Thoughts turn to tomatoes
Labour Day is traditionally when tomatoes are planted outside in New Zealand.
However, unless you live within a balmy microclimate, it may pay to hold off a fortnight or so until the weather warms and becomes more settled. Should a cold snap happen, the plants will be set back far more than if you had held off planting them outside.
Tomatoes like a sunny, sheltered spot with free-draining soil. Plant about 50cm apart – and if more than one row, make the rows about 90cm apart. A dozen or so plants should provide the averagesized family with plenty of tomatoes.
Choose a mix of varieties – over several seasons you will be able to work out which ones suit your conditions, and your tastebuds.
Plant the seedling deeper than you might think necessary – maybe burying up to 3cm of stem. Little roots will sprout out from the buried stem, anchoring the plant more firmly to the ground.
All gardeners seem to have their favourite tomato food. These include putting dried stinging nettle, and/or crushed eggshells, antacid tablet or a tablespoon of dried milk powder at the bottom of the planting hole or incorporating them into the soil throughout the growing season.
Slightly less appealing is peeing on the plant – a technique given the thumbs-up by the University of Finland. Fresh urine is rich in nitrogen and potassium.
Put a stake in beside the seedling as you plant it. Although it will not need it for a few weeks, if you get it in now rather than later you will not risk damaging delicate roots. Don’t scrimp on the stakes – all going well, your tomato plant could grow to reach more than two metres high.
However, should the plant reach the top of the stake, then simply pinch out the growing tip, which inhibits leaf growth and helps fruit development. The plants should be tied to the stake about every 25cm. (Bush tomatoes, of course, will not need staking.)
Nip out any laterals, should there be any at planting, and whenever they appear over the season. Laterals are the little side shoots that sprout in the v between the leaf and the main stem. This encourages one main stem rather than a lax, rambling plant. These laterals may be potted up for planting out once they have developed roots.
Water the plant in well – and keep up water throughout its life. Lack of water is one of the main causes of crop failure. Water long and deep, but try not to wet the leaves.
– Mary Lovell-Smith