Sunny Days Bring Lots of Projects! (part 2 - tomatoes)

During the city-wide garage sale I swung by the Tomato Lady.  She's a lady... who sells tomatoes... out of the back of her truck (well, she puts the containers on the ground, but some are still in the truck bed!), in a mini-market parking lot.  She does this every year, and it's where I have been getting my tomatoes ever since I found out about her.   At 3 for $10.00 her prices can't be beat, not for the size she sells, and the varieties.

Brandywine - not the yellow variety, but still a good one (notice the shape of its leaves, it's called a "potato leaf" tomato)

Sungold - my all-time-favorite cherry!

Siletz - I've had one before and it produced right up to the first frost

Sungold on the right, Siletz on the left (Sungold will need the trellis, the one on the left will be for cukes)

Brandywine - the wet spot is where I planted pineapple tomatillos (the grid trellis is to keep Edward the stumbling Goldendoodle out!)

Yes, those are chunks of over-ripe bananas in the planting holes!
Bananas provide much needed potassium to the growing tomato plants.  

When you are planting tomatoes make sure to pinch off any blossoms or tiny tomatoes.  The plant needs to put all its early effort into strong roots.  Also, you can make the plant stronger by pinching off the lower leaves and planting it deeper than it was in the original pot. It will grow roots from those nodes where the leaves were removed.  If your plant is tall and leggy, you can even lay it down in a trough and gently bend it upward.  I did that last year with my Sungold to great success!    The same tip works for cucumbers.