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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026
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Little Ketchup
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Grittyville, WA
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Entry 96 of 96 |
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This was all the digging my hands could do without getting blisters. I guess I should have worn gloves. Anyhow I threw amendments in... I didn't measure so there will be a component of dumb luck if it grows anything big. The main concern is getting a large first truss mega. And then getting it pollinated, and then getting it to grow.
I used some Garden-Tone by Epsoma, worm castings, rose fertilizer with micros, blue "bloom booster", bone meal, a mixed 2-2-2 natural fertilizer with alfafa and seaweed and fish bone meal, a little wood ash and charcoal, and some zinc. Plus gypsum, copper sulfate, boron, a tiny bit of magnesium sulfate, and... a large amount of composted chicken manure. If anything ruins things, it will probably be the chicken manure.
I might add more boron and manganese later.
It sounds complicated. The only thing I really tried to measure was the copper/boron/gypsum but there's really no guarantee of anything. I can make somewhat informed guesses. Even if I measured precisely I feel like I still would not know with certainty which minerals would get into the plants roots easily vs poorly. I know the first goal (a big mega) and the other goal (a successful pollination) and I make guesses accordingly. In my opinion a big mega will need amino acids and strong stem growth, and a successful pollination will need a good mineral balance.
I'll add a bunch of straw then set a few drip lines on either side and call it good. Seedlings that need a home:
8.19 Smith x 1
7.24 Brown x 1
8.46 Clayton x 2
4.46 Clayton x 1
8.34 Tobeck x 2
10.20 Jolivette x 3
10.46 LaRue x 1
The might be some late substitutions as the last batch I sowed has not germed yet.
Normally no till would be preferable but he soil here needed to be dug. There are almost zero worms. The grass roots seem to be confined to the top 2 inches of soil for some reason. With no hand tillage this would be good recipe for total tomato failure.
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