Garden 2011 - The Tomatoes

This past weekend, I made my annual trek to the sprawling half acre ranch of the Tomato Man, Phil Wingard.  It was time to pick up the heirloom tomato plants that he has been nurturing for a couple of months, growing them from carefully harvested seeds from last year's crop.  Phil started the seeds indoors, then transfered the seedlings to his greenhouse outdoors.  He put a couple hundred plants in his garden in late March, and covered them up to weather thru the frosts that we've had since then.

I like to wait until the danger of frost is gone, because I am challenged enough when it comes to gardening!  So after a couple of weeks of short sleeved weather, I felt it safe to pick up my plants.  Phil set me up with a dozen various heirlooms, plus two bonus plants.  I then visited the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden to find some herbs to add to my herb garden.  With a very busy weekend ahead, I wasn't able to plant anything and set everything on my screened porch.

As it turned out, how lucky was I!  Saturday evening the Lake Wylie area was absolutely hammered with some thunderstorms, hail, and high winds.  Phil lost only a few tomato plants in his garden, but one of his customers, who planted two dozen on Friday afternoon, lost his whole crop. 

I'm planning to get my tomatoes into the ground some time this week.  Phil gave me detailed instructions.  For each plant, I am to dig a deep hole.  If the ground is dry, I should fill the hole with water and let it soak into the earth, until there is no standing water in the hole.  Then I am to add about 3 tablespoons of organic fertilizer, a scoop of organic compost, and mix it well.  I am then to add about 2" compost so the roots of the tomatoes do not come in direct contact with the fertilizer and "burn". 

The tomato should be buried up to its neck.  The plants are now about 12-15" tall, and all but the top quarter should be buried.  The buried portion will become part of the root system. 

Phil told me that I should be careful not to overwater, as the nutrients would all wash away and I'd get very little fruit.  (Could have been my problem in years past!)  Instead, I should only water when the plants look droopy in the morning.  It is common, after a hot summer day in the South, for plants to droop at the end of the day.  If the plants are still drooping the next morning, then it is time to water.

Phil also told me that tomatoes prefer to be watered at the base, and a drip hose is ideal.  I'll give that a try this year.  I've always watered with a sprinkler, figuring it was the same as rain.  But considering my crop usually yields about 8 tomatoes, and Phil's yields about 4000, maybe he's on to something.

Stay tuned!

Phil Wingard is not only an expert on tomatoes, but also on Edgefield Stoneware and Pottery.  Read more blogs about Lake Wylie living and gardening , plus other topics of great facination.  Thanks for reading!