Update sans pics:
Planted out Pintung Long eggplant, Listada di Gandia EP, Black Beauty EP, 5 Viva Italia toms, 3 San Marzano Gigante 3 toms, and 3 Super Sauce toms today. Used a supersoil charger fert: compost, some Black Kow, 15 lbs. worm castings, 1.5 cups blood meal, 2 cups steamed bone meal, 2 cups colloidial rock phosphate, 2 cups JA bat guano (high phosphorous), 1 cup greensand, 2 cups kelp meal, 1 lb. mycorrhizae, 4 cups Epsom salt, 2 gallons worth powdered milk, 3 lbs Epsom salts. 1/2th cup added to hole. Added to each hole, 1 tablespoon dolomite lime, because pH is about right, and for cal/mag (as if BER can be stopped with paste toms early on but given weather, might not be bad year for it to happen, as temps will likely not fluctuate as they normally do), a little mycorr, wet holes with Actinovate and Biotamax in sprayer, wet around hole, hit it with Neptunes harvest and mixed with molasses, carbs for the nutes, filled and top dressed with compost, a little more NH w/molasses. Plant labels in ground but made some out of plastic knifes as well. Unrolled water hoses to garden, small issue with a sprayer but fixed it--clogged with dirt--no leaks in hoses! Yay! Have one hose I can cut to run drip and t-tape off Y with valves to beds and to garden.
Got late start--uncle came by this morning on his way to buy other uncle's boat--gave him some toms, an Orange Thai; he wanted a Trini Scorp Moruga Blend, so lol, gave him one those and a H. St. Barts. Thank GAWD he wanted heirloom toms.
Neighbors' daughter and her partner came over and relieved me of a few Brandy Boy--love those--hybrid, yes, but produce for me better than Celebrity, which has never done well here, but too much of a good thing, some other heirloom toms, some cuke plants, thank GAWD again, Lemon and Genoa Basil and 3 varieties eggplants. They gave me 10 bucks. Sweet. Can have handle replaced on one shovel. Keeping the handle: Shane teaches well! "Use those shovel handles!" And the guy who said he would, mowed around garden, so he called and is picking up some toms tomorrow. He wants Better Boys: HA! Take them! Again, praise the Lawd. For the toms, he mows around garden all summer: trades are good deal.
But between unk and the plant-out, ran errand for my mother, went by Lowe's and got el cheapo 42" tomato cages for cukes or may use old cages, upside down for those, garden staples to hold them down or tent stakes, and some el cheapo tomato stakes--not the good stuff--for paste toms. The bigger toms get bigger cages and real stakes or t-posts. Staking up pepper plants this year, maybe caging some. Those runs cost me time. Just getting organized was well, getting organized. Glad ran the tiller over the lower three rows/beds yesterday, opening up, let a lot of moisture out, after taking wheelbarrow after wheel barrow load of compost to it, tilling in, added perlite too--drainage--running the tomatoes closer together this year. Still respectable distance but plan on pruning for a while, then stopping--they'll do what they'll do, because need space for peppers. Peppers get extra special treatment--just more worm castings and bat guano to the mix. Using FFarms 5-5-5 organic. We shall see.
Getting out there early in morning, after drop-off shovel--want this done by Friday. So can mulch to prevent splash ups in the event of thunderstorms. Went out by headlamp and toms looking stressed, in pots, already looking happier. Will probably save some partial shade--the evil black walnut--but its roots are deep at that those spots, hopefully no harm, for the manzanos because can already tell they want it, and they want it cooler. Pics when it's all done--nicely surprised that have no weeds in there! Should be by now but proof the manure and 6 inches+ deep wheat straw as mulch and turned under in fall works well. Also, never seen this many worms in the garden: LOADED
. Gonna help them out as soon as its done by going down road for pond water near spawning areas, since the pond is NOT close by, but close enough, making 15 gallons AACTea, cut it with pond water and molasses, as a first foliar/soil drench feeding to help ward off bugs and to help kick them in, since late start. Not concerned so much about nons as am peppers, getting late start. Anything to help them without ODing them.
Hope everybody in "the temperate" zones--
that have not been--are getting plants to dirt! Any/all suggestions welcome on what I'm doing, aka, trying to avoid containers. Peace. Annie