Each gardener has his own secrets of growing a rich harvest, which make his seasonal work easier.
I have a very large vegetable garden, so the most time-consuming process (besides planting) is watering numerous beds. We have to invent and "spy" methods that help to avoid his daily routine.
One of the moisture-loving gardeners, of course, is the tomato. No matter how much you drink it, everything will be small, especially in the heat. A neighbor, watching me water the tomato beds for whole evenings, took pity on me and shared her years the proven secret of tomato plantingwhich cuts the need for watering in half.
In professional parlance, this is called "deep seating". Baba Shura (apparently due to her wartime childhood) has a "trench".
- First of all, I dig a "trench" 20 cm deep. I dig it - of course, it is loudly said, my earth is soft and fluffy, so I use a hoe. I leave the dug out ground nearby, on the side.
- Since the tomato "fighters" will have to sit for a long time (the whole summer and the beginning of autumn!) - I provide them with a "dry ration" - in our case - compost.
- After that, I plant tomato seedlings in the resulting depression - in an even "system".
- I mulch the passages with a thick layer of grass.
- When the tomatoes gain strength and, growing up, confidently protrude out of the "trench", I strengthen the position - the ground left on the side, carefully, with a rake, fall asleep into the trench.
- And I even pick up a little more land for the tomatoes so that now a trench is formed between their rows. In the photo below, this is clearly visible: on the right, 2 rows are still intact, on the left they are already hilled.
- "Two birds with one stone" are killed at once: the root system is hilling, and the ridge becomes beautiful for a sight - with strong slender tomatoes in even rows.
- By the way, I again lay a new trench with a thick layer of mulch from mowed grass and weeds.
- Thanks to this deepening, the roots of tomatoes take all the necessary moisture on their own - from the soil. Additional roots appear that act as a pump. One summer, when there was more or less enough rain, I never (!) Watered my tomato "trenches". Saved a tremendous amount of time and money (the water meter works like crazy in the summer!).
Alternative. Telling my acquaintances about my brother's wonderful advice to my friends, I learned that, it turns out, many of them have been planting tomatoes this way for a long time. Only more often not trenches are dug, but separate "fishing" holes are drilled. Everything is exactly the same, but, in my opinion, more complicated. Each hole individually requires more attention and time. I will definitely continue my "trench" practice!
By the way, last year I harvested a fantastic tomato harvest. Just enough for a whole hungry platoon!
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