On Memorial Day and the day following I got a chance to plant my heirloom tomatoes that I started from seed. For more information on the varieties,etc., see my post of April 3, 2015 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2015/04/starting-heirloom-tomatoesfirst-robins.html). The weather was ideal, as these days were very summer like.
This year I didn't start peppers from seed, so I purchased some nice plants. I bought them at a flea market that we visited while staying in Vermont for the weekend. I also picked up three nice grape tomato plants and Brussels sprouts plants also.
Normally I start many varieties of tomatoes and hot and sweet peppers. I was trying to keep things a little simpler this year. I did of course start onions, scallions, and leeks from seed this Spring as well as some vegetables using the winter sowing technique. If you didn't get a chance to see my post on winter sowing, it was published on February 20, 2015 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2015/02/its-seed-buying-timewinter-sowing.html). There are also additional posts showing the results of the winter sowing and also the tending of the tomato plants. Winter sowing is a very interesting technique and I have had good results over the last two years.
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| Heirloom Tomato Plants |
Planting tomatoes in the garden is fairly simple. Of course, I had already prepared the garden soil by rototilling. For information on soil preparation, see my post of May 5, 2015 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2015/05/transplanting-heirloom-tomatoesplanting.html) . I recommend mixing in some composted manure or home made compost to give the plants a boost. Of course you can always add a fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro also.
Since the tomato plants were in peat pots, I removed the bottom of the pot to allow the roots to be exposed. Even if this step isn't done, the peat pots will break down fairly quickly. Removing the bottom just helps them to get a faster start.
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| Planting Heirloom Tomatoes |
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| Planting Heirloom Tomatoes |
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| Planting Grape Tomato |
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| Tomato Plants Protected With Cages/Wood Shingles |
Next I planted the pepper plants. I purchased Portugal Hot peppers, Jalepeno (hot), Cubanelle (sweet), and Red Bell Peppers (sweet). I also used wood shingles as I did with the tomatoes to protect the plants from wind and sun at least for a week or so. This will help the plants during the hardening off phase after being transplanted into the garden.
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| Pepper Plants |
Finally, I planted the Brussels Sprouts plants I purchased. Each one of these plants provide an amazing yield, so 6 plants will be more than enough for our family.
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| Brussels Sprouts |
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| Upper Garden |
Thanks again for visiting my blog. Stay tuned for more garden updates. My next post will involve the planting of pumpkins, gourds, cucumbers and squash.
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