Well last year was a bust. I learned a lot about growing tomatoes in general but had blossom end rot on my big beef steaks and never actually got one off the vine. This year I was able to upgrade my indoor grow set up with more space and better lighting.
I started the tomatoes at the end of February about 2 months later than last year. I used a home made Tupperware rig to sprout the seeds
Then transferred to a larger cup seedling tray
I picked the best plants and then transferred those to larger 4" pots
While those were growing in the basement I started building the garden outside. I was able to carve out the hill a bit using the tiller attachment on my weed whip.
In the future I intend to tier the hill and have a much wider space to walk and plant.
I transferred the plants outside the weekend of mothers day
I let the grass on the hill grow until it was overwhelming and decided I needed to put down some fabric to control the weeds. I used some extra lumber to make a 8'x20' trellis, and stakes and string for the plants to climb up. I got a bunch of string clips to hold the plants in place.
Since then I've been fertilizing about once a week usually before a big rain. Trimming each plant in a different way to see how it affects the growth and production. I have mostly single leader plants but tried a double and triple leader plant as well. These pictures were taken this morning and the quantity and size of the cherries blows me away. My beef steaks are looking very healthy and large. I've been using more aggressive trimming methods with these to try and maximize size and weight.
As of today my cherries are over 8' tall and have already out grown the trellis. Not really sure what I'm going to do about it yet. Its a good problem to have though. If you are interested in joining my largest tomato contest feel free to post pictures in the thread. Heaviest/largest wins bragging rights.
