By George! - A Blog!

Community Gardeners realize that  gardening is a full time activity that calls for a lot of planning.  Just now, in early February, winter leafy plants and roots are doing well and are probably using all the space that’s available.  Further, that space will be needed for summertime crops.  Already a lot of onions have been planted and although the cool season crops are doing well we are getting close to opening our summer programs.  This means it’s really not worth sowing seed of radishes, carrots and beets because the cool season will be finishing by the  end of this month.  On the other hand, setting out plants of lettuce, chard, broccoli and cabbage (but not the slower-growing cauliflower) is a possibility until the end of February but after that it will be our summer season.

So, it’s planning time for summer vegetables and the universal favorite summer vegetable is tomatoes,( if it isn’t zuchinni squash! ).  This month, the soil is too cold for successful tomato planting.  We need to wait until the soil temperature stays above 65 degrees. and that may not happen until the middle of March  Go and buy a soil thermometer!  It will be a most useful garden “gadget” all year round because every plant has its own optimum soil temperature that determines success.There is a list of vegetables and their soil temperature preferences on page 171 of my book “Desert Gardening” and it should determine your planting plans.

There are two ways to go for tomatoes; first, raise your own plants from seed, (but this should have been started at the beginning of January) and second, buy your plants from a good nursery.  Bear in mind that it’s too early to set out tomato plants in spite of the fact that some nurseries already are displaying beautiful plants that were grown in a greenhouse.  Avoid such plants in spite of being tempted and, at any time, don’t buy tomato plants that are showing flowers or little fruits.  A good size for a plant ready to be put in the ground is about twelve inches tall.

If, after early March the soil is still too cold you can warm it up by laying clear plastic sheet on the prepared soil and putting the plants through a slit in that plastic.  This is just as a starter, because the same soil will be too hot in June and it will be advisable to keep the sun off the soil by  laying down a three inch layer of alfalfa hay.  This mulch can be laid over the plastic, though it’s better to pick it up carefully so that your plant is not damaged.  Another trick is to put a “Wall of Water” ( purchased at your nursery) round the plant.  It acts as a small greenhouse, capturing the sun’s rays and encouraging growth.  Even after the soil temperature has reached a suitable warmth there’s a trick that you can use to advantage.  It is well known that tomato plants grow roots from their stems if they are covered with damp soil and some magazines encourage gardeners to plant deep to enable this to happen.  It’s better to use the upper soil layers where the spring sunshine has warmed if.  Lay the plant on it’s side in a shallow trench after a few leaves are removed.  This “trick” will let the plant grow an extra set of roots and give more power to the plant later.

It’s important to know the difference between Determinate and Indeterminate because these words are used to describe plant performance.  Commercial growers like determinate plants because they produce at one time, enabling fields to be cleared and replanted. Home gardeners want a continued production over the lifetime of the plant. Most tomatoes for the home garden are indeterminate, and good examples are the cherries and the pears. Patio is a determinate tomato that produces for a short time only.

There are numerous varieties and each year many more are added to the catalogs.  A general rule for selection is to avoid those kinds that display their fruit above the foliage but select those that produce their fruit under a canopy of leaves where the sun does not blister the skin or creates leathery skin that cracks.  Under the foliage there is humidity and this gives us fruit with thin skin that stretches as the fruit gets bigger.

Ask seasoned gardeners which varieties they like.  Try two plants of three varieties and keep a journal so you’ll know what to plant next year. Tomatoes need a lot of room because in the desert we don’t prune them like gardeners in New Jersey do: we prefer an uncontrolled bush to get the shade that protects the fruit during the hottest, sunniest months of July and August.

There’s more to growing tomatoes in the desert than this blog can tell you.  In my book “Desert Gardening” there’s a chapter on growing tomatoes with pictures.  Look it up!!