My tomatoes having progressed from 0.7″ soil blocks to 2.3″ soil blocks are now ready for transplanting to pots. In early years I used 0.5 gal (64ozs) nursery pots but they took up too much space and needed too much soil. Now I transplant to 1qt (32 ozs) yogurt pots with holes drilled in their base. Later I will transplant to their final destination, except for a handful which I will hold in 0.5 gal or 1 gal pots as a reserve for failing tomatoes.
I have compost but am short soil for the pot mix. Where to get soil? Buying is out of the question – why use sterile or bad soil when my own soil is so rich and free of ‘cides. I then remember my annual chore to clear the 8″ wide, 8″ deep trench/moat which protects my raised beds from invading roots. One year I hacked down all the nearby hedges and small trees – wasted effort (they grew back the next year) and silly since they were the hunting perches and cover for insect eating birds such as the brown thrasher, which is our state bird. So now I ignore the growth and annually I clear and deepen the trench to transect and deter enfilading roots. I remove 5 barrows of soil, mix with compost, remove rocks and weeds and have potting soil for my tomatoes. I have another thought – I have surplus 70 ft – 6″ corrugated pipe – why not put the pipe in the trench? This achieves 2 goals – prevents weeds filling the trench and bridges the trench for my push mower.
Now to fill the pots. Our average last frost date is mid-April and on April 8 the 5 day forecast indicates 30 degrees on April 10. I use some yogurt pots as domes over my tender cucumber plants with stones on top to prevent wind disturbance.
I fill pots with my new soil mix and transplant some tomatoes. Below is a cement mixing trough with 28 transplanted tomatoes.
And today I uncovered the cucumbers and used the freed up pots for more tomatoes. The cucumbers suffered a bit (lowest 2 leaves affected) but they survived and next year I may delay planting out the cucumbers until after mid April.
And I still have a mound of soil mix remaining – the chickens have worked it over and I now cover the mound with black plastic to stop weeds growing so there will be less preparation needed when I pot more tomatoes.
