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Florida Gardening

Who says you can't grow tomatoes in the ground in Florida?

12 years ago

Look what I grew in the ground!!! Best plant of my fall season!

Biggest tomatoes too!

Becca

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Comments (19)

shuffles_gw
12 years ago
Actually, this is the first year in many that I put tomatoes in the ground. To my surprise they did better than those in containers. They got frozen back but are now recovering gang busters.
User
12 years ago
I always grow my tomatoes in the ground. Here is a picture of them at well over 8 feet tall......
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FLgardenmom
Original Author
12 years ago
I may plant more in the ground. None of mine in pots stayed healthy or produced big nice tomatoes like this. I have four seedlings for this spring season that I haven't potted up. May just find a spot in the garden for them.
I'm pretty sure the problem with my potted ones from the fall was too much water. I guess this guy escaped my over eager watering strategy. ;)
Sooooooo glad I decided to cover her when we had that one frost!
Becca
apapjim
12 years ago
I guess it depends on the ground. Are any of those plants being grown in Florida sugar sand? The last time I tried that the nemadodes had a feast. It's container gardening for me.
FLgardenmom
Original Author
12 years ago
It was nothing but sand last January when I started the garden. It has been amended a LOT and I planted sun hemp over the summer as a ground cover to add nitrogen and repel nematodes. I guess it worked!
User
12 years ago
Like Gardenmom I also started with pure white sugar sand. Takes time and energy but if people concentrated more on feeding the soil than the plants gardening would be easier.
zzackey
12 years ago
Where do you buy sum hemp?
FLgardenmom
Original Author
12 years ago
I bought my seeds from amazon.com. There may be better places, but that's what I found.
writersblock (9b/10a)
12 years ago
I'm curious about using sunn hemp this way, FLgardenmom. Everything I've read says it's best if you plow it in when it's in bloom, but it's supposed to be a short-day bloomer. Did you get blooms in the summer?
katkin_gw
12 years ago
We mow our lawn and have a grass catcher. For 17 years I've put the grass clipping in my veggie garden and my soil is now black and loaded with worms. It acts like a mulch in the summer and rots down in the winter. I do both, some tomatoes in containers and some in the ground. I can put the ones in containers anywhere I want. :o)
FLgardenmom
Original Author
12 years ago
Well, I have a very small plot, no need for a plow. And only planted half of it. I went with just 60 days and then cut it all down at the roots and left the plants to decompose. I've read that I can be invasive if you let it go to seed, and that 60 days was enough to get the nitrogen and nematode benefits that I was going for.
Doing it on a larger scale, I have no clue about. And it was really just an experiment. I don't know too much about it.

Becca
writersblock (9b/10a)
12 years ago
Thanks, Becca.
pnbrown
12 years ago
And follow with a couple crops of legume before doing any other crop and nematodes will be controlled.
saldut
12 years ago
I have some is the ground and some in pots and the ground ones usually do better, but most of them are volunteers, whatever was near there last year is coming up again, I just let the 'maters fall on the ground if I don't pick them and they set the seed the next year, on their own.. I'm a messy gardener...but I amend the soil heavily, compost and kitchen scraps and green clippings, leaves..etc. it all gets tossed out there, I have lots of earth worms and they love it...I think nematodes don't like a'rich' soil they like the sand...sally
User
12 years ago
I think you are 100% right Sally. I never trust "neat" gardeners anyway :)
peggy_g
12 years ago
I always plant my tomatoes in the ground. I add compost, a little epson salt and a little kelp meal to each planting hole and mix with the soil. Works fine. I've tried many varieties and still do; I find that indeterminate Better Boys do well in my garden. Sweet Chelsea, a large cherry, are amazing plants. The ones I planted in Sept. are still producing!
tomncath
12 years ago
Sweet Chelsea, a large cherry, are amazing plants....

Sweet Chelsea has been around a long time, it's one of my mainstays too. You're the first other than me to speak of its accolades. You almost can't go wrong with any of the "Sweets". I just discovered Sweet Baby Girl this year and it will become a regular in my garden along with Sweet Chelsea. I grew Sweet Treats last year and they were good and productive too, and many swear by Sweet Million.

Tom
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
12 years ago
Haha - I can't seem to grow tomatoes successfully in containers! I guess it depends on what your soil is like - & perhaps the type of tomatoes as well...
saldut
12 years ago
If you have trouble growing'em in a pot, Tom can give you a run-down on his method, which is eminently successful, his 'maters are to-die-for.... he doesn't have the room to grow them in the ground and 'necessity is always the mother of invention' and he has invented a winner....sally

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