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To grow tomatoes like never before,
carefully
follow these directions according to the given
timetable:
September
The first step toward high tomato yields is taken in early September
when you prepare permanent raised tomato beds. If you're trying this
method for the first time, use an inoculum to establish the proper soil
bacteria.
Seed the beds with hairy vetch, a winter-hardy legume that's becoming
widely available. Do this about 2 months before winter freezeup. Seedlings
will emerge within 1 week. By the time that frost arrives, plants will be
5 to 6 inches tall.
Above ground, these skinny little vines will form a mat. Underground,
the root systems will all this time be growing into an extensive network.
Foliage and root systems will be working together, above and below
ground, to hold the soil firmly and stop erosion.
Below-freezing weather will cause the vetch vines to
become dormant, but never fear—Spring reinvigorates growth.
Now that wasn't too tough. And the good news is, you won't have to do
anything else until May.
May
By May, individual vines will be 4 or 5 feet long and form thick stands
about 2 feet high. Now it's time to kill them.
Yes, I said kill them!
Determine your ideal tomato-planting time. The day before, go out and
buy however many tomato seedlings you're prepared to cultivate.
Then mow the vetch (a high-speed flail mower is recommended) and leave
the residue in place on the beds. For the next several months, the dead
vines are going to form a nutritious organic blanket that will snuggle up
to your tomato plants (keeping out weeds) and gradually break down into
soil nutrients.
Tomorrow you'll transplant young tomato plants right through the mulch
residue and into the underlying soil.
Moisture is vital, so you'll need to irrigate. Immediately after planting,
install trickle irrigation lines on top of the vetch and 3 to 4 inches
from the tomato row. Fix them in place with U-shaped wires.
Fertilizers? A good stand of vetch provides sufficient nitrogen to meet
from half to all the nitrogen needed by tomatoes. As for phosphorus,
potassium, and essential micronutrients, it's best to have your soil
tested—and supplement according to the soil's specific
needs.
June…and Beyond
During the first month after mowing, expect the vetch mulch to
suppress weed emergence. After that, as the decomposition of the residue
advances, weed seedlings are likely to emerge.
One herbicidal application of 0.5 pound active ingredient of
metribuzin per acre should do the trick, applied 3 to 4 weeks after
transplanting. (Your nursery professional can help compute the quantity
needed for small applications.) This application will also kill any
regrowth from the mowed vetch plants.
By summer's end, your tomato plants will bear an abundance of fruit,
the organic mulch will decompose to a fare-thee-well, and the year will
have come full circle.
Mow the old tomato plants and leave them in the field to decompose
like the vetch mulch.
Now it's time to reseed with... hairy
vetch!
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Last Modified: 02/11/2002
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