Tommy time

On Monday I got my tomatoes planted in the greenhouse, some three weeks earlier than I would normally do this in order to try and compete at Llangollen with a set of 12. I dug a deep trench all the way round the edge of the border....

......filled with a good layer of rotted horse dung, dug all the soil back into the bed from the path.....

....and voila! The finish bed is complete and what a joy it is to behold! A few weeks ago I rotavated the soil so it's nice and crumbly and by watering regularly over the winter is nice and moist so there shouldn't be any lock-up of minerals.

I manage to grow 15 Cedrico in my 8'x6' greenhouse, plus a couple of beefsteak, plus a couple of cherry type, perhaps a little too close together than is recommended. But as I really micromanage my few plants I seem to get away with it. The bottomless pots are placed on the soil where I intend to grow each plant.

Then I push them into the soil and scoop out the soil onto the border. The tops of the pots are now about an inch above the border soil level.  A pinch of Q4 is put in the bottom, then a layer of multipurpose compost, plus a cane in each pot....

.....and finally the plant is put in so that the seed leaves are just touching the compost surface. Adventitious roots will emerge from the stem below the seed leaves helping to anchor and feed the plant.

Here is the finished article. The empty pots are for watering at the height of the season so that the border soil does not get wet which can be a cause of ghost spotting and various fungal diseases. Tomatoes like a hot, dry atmosphere so by pouring water into the watering pots it will get directly to the roots. I intend to plant some aubergines in the border soil in front of the tomatoes.

However, last night a frost was forecast so I had to wrap each plant in newspaper.

I like to plant out really strong looking healthy plants but just as an alternative method Dave Thornton is not planting his until two weeks time and will keep them pot bound and starving until then. He advocates leaving them until they look as if they are about to die and then planting out. He is adamant that these neglecting tactics pay off when the tomatoes are planted out and that they respond by growing away really well. Like I said it's an alternative method and Dave has come 2nd at the National. However, he has yet to convince me about it so I'll stick to my plan for this season at least.