I'll share with you...1. Seed early: I grew my tomatoes from seed. I seeded 5 types ordered online in an organic compostable seeding kit from Lowes. You can't put tomatoes outside as early in Seattle because of the rain, but starting them a few weeks earlier indoors would have helped me beat the return of the rainy season in August. I made my tomatoes a little sprouting space near the heating vent, the window, and supplemented them with a growing light that I stole from my sewing area. The plastic, protective sheeting that came with the kit helped keep moisture in, but we had to be careful of seedling killing mold as well. It was a delicate balance to combat underside mold and still keep them well watered. Eventually, though, they did seed and I took a picture of my very first green seedling.
2. Time to transplant: I planted 50 seeds, of which about 75% sprouted. I kept 25 initially but only 11
ended up being healthy enough to transplant. Then came time to transplant the seedings. After several false starts trying to harden them off in the front and back yards, they were finally strong enough to withstand a little sunburn and wind trauma. I selected 5 pots and planted 2 in each pot and three in the last pot.
In Japan, where container gardening is common and necessary, they feel that plants like tomatoes can share pots because it makes the tomatoes work harder and therefore be better fruit. I also bought the tomatoes some geraniums for friends because they are supposed to help repel some of the pests who love tomatoes. I also bought them wire cages, though I couldn't imagine that they'd ever get tall enough to need them.
3. Panic. Then they started growing. A lot. I gave my tomatoes 2 canfuls of water every single day at the same time, avoiding their leaves. If tomatoes aren't watered regularly, they can split and crack. I also gave them fertilizer during the first potting and they started to grow very large. Tomatoes don't have large root systems, but they don't like to touch eachother either.So, I decided to take my 5 pot system and turn it into a ten pot system. At this point I also added some basil to the mix as well as some thyme to attract bees to the tomato flowers for pollination. The second replanting set my plants back about a week. I replanted on a cool day and gave them fertilizer, but still I was afraid that I would lose some because of my poor initial planning. But I shouldn't have worried. Twelve days later I had flowers.
4. And Bugs. I had bugs. Whiteflies. I read in horror about how they would suck the life from my carefully pruned and watered plants. So I marched myself down to the giant plant center down the street and bought ladybugs. Ladybugs are kept in the fridge of your favorite garden center and as soon as they come out of the fridge, they go crazy. Thus, its a careful ruse you must concoct to convince the ladybugs to stay. First, under the cloak of darkness, you must give your plants a drink to share with the ladies. Then, you take them from the fridge to the plants as quickly as possible so that they are still asleep and when they wake up, you have finished sprinkling 1000 of them onto your front patio. When they no longer have anything to eat, they fly away to find something else to snack on -- a pretty perfect pest control if I do say so. My ladybugs stayed about a week and then were off to greener pastures. They did their job admirably. The flies came back later in the season, but first we had TOMATOES! This tomato was from the black pear variety -- the first tomato to come in. These plants were not repotted -- I let them share a pot to see what would happen -- and were the first to mature and the largest. Not repotting them might have caused quicker soil nutrient depletion and fewer fruit, but the fruit from these plants were in general larger than their friends and neighbors.
And the tomatoes grew with regular watering but right as the time came for them to begin turning red, the weather cooled. Contrary to popular belief, its the temperature not the sun that changes your tomatoes by the production of some manner of ethelyne gas (also produced by apples). Rain and wind interrupts that process and so unfortunately my tomatoes have been slow to change. As we had a frost threat last week, i harvested all the greens and have them stored away for the fall. My small but precious collection of tomatoes has made me very proud and I plan to do it again next year, despite all the pitfalls I might face.5. Finally we have tomatoes. And they are good. And we can eat a whole meal of tomatoes...
