This year I thought it went so well that instead of planted 4, I'd plant 11 in the same amount of spacing. I knew there were rules on how close you could plant them, but I thought hey...the more the merrier. Plus I want to plant as many tomato plants as I can so I can make salsa and hopefully tomato sauce. My goal really is to become self-sufficient as much as possible. I'm hoping to grow things that we eat a lot of. We eat salsa at least once a week, and tomato sauce once a week as well. So we'll see how much salsa/tomato sauce I can generate with 11 plants.
I planted a few different kinds of tomatoes. I planted one row of hybrids and one row of heirlooms. I didn't know till after I brought them home what the difference was. According to Lowes.com:
Heirloom tomatoes are old varieties grown from seed saved from season to season. Heirlooms are a category unto themselves. They tend to be less disease resistant and "wilder" in appearance. Fans insist that their flavor and uniqueness make up for any disadvantages.
Hybrid tomatoes are developed to give growers the best characteristics of all varieties. Fruit size, crop yield and disease resistance are all traits of hybrids.
When I first planted the tomato plants I put the cages on them so they'll go big and tall in the cage. I put the cages on them just the way I bought them from the store with the big side down....until I posted my proud picture on facebook and one of my more experienced gardener friends asked me what my secret tip was to putting them upside down like that. Ha! I had no idea they were upside down. How embarrassing! I turned them around the right way.
The tomato plants after I first planted them with the cages the wrong way...
My eldest child posing with the tomato plants with the cages the right way.
They've been growing for 1 month and I'm seeing so many tomatoes growing! I am now starting to understand why the guidelines are to plant the tomatoes a bit apart. They are getting so big, I am having a hard time seeing in between the plants.
