Happy Tomato Cup Day
Tomato Update
Happy Tomato Cup Day. How are your Tomatoes growing?
Mine are almost 2 feet tall, full of tomatoes and flowers. I couldn’t be prouder. Paying attention to nature is the best guide to know when its Tomato Planting Time on your patch of earth. Knowing your Soil Temp is one of the 5 Pillars to Summer success, in gardens at altitude.
I planted my Tomato seedlings out early as I do every year. Usually between Fathers Day and the October long weekend, as guided by my soil temp for the past decade. This year my garden beds were ready in August, the earliest in my recording. But my Tomatoes weren’t, so I waited until Father’s Day, when my seedlings were big enough to plant out, but only just.
I want my seedlings in the ground when my soil is ready and that is rarely the 1st of September. It is always ready before Tomato Cup Day. There are many other factors that affect the Subtle Arrival of Spring and are worth noting in your personal microclimate.
Summer heat
If planting out is delayed, the early heat of Summer can become an issue. Spring was 4 weeks early this year and Summer is now upon us 4 weeks early. 30C is Summer and Cicadas don’t lie, they’ve been out and about for weeks since the soil temp reached 18C as have our snakes. Snakes appear when the soil temp is 15C and above, just one of Nature’s Tomato planting indicators. A local fisherman told me he only uses Cicada lures successfully in Summer and he is using them now.
The little seedlings need a good root structure before the heat comes, so it can manage its own water rather than relying on water being applied. Transplanting in the heat right now will be difficult and require a lot of watering to prevent wilt, especially if the roots are messed with.
But what about the frost?
I’ve had my Tomatoes in the ground since Fathers Day, 5th September based on my soil temp being 15C. They have endured many frosts with a simple cardboard box for protection if the weatherbots forecast 5C or less. My wife says if you go for the heater, put a box on your Tomato seedlings. After 6 weeks they didn’t fit in the box anymore. We have only had light, short frosts since then and they all survived. Only one night requiring bigger boxes to protect from a long frost.
Why plant early?
There is another reason I plant early every year. Hail. As Spring swaps to Summer it is the hail we fear in our garden. If our seedlings were planted now, the little dears would be obliterated when the hail arrives. Sturdy bushes between 30-60cm tall will take the beating without ending their life. Sure, they will look haggard for a bit, but they continue grow on and produce. I need advanced tomatoes in my garden come Summer to survive the extremes ahead, and I want to eat tomatoes by Christmas. This way I usually do.
Staking
The wind arrived on the weekend and flattened the proud bushes. I now have them staked and ready for what will come. I have tried many options for Staking and Pruning Tomatoes in the highlands but my plants outgrow them. I now have a simple system to keep them upright with a minimum of fuss in any condition.
Not one to throw anything away, this year I’m using the old dog mesh again, but this time pulling it taught between two metal stakes. Similar to using concrete mesh, but with less metal to freeze in lower temperatures. I used this technique last year because I was short on space. I grew a Tomato up the fence between the garden and the chicken coop with good success. This is my favourite, most successful staking attempt yet.
When a tendril falls forward, I just poke it through the mesh. When it grows out the otherside I poke it back through. Essentially weaving it up the mesh. The end result is a bushy wall with easy access to ripe tomatoes. And they don’t blow over in the wind.
At the end of the season, the plant creates a warmer microclimate inside the bush, ripening Tomatoes even as the ambient temp drops into Autumn. And if the First Frost arrives early only the top and outside of the bush get affected, leaving the crop of ripening Tomatoes safe inside.
Seedling Program
Others have been on the early planting too, part of the Bombay Seed Traders seedling tester program. This new program sees us grow a new variety at home for 1-3 seasons to acclimatise it to our hill. Once we are happy with it, we release the seedling to our testers to see how it fares. If it does well, we will then release the seedling to you in the next season.
It’s a long process and takes between 3-5 years to get a new product ready for sale. This is to ensure our seed stock is the hardiest possible, to give you the best chance of success in your garden. We have had reputable seeds suppliers let us down in the past, so we won’t risk it anymore.
This also wards of the Naysayers. 25 years ago, I was the idiot that bought the rubbish block. Now I’m the guy who has the miracle patch of paradise. How times and perception change. Our subsoil is salty, our topsoil is thinly distributed over rock outcrops, the NW winds are ferocious, and the dam freezes a few nights most years. But there is a lot of sun on our north facing hill, in Summer it is too much.
Results are in
There have been mixed results for all of us. I’ve lost a few to the frost, wind and possums and we have all learnt a lot. More importantly we’ve collectively realised there is a lot more to learn about growing Tomatoes in the freezing cold.
Many frost bitten seedlings managed to resprout from under the Sugar Cane Mulch reducing the need for transplanting and another good reason to leave plants where they are, even if they look dead. In fact, we bought back some seedlings that survived the big freeze a month ago, and they are now growing so we can collect the genetics for next season.
Like all things in our modern society, we do things without really knowing what, why or how. But we invest large sums of money, time, energy and resources into projects that could have been done differently with less inputs.
A new way
If you are growing tucker at home, following the path of market gardeners or commercial greenhouse growers, will likely bring you mixed success. They are working towards a different goal than the home gardener although their techniques are responsible for many of the gardening myths that get thrown around.
In our home garden we have learnt many things that go against the popular notions of gardening. By giving it an educated go, you too can learn many new things that you probably won’t learn anywhere else, and I would like to hear about if you want to share a yarn. Or share it on our Facebook page Cold Climate Edible Gardening Australia and lets grow better together.
Stay Awesome
The Gordon Gnohm