How To Supercharge Your Tomato Planting Hole – 4 Must Add Ingredients To Power Plants Early!

<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Simple Garden Life Podcast, a program dedicated
<v Speaker 1>to keeping the art of gardening simple, fun and always rewarding.
<v Speaker 1>Now Here are your hosts, Jim and Mary Competti.
<v Speaker 2>Hello and welcome everybody to Simple Garden Life Podcast. I'm
<v Speaker 2>your host, Jim Competti, along with my wife Mary, Mary.
<v Speaker 2>How you doing today, I'm doing great.
<v Speaker 3>How are you doing?
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing good. Actually today I'm doing great because we're
<v Speaker 2>talking about probably my most favorite subject that it's been
<v Speaker 2>a while since. We have tomatoes and how to grow tomatoes,
<v Speaker 2>but more importantly, how to super jarge your tomato planning hole.
<v Speaker 2>And when we talk about that, we're talking about four
<v Speaker 2>ingredients that you have to add to every planning hole.
<v Speaker 2>We've done it for years and man doesn't ever make
<v Speaker 2>big success for your plans.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, and it's hard to believe.
<v Speaker 4>We're only about four weeks away for us from planning
<v Speaker 4>our tomatoes in our garden.
<v Speaker 2>I know we're in April right now. It's the twenty
<v Speaker 2>first we've got We usually like to go about the
<v Speaker 2>last week of May here, just to be safe. But
<v Speaker 2>before we get into today's pododcast, let's remind everybody if
<v Speaker 2>you have a question about the podcast. Do you want
<v Speaker 2>to email us about a question about gardening, You can
<v Speaker 2>always do so at the farm at Oldworldgarden dot com.
<v Speaker 2>You can also follow us on Simple Garden Life, Facebook
<v Speaker 2>or simple We're like the website which where we host
<v Speaker 2>all the podcasts but also a lot of articles when
<v Speaker 2>it comes to everything to do how.
<v Speaker 4>To garden, and a big shout out to all of
<v Speaker 4>our participants. This past weekend at our Spring Garden Conference
<v Speaker 4>at our farm we.
<v Speaker 2>Did we had our first one here at the farm.
<v Speaker 2>What a fun time talking with all the gardeners, giving tours,
<v Speaker 2>doing some live demonstrations. We'll do that every year, so
<v Speaker 2>stay tuned for next year. We also have some great
<v Speaker 2>things coming up to the farm that's done in our
<v Speaker 2>Summer Dinner series which will be once a month where
<v Speaker 2>we have our big outdoor dinners. So you can always
<v Speaker 2>keep charge of that at ow garden dot com or
<v Speaker 2>the farm at ol World Garden spacebook. So now let's
<v Speaker 2>get into it. How to supercharge your tomato planning the
<v Speaker 2>whole four mustad ingredients. You know, what you put in
<v Speaker 2>your tomato planning hole when you plant, It really makes
<v Speaker 2>a huge difference on how quickly you're prying how your
<v Speaker 2>plant grows, excuse me, and how well produces. People forget
<v Speaker 2>it's not just about those nutrients marry being long term.
<v Speaker 2>It's when you put them in that planting hole right away.
<v Speaker 2>It really helps the tomato plant avoid transplant shock and
<v Speaker 2>get grown right now.
<v Speaker 4>I think a lot of people have a sense of
<v Speaker 4>not denial, but a sense of security of when they
<v Speaker 4>plant their tomato plants. They get it from a nursery,
<v Speaker 4>they have already things nutrients and fertilizers in the soil,
<v Speaker 4>but there's some things you can do to really get
<v Speaker 4>your plants off to a great start.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I think the other part of that, and I think
<v Speaker 2>this is what you're hitting at as well, is that
<v Speaker 2>people put the plants in the ground, they cover it
<v Speaker 2>up with their ordinary garden soil, and they think, well,
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to fertilize this later, I'm going to do
<v Speaker 2>these things that I need to do. But really, you know,
<v Speaker 2>whether you grow your own transplants or pick them up
<v Speaker 2>at your local nursery, the real key is to get
<v Speaker 2>the ingredients that are going to power those plants. You know,
<v Speaker 2>it's going to set the stage for that big root
<v Speaker 2>growth early on and let's face it, roots of the
<v Speaker 2>tomato plant are the most important thing of all to
<v Speaker 2>its overall success. The bigger, the and more robust the
<v Speaker 2>tomato plants root systems can grow, the more easily it's
<v Speaker 2>going to absorb those nutrients and moisture that it needs
<v Speaker 2>to grow and produce. Not to mention, a good root
<v Speaker 2>system really helps with that stability. We all have seen
<v Speaker 2>tomato plants topple in the middle of summer. But the
<v Speaker 2>bigger your roots, the less you have to worry about it.
