garden news-how to plant a tomato

GARDEN NEWS-HOW TO PLANT A TOMATO 

this is my tammy tomato
named after the person that donated a tomato two generations ago
this is the grandchild of that original tammy tomato
it grew like crazy last year and produced a ton of tomatoes
i have no idea of its original source

so i was asked this last week 
how do you plant your tomatoes to make them grow so well

i take a 5 cent tomato and put it in a 5 dollar hole
its that simple

here is how i plant my tomatoes
following how i do it is two tomato experts methods
you will see similarityies since i learned from them

i start with a healthy plant
i grow it from seed or buy from a good nursery
this year i will grow 6 tomatoes only
i promise thats all 
two i grew from seeds
one i took as a cutting off a neighboring plot holders tomato that is still producing a year later
two tomatoes from our community gardens annual veggie sale
one tomato from a local nursery 

in my garden bed 
i add 4 inches of compost plus an organic fertilizer
this is forked in with a garden fork or a broadfork
this is watered in with a fish emulsion plus seaweed plus molasses mixture
the bed is left fallow for as long as i can 
then
i dig a hole deep enough to plant the tomato
i plant the tomato up to its lower branches
sometimes well usually i remove some of the branches
sometimes there is more plant underground than above ground

in the hole i put worm compost i make in my garden area
when i lived at the country n i bought worm compost from the nursery
i add a scattering of an organic fertilizer in the hole
then
i plant the tomato
i water the tomato in well with that fish emulsion seaweed molasses solution
i add a layer of mulch under the tomato to hold in moisture and to keep water from splashing dirt up on the tomato leaves which can lead to fungal diseases on the leaves 

every two weeks i water it with that fish emulsion mixture

i also bury a 3 gallon pot beside the tomato plant
i add compost about a third full
i water that on a weekly basis based on the rainfall we have had
here during tomato season we get zero rainfall

i place a wire cage around my tomatoes held in place with a 6 ft tpost since we can get some high winds down off the mountains
i learned to do this the hard way
last year my tomatoes all got blown down in a bad wind storm

i usually dont trim my tomatoes much i just let them grow
all my tomatoes are indeterminate so they grow most of the season

thats how i do 
i am usually successful each year with my tomato crop

i plant 
early girl
sun gold the kids love these yellow sweet tomatoes described as candy 
black krim the heirloom does well in my garden
cherokee purple another heirloom does well also
tammy tomato my unknown small to medium tomato
linda tomato from my neighbor plot holders tomato cutting

most of how i plant my tomatoes is from john droomgoles natural garden classes
here is his link on how to plant and grow tomatoes
here is the excellent handout that i have kept in my garden notebook for years

then
here is a link to the tomato man talking on the central texas gardeners show about how he grows tomatoes

if you want to be successful growing your tomatoes
then
these three methods will make you successful

the organicgreen doctor