Planting tomatoes in Winter

12 years ago

Well officially it is still Winter, however today we were finally able to get our tomatoes in. I have been trying to do this for over a week now, It just takes so much time. You don't just dig a hole in the ground and throw in your plant. I wish it was that simple!

Beds cleaned out, drip removed, tilled up, added compost and sulfur, tilled in

A close up view, I see I missed some bindweed and henbit.

We finished two beds, then I remembered to take some pictures. We buried two drip lines, 12 to 14 inches apart in each bed.

Step one of laying the mulch, dig a 2 to 4 inch deep furrow on each side of the 3 foot bed and on the ends.

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All of my helpers helping hold the plastic in place on the second to last row.

This is what it looked like when we got all the beds covered.

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As always my pictures start in the day and end in the night! Here we are all done.

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I am a little disappointed in myself with the transplants. They weren't what I wanted. They didn't get transplanted as they should have been, so I didn't get the short, stalky plant I am use to. There are only so many hours in the day!

Hopefully in 60-72 days we will be picking tomatoes. However, it is usually a little longer.

Jay

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Comments (13)

Oystereater
12 years ago
Great pics! I can't wait to be updated with more as the season rolls along.
Jon_dear
12 years ago
That's awesome! You actually snapped chalk lines to get them straight.
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joe-il
12 years ago
Very nice Jay. Was wondering how you were doing. Hoping to get mine in this weekend. Epic spring we're having.

Your hanging baskets look like they need water ;>
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
Original Author
12 years ago
Yea, they were left over from the end of last year. I haven't got rid of them, yet.

Jay
derock_gw
12 years ago
Jay - What are you using to make the furrows to bury your plastic in?
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
Original Author
12 years ago
A garden rake. I till the beds out to 3 feet wide then, I rake out the edges into the walk ways. Then I roll the plastic out a few feet to get it started. I bury the edges and usually have one or two kids stand on the end of it. Last night they were going to bed so I sat a heavy concrete block on it, that worked well too! Then I roll out 12 to 15 feet, pick up the roll to pull the plastic tight, and then go back and stretch and bury the edges. I am really happy with the final product, but I wish it was easier. I wish I had a mulch layer, but a tractor and mulch layer would have a hard time fitting in the tunnel.

Jay
myfamilysfarm
12 years ago
Aren't kids a great help, when they want to be?
timmy1
12 years ago
Looks Great!

Awesome job!

Looks like 4'x2000' 1.5mil embossed

What % Big Beef?
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
Original Author
12 years ago
2 Beds Big Beef
1 Bed Cherokee Purple
1 Bed Polbig
1 Bed Mountain Magic, Indigo Rose, Lemon Boy, Big Beef

The last bed is going to be Florida 91 along the outside. I am trying something new this year. We are succession planting the tomatoes. I think I have a big enough share of the market I can pull this off. I am going to plant 3 more planting, 1st, March 19th, April 25th, May 25th, June 20th. The second one is only going to be 35 plants, but the remaining ones will about 100 plants each.

We will see what happens.

Jay
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
Original Author
12 years ago
Oh yea, I forgot.

1 mil, 3ft by 4,000 feet embossed

Jay
suburbangreen
12 years ago
Jay,

Great. Every time I look at your hoophouse posts, I'm left thinking, "I must build a hoophouse!"

I hope to build a 12'X36' hoophouse using fence toprail by Fall.
myfamilysfarm
12 years ago
I'll tell you this, no matter what size you think is the right size, IT WILL BE TOO SMALL. Mine is 22x45 and it's almost full.

I think I need 4-5 MORE.

Marla
magz88
12 years ago
Nice, I missed this post. I like the pic of your crew of field hands at work.