<v Speaker 4>Right, And people don't realize sometimes that tomatoes are Tomato
<v Speaker 4>plants are heavy feeders.
<v Speaker 2>Massively heavy feeders. I mean they're gonna take as much
<v Speaker 2>as corn. They take a lot of nitrogen early on,
<v Speaker 2>but then they take a lot of potassium and calcium,
<v Speaker 2>and they need a lot of trace nutrients. And the
<v Speaker 2>best way to do that is to give them all
<v Speaker 2>of what they need right from the start. And when
<v Speaker 2>we talk about planting tomatoes, before we get into those
<v Speaker 2>four important things, let's just cover a couple of things
<v Speaker 2>that really make a lot of sense. We talked about
<v Speaker 2>this this week in fact, at the Garden Conferences. First
<v Speaker 2>of all, plants, your tomatoes deep you have to plant
<v Speaker 2>them deep. You know, all of those little hairs along
<v Speaker 2>the line of a tomato plant at the bottom, those
<v Speaker 2>actually went under the soil and plant in the soil
<v Speaker 2>grow more roots. And people sometimes think, oh, well, there's
<v Speaker 2>five leaves up here. I don't want to bury those.
<v Speaker 2>But tell them what you do.
<v Speaker 4>Right when I get a tomato plant or I'm ready
<v Speaker 4>to put them in the ground, you know, dig a
<v Speaker 4>hole deep enough that not only can you put these
<v Speaker 4>four ingredients that we're telling you about, but also you
<v Speaker 4>plant them down to the first set of leaves.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I mean, if you have an eight to ten
<v Speaker 2>inch tomato transplant, it should really only stick out of
<v Speaker 2>the soil three inches by the time you're planting. That
<v Speaker 2>sounds crazy and it sounds terrifying, but it's the way
<v Speaker 2>to do it. You prone off those lower leaves, you
<v Speaker 2>put that in the soil, and it goes now merry
<v Speaker 2>plants and does all this. As I said this weekend
<v Speaker 2>at our conference, I do have a hard work because
<v Speaker 2>I have to be in front of it a crystal digger.
<v Speaker 2>But no, it's it's all joking. Aside. We use a
<v Speaker 2>postal digger. We go down eight to ten inches in
<v Speaker 2>the soil, and then we amend that soil and we
<v Speaker 2>make sure we plant those tomatoes deep. That is a
<v Speaker 2>huge part thing, a huge part of what can really
<v Speaker 2>make a tomato get off to a good start as
<v Speaker 2>that deep planting hole and then putting those great ingredients in.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and in general, tomatoes grow in best and fertile,
<v Speaker 4>well draining soil, not hard, thick clay soil. So if
<v Speaker 4>you do have clay soil, you're gonna have to amendor
<v Speaker 4>soil to make sure your tomato plants grow successfully this year.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and that goes beyond even what we're putting in
<v Speaker 2>that planting holewood. You know, if tomato plant can't find
<v Speaker 2>the nutrients it needs right off the bat, you're gonna
<v Speaker 2>see it. We've all been there. When the tomato plants
<v Speaker 2>turn a little yellow, they're slow to grow, they go
<v Speaker 2>through this long transplant shock. That's all because they can't
<v Speaker 2>find the nutrients they need. Yes, it can have something
<v Speaker 2>to do with the outside temperature. Your soil really needs
<v Speaker 2>to be, you know, minimum of sixty degrees, but sixty
<v Speaker 2>five degrees is best, So let that soil warm up
<v Speaker 2>before your plant. That's key. Yes, you have to have
<v Speaker 2>some good weather and have some good rain, or you're watering,
<v Speaker 2>But at the end of the day, it's it's the
<v Speaker 2>nutrients that that plant can get that are really going
<v Speaker 2>to get it off to a great start.
<v Speaker 4>And it's natural for all tomato transplants to have what
<v Speaker 4>we call transplant shock. It's really kind of like sending
<v Speaker 4>your kindergartener to school for the first time.
<v Speaker 3>You've protected the child.
<v Speaker 4>All these years at home, and now you're setting them
<v Speaker 4>on the bus to a whole new facility to a
<v Speaker 4>teacher they've met one time.
<v Speaker 3>Same thing with your tomato plants.
