In response to my killed tomatoes, I went and purchased more. Originally I had started from seed:

• Roma
• Better Boy
• Sweet 100

I planted a Sweet 100 and Better Boy in 1 square foot each, next to a trellis to vine it. I planted 2 Roma and 2 Better boy in 32 square feet total. I staggered them so they would each have roughly 9 square feet.

Now I was concerned about getting any tomatoes at all, so this is my new planting:

• Roma
• Celebrity
• Super Fantastic
• Better Boy
• Champion
• Sweet 100

Fortunately, I had not planted all my starts. So I added another Sweet 100 in the same square with the one that was suffering. It will grow up the trellis. I replaced a dead Better Boy (only later did I learn that during my seed starting, I had mislabeled and really I was replacing it with a Roma).

In my 4×8 box, I planted 1 Roma, 2 Super Fantastic, 1 Champion, 1 Better Boy, and 1 Celebrity. So instead of 4 plants, I now have 6 tomato plants–each with about 4-6 square feet.

Since I was at the nursery and my peppers were suffering, I bought more of those too:

• Gypsy bell
• Jalapeno
• Thai
• Anaheim

I pulled out my weakest peppers and replanted the new ones. I even added 2 or 3 extras (I bought some 4 packs) to my tomato garden.

I also rigged up some temporary irrigation. I had a valve dedicated to this side of my garden, but only a stub. I went to Home Depot and bought the parts to convert the stub to a hose spigot, and hooked up my hose and a sprinkler. That way when my sprinkler system went on, the garden would be watered. We’re going on vacation for 10 days.

Filed under: 2008