Dig your hole deeper than what you will need to the size of your plant. Extra loose soil at the base of your plant will give your plants roots a great place to spread out. Tomatoes can be planted deeper than they were growing in their container & will send out roots all along the buried stem.
We add a handful of Bio-Cal to each hole and mix it with the loose soil. You can also use ground egg shells or other types of calcium. Calcium helps with blossom end rot & also works for peppers & eggplant.
Place your plant in the hole. If there are any leaves growing that will be covered with soil, you can pinch them off where they join the stem. If you’re planting in a biodegradable pot, be sure that the soil will totally cover the pot. Once I have the plant in place, I will pull in enough soil to hold the plant upright in the hole.
Fill the hole around your plant about half full with water. I add fish emulsion to our planting water.
When the water has soaked in around the plant, back fill the hole with your loose soil. I like to leave a small depression around the plant so my watering water will soak in rater than running off. Now you can water your plant one last time and you’re finished planting!
One of our tomato plants 4 days after planting & so happy to be in the ground!
The final step is to give our plant some support. Heirloom plants are indeterminate – which means that they will continue to grow until something (frost or disease) kills them. If you keep your plant healthy, it will be less susceptible to disease and will grow taller than our 5 ft tall cages! We also add a steel steak because these plants will be large and heavy with tomatoes.
Tomatoes do not require much additional water after the first couple of weeks. We very rarely water ours at all after that point. Too much watering will also water down the flavor of your tomatoes. If you do need to water because it’s been extra hot & dry, only water the soil around the plant – never the plant.