Urban Gardener: Summer Transplants Take Root
Saturday, June 07, 2014
Spring plantings are at their peak, hesitant to bolt in our long cool spring. Lettuces, asparagus, daffodils, and others have introduced us to the new garden season. In these last days of spring the space conscious urban gardener eyeballs their community garden plot or backyard beds and knows there is a next step. It’s not too late. It’s time to consider garden essentials that are just waiting for long hot humid summer days. Lots are easy to grow from seed. Others are more convenient started much earlier in the season and commonly sold as transplants. Let’s take a look at transplants and just how they work.
As always, the soil is the beginning. Turn under the old spring gardens after the last harvest. Older lettuces send up tall flower stalks. They absorb plants’ energy and rob the tender first leaves of any flavor. Be strong. As gardeners turn under the old growth, mix in the last remnants of the compost heap. A liberal dose of easy to store and easy to work, peat and perlite, are terrific soil amendments. Pull up the lamb’s quarters and crab grasses that quickly sprout from tilled soil. Any volunteers, such as cleome, Love Lies Bleeding, or clover, can be judiciously thinned.
Observe your garden space’s sunlight. The leafless trees that permitted sunshine on the lettuce bed may now be a dense mass of oak leaves. Hopefully you are gardening with a space with six hours of direct sunshine. This is manna from heaven. Uninterrupted sunshine is always a premium in the urban garden. Seize the moment and employ every tool for success in your sunny areas. Lots of sun loving vegetables, flowers and herbs are intolerant of anything less than relentless sun. Happily, if anyone is to garden for pleasure and table there are sun lovers sold as transplants to replace the spring crops. Tomatoes, peppers and basil of the first quality are sun loving classics.
All gardeners participate in history. Domestication of plants is annually pushed further back into the mists of pre-history. Our lexicon of cultivated plants is both vast and shrinking. Regions once famous for particular varieties of common plants are merging into monotony. Urban gardeners enjoy more freedom to explore and preserve plant varieties lost in the genetic monotone shuffle to develop produce grown for their ability to withstand long transport or conform to an ideal. So called heirloom varieties have taken a stand and returned with vigor. This is a perfect time to savor diversity and extend perception.
Tomatoes are sun lovers that offer gardeners endless choices. No longer is “Big Boy” the dominant player. We are not obliged to grow tomatoes engineered to slice perfectly. Rather, taste, vigor, color, and legend happily abound among the heirlooms. Gardeners have kept theses varieties in pockets around the world and we are better for it. As the gene pool shrinks, we rejoice to find the entire color spectrum in tomatoes, those full of flavor that do not travel well, or some that do not conform to the standard ideal of shape.
I like to plant many different types of tomatoes. Brandywine produces gigantic yields. This savory tomato ripens from the bloom end to stem. These huge tomatoes are best harvested before fully ripened under the scorching summer sun. Their quirky ripening process urges cultivators to harvest just before the entire fruit is red. Brandywines are a lovely pink red tomato. Beefsteak is the classic sliced tomato our grandparents grew. Napoli and Roma are plum shaped tomatoes grown for generations for cooking. They have thick fleshy fruit with few seeds. They are perfect for simmering marinara on the stove. Cherry tomatoes are the sweetest of the clan. Their pop in the mouth size bias the grower’s restraint. No one in the garden can resist biting into these beauties warm from summer sun. This is the gardener’s triumph.
Happily, heirlooms are easy to find and all have the same cultural requirements: sunshine, rich well drained soil and in tight spaces, staking. Once the overnight temperature remains above 65 degrees the flowers set fruit. Until then, we give the plants tender loving care. How to handle transplants? Gently of course. Push and pull the transplants from their containers. By this time of year the plants have become pot bound. Congested roots have become tied, twisted, confined within their small pots. Tease apart at least a third of the roots from the bottom up. Plant deeply. Tomatoes send out roots from the stem, indeed cuttings are easy to make from established plants. Trim away the lower leaves. Moisten the stalks with rooting hormone but if not, you’ll still enjoy success. Kindly plant the stems and roots almost to the leaves. Moisten.
Our first objective with transplants is to establish a great root system. Bone meal helps. Deeper planting offers the tomato moisture during the inevitable dry spell. Mulch right up to the plant with whatever bio-degradable material is cheap, abundant, and nearby. Our numerous coffee shops give away coffee grounds in quantity. Paper collars quickly fashioned from brown leftover brown leaf bags covered with mulch eliminates tedious weeding.
Vigorous tomatoes will sprawl. That’s fine if you have lots of space. However, generations of tomato growers have staked their plants. I allow five feet of stake above the ground. For many years I used defective ski poles for stakes, they were colorful indeed and endured forever. Moreover, bamboo is an excellent staking material easy to find and cut to suitable lengths. Don’t be shy about driving the stake deep into the ground. Stakes should be stable. Install the stakes as you plant the seedlings. Sensitive roots will grow around stakes undisturbed. Old torn up t-shirts are perfect for a snug yet slightly giving support. Gardeners soon learn the art and develop a feel for the right fit. Many of us prune away shoots that emerge from the leaf juncture. If not, these shoots will enlarge the plant ever more until one has a heavenly mass of tomato plant. Each shoot will eventually produce fruit.
I like to put up recyclable large mesh wire fencing and trellis tomatoes. Tomatoes are easily trained and tied to wire fencing. The green clad variety of fence visually disappears from view. Indeed, I often put up the wire trellis before planting to avoid clumsy steps. Too often I’ve stepped unawares upon freshly planted seedlings. There is a learning curve to all this which is an essential aspect of gardening pleasure.
Children enjoy staking. They can participate in the garden without risk to tender seedlings as they help hold steady the mischievous wire fence. Everyone enjoys a little hammering, I have a three pound hammer forged a century ago and still true to its purpose. Technique is more important than strength, swing the hammer and allow it to descend under its own weight. Relieve shoulders from impact stress.
Next time let’s talk a little about companion planting and other summer super stars such as sweet and hot peppers, and a bit more on transplants. Remember, always put transplants in a bright place away from direct sun until planting. Keep moist. Tuck them in once planted with a nice firm press on the soil with your hands. You’ll feel the earth’s energy and never underestimate the power of touch. Latter, when the beach is more attractive than the garden or during those days when the air conditioner convinces gardeners to remain indoors the tomatoes will celebrate the heat. Grin. You’ll certainly smile as you bite into those flavorsome oxhearts, Brandywines, Black Krim, Yellow Boys, Cherokee, Mr. Stripey, and all those hearty denizens of the heirloom tomato world. Gee, they’re good for you too.
Related Slideshow: Spring Flower Shows, Gardens, and Art
Related Articles
- Urban Gardener: Compost Complexities
- Urban Gardener: Not Pot but Potatoes
- The Urban Gardener: Rise and Shine
- Urban Gardener: Container Gardens
- Urban Gardener: Lettuce Among Us
- Urban Gardener: Please Plant Peas
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It