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#1
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No Till growing tomatos
A question here for no till gardeners, what steps do you take growing
tomatos (from seedlings to final harvest). Thanks for any info. |
#2
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No Till growing tomatos
"George.com" wrote in message
... A question here for no till gardeners, what steps do you take growing tomatos (from seedlings to final harvest). Thanks for any info. What do you mean by "no till"? Not turning the soil over each season with a rototiller? |
#3
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No Till growing tomatos
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... A question here for no till gardeners, what steps do you take growing tomatos (from seedlings to final harvest). Thanks for any info. What do you mean by "no till"? Not turning the soil over each season with a rototiller? no dig, not digging the soil or very minimal tillage, using mulches and green cover crops. |
#4
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No Till growing tomatos
"George.com" wrote in message ... "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... A question here for no till gardeners, what steps do you take growing tomatos (from seedlings to final harvest). Thanks for any info. What do you mean by "no till"? Not turning the soil over each season with a rototiller? no dig, not digging the soil or very minimal tillage, using mulches and green cover crops. Major digging is only needed when preparing a new area that's got deeply rooted grass or other vegetation. Once the area's cleared of that stuff the first season, periodic weeding and shallow cultivation should eliminate the need for further soil disturbance. Cultivation, in my case, consists of using a goose-neck weeder tool which skims about 2-4 inches below the surface. This severs the roots of weeds, and also fluffs up the soil, which is supposed to assist in moisture retention. When mowing, I bag some grass and sprinkle a 3-4 inch layer around all garden plants. This turns brown pretty quickly in hot weather, and does a great job of keeping the soil moist and weeds at a minimum. Other than this, I don't do anything special. If you can be more specific with your questions, I can be of more assistance. |
#5
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No Till growing tomatos
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... A question here for no till gardeners, what steps do you take growing tomatos (from seedlings to final harvest). Thanks for any info. What do you mean by "no till"? Not turning the soil over each season with a rototiller? no dig, not digging the soil or very minimal tillage, using mulches and green cover crops. Major digging is only needed when preparing a new area that's got deeply rooted grass or other vegetation. Once the area's cleared of that stuff the first season, periodic weeding and shallow cultivation should eliminate the need for further soil disturbance. Cultivation, in my case, consists of using a goose-neck weeder tool which skims about 2-4 inches below the surface. This severs the roots of weeds, and also fluffs up the soil, which is supposed to assist in moisture retention. When mowing, I bag some grass and sprinkle a 3-4 inch layer around all garden plants. This turns brown pretty quickly in hot weather, and does a great job of keeping the soil moist and weeds at a minimum. Other than this, I don't do anything special. If you can be more specific with your questions, I can be of more assistance. Yup, sounds no diggish to me. How do 'you' grow tomatos using a no dig system. What steps do you take through the growing season from seed to final harvest. Thanks. rob |
#6
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No Till growing tomatos
"George.com" wrote in message ... "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... A question here for no till gardeners, what steps do you take growing tomatos (from seedlings to final harvest). Thanks for any info. What do you mean by "no till"? Not turning the soil over each season with a rototiller? no dig, not digging the soil or very minimal tillage, using mulches and green cover crops. Major digging is only needed when preparing a new area that's got deeply rooted grass or other vegetation. Once the area's cleared of that stuff the first season, periodic weeding and shallow cultivation should eliminate the need for further soil disturbance. Cultivation, in my case, consists of using a goose-neck weeder tool which skims about 2-4 inches below the surface. This severs the roots of weeds, and also fluffs up the soil, which is supposed to assist in moisture retention. When mowing, I bag some grass and sprinkle a 3-4 inch layer around all garden plants. This turns brown pretty quickly in hot weather, and does a great job of keeping the soil moist and weeds at a minimum. Other than this, I don't do anything special. If you can be more specific with your questions, I can be of more assistance. Yup, sounds no diggish to me. How do 'you' grow tomatos using a no dig system. What steps do you take through the growing season from seed to final harvest. Thanks. rob None of the steps are any different, except for one, which depends on your soil: If you're dealing with "bad soil", which can mean many things, you may want to prepare a hole a few sizes larger than the seedling's root ball, and add potting soil. I've done this a few times when the soil's contained lots of clay and I wanted to plant immediately, rather than waiting for soil improvements to do their job, which can take months or longer. Regardless of whether you till or not, a tool like this is a must. I also have a hand version: http://www.gardeners.com/Swan-Neck-H...ing.34-526.cpd |
#7
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No Till growing tomatos
On Fri, 9 Jun 2006 23:59:02 +1200, "George.com"
wrote: What do you mean by "no till"? Not turning the soil over each season with a rototiller? no dig, not digging the soil or very minimal tillage, using mulches and green cover crops. Geography probably makes a difference in growing tomatoes, but my favorite growing method was to dig a hole about bushel basket size and fill it with composted lawn grass from the year before, along with a bit of lime and magnesium (Epsom Salts). The magnesium helps with blossom drop, that seems to occur more with composted tomatoes. Set a tomato plant in the composted material with a mixture of garden soil and keep the area covered in mulch, either more composted grass or freshly cut when I ran out of composted grass. There is a drawback to composting and mulching heavily, it causes the ground temperature to be a bit cooler and the plant tends to grow bigger and a bit slower before producing tomatoes. Most of my composted plants lived through the hottest part of summer and began to produce again when the weather cooled. At the end of the season the vine will have grown up over a 6' cage and back down to the ground again. YMMV Regards, Hal Zone 8 Georgia |
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