Planting Tomatoes in Early Spring
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Posted by Robert Dailey Feb 17, 2009 |
Got some Early Girl tomatoes in, along with some Better Boys. Set them in next to my leeks and lettuce.
I like Early Girl and other early-fruiting varieties because the short growing season along the Gulf coast.
Subtropical
Since it’s warm here – almost tropical (I live in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 9) February is actually the best time to plant tomatoes.
One would think that tomato season would last from early spring until fall. But it gets really hot here in mid-summer, too hot even for tomatoes.
Therefore the earlier maturing varieties do best…producing massive amounts of tomatoes until the heat just decimates production.
Disease Resistant
Verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt and nematodes are banes of tomato crops here, so I get plants that are immune to them. I look for the VFN designations on the plant labels.
My leeks look great.
I’ve got some onions growing over at the community gardens that I oversee. I picked some green onions the other day and served them up in a weekend brunch omelet. They were just strong enough, providing a great juxtaposition to the blandness of the eggs. I grated a little pepperjack cheese over the top, some sliced cherry tomatoes and some diced up, left over fries. The omelet, served with garlic toast and some pepper jelly, was delicious.
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