I was in the middle of a major dilema about whether to use Judy's SWCs for my tomatoes to free up space in my beds, or to use my beds as originally planned. I had just re-read Mel's book that suggested spacing of 1 bush plant per 9 SF!!! How on earth are indeterminate bush tomatoes going to fit in a 2 SF SWC? I would trellis and cage them either way.
My choices seem to be to use the SWC, or to put them in my bed. If I put them in my bed, do I plant them in the corner of 8 SF or 12 SF (4x2 or 4x3)?
I would like to use as little space as possible to free up bed space for more veggies, especially pole beans which I just found out can't go with my corn as they suck nitrogen from the soil or some odd thing.
What would you do? I welcome your comments.
By the way, here they are right out of the box from Territorial...
Ok, just had to throw this in somewhere... I was entering the Farmer's Almanac sweepstakes (again) and saw a long-range weather forecast tool. So I checked out zone 6 (WA, OR and ID). Here's what it said:
April 2008
1st-3rd Mostly fair. 4th-7th Pleasant, then showery. 8th-11th Sunshine initially, then quickly turning stormy for Washington and Oregon east. 12th-15th Clear skies. 16th-19th Pleasant at first, then turning unsettled with showers. 20th-23rd Mostly fair skies. 24th-27th Gusty winds and rains along Pacific Coast. 28th-30th Pleasant weather.
May 2008
1st-3rd Pleasant initially, then unsettled, with showers for Washington and Oregon. 4th-7th A spell of tranquil weather is broken by some heavy showers. 8th-11th More unsettled conditions. 12th-15th Fair, then unsettled weather returns. 16th-19th Clearing skies. 20th-23rd Turning stormy for Washington and Oregon east. 24th-27th Mostly fair. 28th-31st A few light showers.
I've never seen "Unsettled" used so many times in my life. I guess that means my weather won't be good for quite a while. Perfect time to plant tomatoes. GRRRR
Sinfonian,
ReplyDeleteI made the exact same mistake and realized my mistake on the same day that you did (without looking at your blog) with regards to bush tomato spacing! My squares are all full, so I don't know what I'm going to do with my one bush tomato. I wonder what would happen if you just put it in a smaller space, perhaps it would be fine, but with a lower yield? I'm curious to hear what experience gardeners have to say about the spacing, as I'm not ready to give it more space. I'm also contemplating digging it up as my squares become open (to give it its proper spacing), but don't know if you can transplant a bush tomato after it gets big.
I wonder if "unsettled" means that they haven't decided yet what the weather is going to be like for that day LOL!!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone wants to see how a tomato "expert" works, check out Judy's blog. She's got over 40 plants going or sharing.
ReplyDeleteActually, "unsettled" probably means that it will be sunny one minute, rainy the next, then sunny the moment thereafter. That's fairly common for us. Makes clothing choices a challenge going out, but plants don't care, and neither does a true Seattleite. hehe