Let’s Put Those Fruit Crops in the Ground
After nurturing eggplant and pepper seedlings for 9 weeks and tomato
seedlings for 7 weeks it was a great relief to finally plant them
into the garden. With my wife’s help, we transplanted 40 tomato
plants, 4 eggplants, 7 sweet peppers and 12 hot peppers. Another
60 tomato plants were given to friends.
Our Transplanting Procedure
Transplanting so many tomatoes, eggplants and peppers to the garden is a tedious job, but feels great when your done. I have developed a procedure that my wife and I follow the works well for us.
1. We dig a hole slightly wider and a bit deeper than the pot that contains
the seedling.
2. We place 3 tablespoons (approximately a handfull) of ESPOMA TOMATO TONE in the hole prior to planting the seedling and mix it into the dirt.
3. We prune off the bottom foliage to ensure that none of it touches the
ground once the seedling is in place.
4. We infill with soil and firm it to ensure that the plant is properly
anchored in the ground.
5. A cutworm collar is placed around each transplant and firmly set into
the soil.
6. The individual plant identification marker is set into the ground next
to the plant.
7. The seedling is then watered with a transplant solution. I like to use
NEPTUNE’S HARVEST 2-3-1 fertilizer, 1 tablespoon to the gallon. I take
the precaution of watering each transplant twice This procedure works well for tomatoes and eggplants.
For peppers, I do the same procedure but add a hand full of crushed eggshells
to the hole before planting. Peppers prefer a sweeter soil. The eggshells
contain calcium which compensates for the natural acidity of our New England
soil.
TRANSPLANTING VINE CROPS
This past week was also consumed with transplanting our hot weather loving vine crops. I started seeds in 2" soil blocks around the first of May. These included zucchini, cucumbers, melons, Kaboka winter squash, Butternut squash and pumpkins. My procedure for these crops is to build a small hill by digging a hole and adding 2 or 3 shovels full of composted cow manure. I add a hand full of ESPOMA TOMATO TONE and cover that all up with soil. I then plant my seedling and double water. This year, we have a total of 12 plants.
Planting Beans
I planted one row of Haricot Vert, our favorite green bean. They
are also known as “French Filet Beans”. Known for being tender and flavorful fresh, Haricot Vert don’t freeze well. In fact, they suck frozen.
To plant my beans, I make a 2″ furrow with one edge of my hoe, place the
seeds in the bottom of the furrow approximately 2″ apart, sprinkle with
innoculent which helps fix nitrogen in the soil, cover and water. Simple as that.
Please stay tuned for my next post which will include information and
photos about various tomato supports that I use and why I use them.
Until then, keep after it. All the work now will pay off before you
know it.
All the best,
Greg Garnache