<v Speaker 4>You're putting them out in the garden in a unprotected
<v Speaker 4>area that they're not used to.
<v Speaker 2>I love that analogy, and I'm going to take it
<v Speaker 2>one step further. So now you're not just sending your
<v Speaker 2>kid on that bus with no lunch. You're giving him
<v Speaker 2>a lunch. It's going to power them through the rest
<v Speaker 2>of the day because he's going to have that fuel
<v Speaker 2>that helps him or her understand what they're doing, get
<v Speaker 2>to lunch, and keep on going. Because now your tomato
<v Speaker 2>plants are going to do the same thing. So let's
<v Speaker 2>get into it. Let's talk about what's really important for
<v Speaker 2>those four ingredients. We'll cover the first one here because
<v Speaker 2>it is by far the most important I think overall,
<v Speaker 2>and that is we put composts in every single tomato
<v Speaker 2>planting whole, actually put it in every single planting hole
<v Speaker 2>of every vegetable we do. But why the compost Because
<v Speaker 2>it's full of energy and nutrients, and even better, those
<v Speaker 2>nutrients are in a form that are easy for the
<v Speaker 2>roots of the tomato plantes to absorb, and that means
<v Speaker 2>they can get the food they need right from the start.
<v Speaker 4>Right And no longer is it that you have to
<v Speaker 4>be a farmer or big massive backyard gardener to get composts.
<v Speaker 3>Compost is available at most big box stores.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, you can grow your own or make your own,
<v Speaker 4>and we do that as well, but you can find
<v Speaker 4>it in stores.
<v Speaker 3>You know, and even if you plant one or.
<v Speaker 4>Two tomato plants, it's absolutely necessary to put compost with
<v Speaker 4>your tomato.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, compost goes beyond having just those nutrients
<v Speaker 2>we talked about. It also does a lot of other
<v Speaker 2>great things for your plants and your soil. First of all,
<v Speaker 2>it is wonderful and absorbing moisture and holding it nearly,
<v Speaker 2>in fact, nearly ten times more than plain soil. So
<v Speaker 2>that means when you water or when it rains, they
<v Speaker 2>can have the moisture they need to grow, you know,
<v Speaker 2>their foliage, their blooms, and their fruit all at the
<v Speaker 2>same time and not be drying out so much in between.
<v Speaker 3>And that means also means less watering.
<v Speaker 2>That's right. And then compost also helps to loosen the soil.
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's got a very light makeup, and loose
<v Speaker 2>soil helps those roots expand quick And we talk about
<v Speaker 2>transplant shock, that's one of the things roots need to do,
<v Speaker 2>and that's why they go into that shock. They can't grow,
<v Speaker 2>they can't get more nutrients. But by having composted in
<v Speaker 2>that hole it really matters. So how much compost this
<v Speaker 2>is a big question. How much compost should go into
<v Speaker 2>each planting hole. With compost, I really don't think you
<v Speaker 2>can go wrong. I think for us, what it's two
<v Speaker 2>to three cups, sometimes four cups, just depending how bad that.
<v Speaker 4>Soil wasn't well, how bad the soil is, and how
<v Speaker 4>bigger tomato transplants are. If you have a small tomato transplant,
<v Speaker 4>you could get away with two cups of compost in
<v Speaker 4>your planting hole.
<v Speaker 3>But if you have a.
<v Speaker 4>Tomato transplant that's already a good eighteen to twenty four inches,
<v Speaker 4>obviously you're going to need to add a little bit more.
<v Speaker 2>That's right, So you know, three four cups for something
<v Speaker 2>like that. And for an added benefit, you know, once
<v Speaker 2>you plant that, remember to put a little bit more
<v Speaker 2>compost around that planting hole on top, because every time
<v Speaker 2>you water or it rains, that composts nutrients are going
<v Speaker 2>to lead through the soil and really help your plant.
<v Speaker 2>And one last thing before we take a quick break
<v Speaker 2>here and cover the final three. You mentioned big transplants
<v Speaker 2>versus small. If you're in the nursery, if you did
<v Speaker 2>not grow your own transplants, don't think that the bigger
<v Speaker 2>plants are the way to go. Actually, if you can
<v Speaker 2>find a decent sized eight to ten inch transplant, that
<v Speaker 2>is better than getting that foot long tomato in a
<v Speaker 2>giant pot that already has tomatoes.
