Tomatoes, or Love Apples, as they were once called, were introduced into Europe shortly after the journeys of Columbus to the new world, but did not reach England until a later date. To begin with they were grown merely for their ornamental and curiosity value, and were thought to be poisonous.
To grow them outdoors, a warm friable soil is essential and the ground should be trenched for best results. Soil to a depth of about 15 inches should be removed and into the trench should be placed as highly concentrated humus as it is possible to obtain. Farmyard manure is not as easily available as it used to be but if some can be acquired it should be incorporated into the trench or added to compost heap which is to be dug into the trench. The compost is made by composting a quantity of straw with an activator, to which is added sonic dry poultry manure to assist in fermentation. If the heap is stacked as high as possible to allow it to heat up quickly and turned at weekly intervals for three weeks, a very useful compost for tomatoes will result. This, is not the easiest way to grow tomatoes, but if one wishes to obtain the maximum crop, then one must be prepared to give the plants as much help as possible from the beginning.
Soil preparation It is an excellent plan to place in the trenches a straw compost that is only half composted, for fairly long straw will help greatly with the aeration of the trench soil, a free circulation of air being most necessary for a healthy rooting system. Some growers place completely =- composted straw at the bottom of a trench and stand this on end as an extra aid to air circulation. This is a successful method, but it is preferable to use partly corn posted straw. Uncut straw will have a tendency to take up vital nitrogen from the soil whilst in the process of rotting down so, if used by itself, it must first be treated with sulphate of ammonia, which costs only a few pence per pound. Where it is required that the straw should be stood on end in the trench, the sulphate of ammonia-can be sprinkled over the straw when in position, and it will then begin its decomposition before the top soil is added.
Horticultural peat and hop manure mixed together will also contribute to the humus content of the soil and should be used where possible. Chopped seaweed is also an excellent organic fertiliser and is used in large quantities by the tomato growers of the Channel Isles and West Country. Shoddy (cloth waste) is also valuable, especially when used in conjunction with partially composted straw. In all but the very lightest soils peat should be used in quantity, and again for mulching the plants when the fruits begin to form. Should it not be possible to compost a quantity of straw, then it would be advisable to place lawn mowings and garden refuse at the bottom of the trench.
The use of lawn mowings as a means of providing `green’ humus is not as universally popular as it should be. Experiments carried out at the Cheshunt Research Station have shown that where up to 40 tons to an acre was added, tomato yields increased considerably.
Another ‘green’ product that normally runs to waste is pea and bean haulm, which may easily be obtained for the asking in many parts of the country.
This is a valuable source of nitrogen and will give excellent results in the ultimate crop yield. But, though bean haulm may not be available to the town gardener, lawn mowings usually are and, during the summer months should be stored for use in winter when the trenches are made. The allotment holder and country gardener should collect pea and bean haulm throughout the summer months, and have this available for incorporation into the compost heap in preference to using it in the uncomposted state. Where the soil is heavy, ashes which have been weathered and well mixed into the top soil will also help to encourage a strong rooting system.
It is suggested that a trench be taken out rather than a portion of the garden double-trenched and the humus placed in the trench so that the manures may be kept in as concentrated an area as possible. In the same way, one would not top dress the ground in between the plant rows.
Again a trench will help to keep the land free from tomato sickness where a yearly crop is being cultivated, for the exact position of the trench will have been marked and that for the following year’s crop may be made some way from the old one. This is more satisfactory than using up a larger area of ground for the same crop year after year, with no exact knowledge of where last season’s crop Was set out.
Where ‘new’ land is being used to grow tomatoes, and this will be the case where one is taking up residence in a newly built house, the turf should be first removed and placed grass downwards at the bottom of the trench. The mass of tiny fibrous roots of the turf will be a source of additional humus and, for this reason, many growers use turf for lining the trenches in a glasshouse. Wherever it can be obtained turf will improve with stacking and will be even more valuable where mixed with farmyard or poultry manures.
When once the humus content of the trenches is established, and this will decompose either in a compost heap or in the trenches themselves during winter, the base fertilizers should be added. The humus forming materials should have been covered over with a inches of soil and trodden down. This treading will prevent air pockets forming but, where straw is present, treading will not cut off air circulation. Early in spring, the base fertilizers may then be mixed with the top soil before it is placed in the trenches.
For additional supplies of nitrogen, dried blood, meat and hoof meal are both concentrated and slow acting, thus the plants are enabled to take up food during the whole of their cropping. These prepared organic manures, when used with artificially composted straw or ‘green’ manures, have produced excellent crops and if horse manure cannot be obtained, the tomatoes will still yield well. Tomato plants starved of nitrogen show a tendency to become thin and lanky with a yellow blotching of the leaves, and also an uneven ripening of the fruit. Thus nitrogen is most important but, where ample supplies of horse, poultry and pig manures are being used, the addition of nitrogenous manures must be limited, otherwise a sof 1 sappy plant and delayed ripening of the fruit will result.
A most important requirement of the tomato is potash. Poultry manure which has been stored dry before using in the compost heap contains almost ten times the potash concentration of farmyard
manure, and where guano or poultry droppings have been used in this way almost no extra potash will be needed. Where farmyard manure only is being used and then only on a small scale, it will be necessary to give potash additions. Sufficient may he given in the form of wood ash winch, like poultry manure, has been stored dry. Wood ash contains about the same quantity of potash as poultry manure; sulphate of potash may be used sparingly instead and this contains about eight times the concentration of pure potash. Where organic manures are not in concentrated form, a 3 ounce per square yard dressing of hoof meal (5 parts) and sulphate of potash (i part) will provide the necessary requirements of the plant.
To counteract any tendency of the plants to suffer from lack of magnesium, which in recent years has become prevalent, a sprinkling of Epsom Salts (magnesium sulphate) should be forked in at planting time.
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