tomato transplants top view
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and grandmothers! Mother’s day weekend is one of my favorite weekends in spring because I get to honor my mother and wife and also it’s the time we put the tomatoes in the ground. Tomatoes are our favorite garden vegetable and we plant more and different varieties every year!
I plant around Mother’s day in our zone 6a to avoid all potential frost and to allow the ground to warm up for better transplant health without having to watch them too close. Several friends put their tomatoes in early and end up losing many of their plants due to late frost or not caring for them closely enough.
This year we purchased our seeds from Gary Ibsen at TomatoFest. Their delivery was very timely and the plants have done quite well. TomatoFest seeds are a little more expensive, but I’ve been very pleased with the germination and plant health so far. Below are pictures of the transplants before planting.
tomato transplants
tomato transplant - Hillbilly
tomato tranplants up close
This year we planted 21 plants of the following varieties:
- 1884
- Black Plum
- Hillbilly
- Ildi
- Italian Giant
- Neves Azorean Red
Below is a picture of the tomatoes just put in with the comfrey mulch.
tomato bed with comfrey mulch
This video from a couple of years ago explains my planting method, although I’ve made a few improvements since then like adding comfrey mulch and better preparing the soil.
What is your favorite tomato variety?
