Zack asked me to do a write up on my tomato that is, so far, winning our contest. So far this year my biggest tomato came from seed that I received from Zack Chavez, the variety was called Big Zac. Zack had done some research on the variety and decided to grow it and harvest the seeds, which he generously gave me some.
I grew my tomato's this year trying a new idea. I decided to mix my own soil mix and then digging out a hole that you could drop a 5 gallon paint bucket in flush with the ground, I planted in my tomato's. The mix was fairly simple :
* 1/3 Fox Farm's organic soil mix (something like that, lol)
* 1/3 HomeDepot indoor/outdoor potting soil (big bag, green color on it)
* 1/3 1 year aged compost (my own), primarily coffee grounds and veggie scraps, and more red worms than either of the other two
I mixed it all together using a large tarp (less mess) and filled around the plants. I will add that all of my plants that I wish to survive must be planted into chicken wire mesh pots under the ground, where we live we have a very severe pocket gopher problem. If it isn't in a wire mesh pot it will be eaten. I am also using an idea that Zack was the first to use in our circle, red mulch cloth. It is a stretch calling it that, basically it's perforated red plastic a little thicker than Glad garbage bags in 2'x2' squares. I have read a few studies that have proved that the red color does help the plants to grow more vigorously and fruit better.
The last couple of things I do are what I think helps produce great tomatoes no matter what size you are shooting for, I dig a well around my plants. I figure that if my plants are healthy and growing well each tomato plant will need at least a 3-4' diameter circle to grow in (branches growing out and overflowing). So, the well I plant them in is about 2-3' in diameter, that will allow me to hand-water each plant with at least 2 gallons of water a watering that will soak the rootball and the surrounding soil. I also grow my tomato plants in cages. I use "hog-wire" or foundation wire for my baskets, the stuff lasts a lifetime and the squares are big enough I can shove my paws through them and still pick the fruit and pull it out without mauling it.
That leads to my final idea on growing great tomato's no matter what size, hand watering. This is a luxury that I am fortunately able to indulge in, some may not be able to enjoy. The idea is, if you are hand watering you take time to do it, what do you do? I f you are someone like me I start to look at my plants ... do they look healthy? Are they yellowing? Damn, they are dying. You end up looking at your plants more, and the more you look, the more I've learned. You start to see the sucker growth you want to pinch off, the yellowing that either means too much water or too much fertilizer, the stunted growth that could be really heavy soil. It's a learning process, but what is so much fun is watching it grow in such a short period of time and being able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I really enjoy the flavor of summer tomato's it will ruin you for the store bought.
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