New Tomatoes, 2011

Back on February 1st, I wrote down March 20th, "Plant out Tomatoes". Well if you do the math and look at the calendar, it is March 28th. The tomatoes have been planted for 8 days. When most are thinking about planting potatoes or even just tilling, I am busy planting a warm season crop. Growing with high tunnels takes a lot of work and willingness to "Roll the Dice" with Mother Nature.

I put out 1/3 of my tomatoes, about 70 plants on March 20th. Weird thing is, the first night they were planted I didn't even cover them, it was 83 degrees that day and the over night temperature was 63, great weather. Well today it 30 degrees over night and 43 during the day. However, my plants are growing just fine, with out any heat!

The are planted in the ground, covered with two layers of row cover and one layer of plastic. In addition, I have added a 2 liter bottle of water between every two plants. This bottle absorbs heat and then gives it off at night. I also have added a wireless thermometer that I can read from the house, just to keep an eye on the temperature. So far, I have been able to keep the temperature 15-20 degrees above the outside temperature.

This is what it looks like inside the high tunnel and under the low tunnel.

New Tomatoes, 2011