<v Speaker 4>On it, Right, And you really want to kind of
<v Speaker 4>stay away from, like you said, the ones that actually
<v Speaker 4>have tomatoes already growing as the fruit or even blooms,
<v Speaker 4>you really want to stay away from that. Get one
<v Speaker 4>that has nice green foliage, and then that's the perfect plant.
<v Speaker 3>To plant.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And people ask, why why do you want to
<v Speaker 2>do that, Well, it's because that tomato plant's going to
<v Speaker 2>suffer the most from transplant shock a big tomato plant.
<v Speaker 2>Just think when you transplant a big shrub or a
<v Speaker 2>big plant, it takes longer for that to recover, and
<v Speaker 2>that length of recovery during that time, that smaller transplant's
<v Speaker 2>going to take off and surpass it, just like that.
<v Speaker 2>So there we go. There's our first one that has
<v Speaker 2>to go in the hole. Two to three cups, maybe
<v Speaker 2>a little bit more if it's large, if it's large.
<v Speaker 2>And that's compost. So we'll take a quick break here
<v Speaker 2>and we'll be right back with those final three most
<v Speaker 2>important things to put in your tomato planting hole. And
<v Speaker 2>we are back talking what to plant, or I guess
<v Speaker 2>should say how to plant your tomato, meaning what to
<v Speaker 2>put in that planet tomatoing hole. Just don't cover that
<v Speaker 2>soil back up over your transplant. You've got to give
<v Speaker 2>it the power needs. So we talked about compost, how
<v Speaker 2>important it is, and I said, it's quitely my most favorite.
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna probably say that with every one of these ingredients,
<v Speaker 2>but the second ingredient definitely.
<v Speaker 3>Is it's my favorite.
<v Speaker 2>Yea, it is, and it's a must do. And that's
<v Speaker 2>worm castings. And people say worm castings, you know, but
<v Speaker 2>they are a must for tomato planting. They they are
<v Speaker 2>perhaps nature's finest, slow and low release fertilizers. They're you know,
<v Speaker 2>castings to the maneuver earthworms, that's what they are. Earthworms
<v Speaker 2>work through the soil and you know, they digest it
<v Speaker 2>and as they do, what comes out the other side
<v Speaker 2>they leave a casting which are loaded with like the
<v Speaker 2>perfect amount of energy and again, like compost, it's super
<v Speaker 2>easy for plants to absorb. For the roots of tomatoes,
<v Speaker 2>castings just give them instant energy. We put castings in
<v Speaker 2>our potting soil or our seed starting soil when we
<v Speaker 2>grow our in tomato plants, marry and the difference is amazing.
<v Speaker 4>It is, you know, just put a little bit of
<v Speaker 4>castings into the sea starting store on our seeds that
<v Speaker 4>have those, they grow tremendously better than was.
<v Speaker 3>I don't same thing with tomato plants.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And what makes it so special is that energy
<v Speaker 2>is delivered low and slow, but just is absorbed so
<v Speaker 2>easily by the roots of a tomato plant. And that's
<v Speaker 2>that's a key for tomato plants when they're young. You know,
<v Speaker 2>they don't want a massive dose of nitrogen or phosphorus
<v Speaker 2>or any of the elements that can go into it.
<v Speaker 2>They want that low and slow but easy to absorb nutrients.
<v Speaker 4>One thing to look forward though, if you, I mean
<v Speaker 4>most of us don't have our own worm castings.
<v Speaker 3>Many of us do, but a lot of us don't.
<v Speaker 4>When you go to buy your worm castings, make sure
<v Speaker 4>that you're buying one hundred percent worm castings. Sometimes these
<v Speaker 4>bags are mixed with other soil amendments or nutrients. What
<v Speaker 4>you're looking for this time pure worm castings.
<v Speaker 2>As they become more popular, it's more popular for some
<v Speaker 2>of these companies to start putting fillers in them, or
<v Speaker 2>they'll see added fertilizer. That's not what you want. You want,
<v Speaker 2>as Mary said, one hundred percent pure castings. So now
<v Speaker 2>how much we've actually increased this over the last few years.
<v Speaker 2>You know, we now use I would say definitely a
<v Speaker 2>half a cup. I mean we used to say a
<v Speaker 2>quarter cup to a half cup. But they're so they're
<v Speaker 2>not going to burn your tomato plants, they're not going
<v Speaker 2>to hurt them. So a half a cup goes a
<v Speaker 2>long way. And again it's that ability for those roots
<v Speaker 2>to absorb and worm castings do the same thing that
<v Speaker 2>compost does. Loosens the soil. It allows for the water
<v Speaker 2>to be absorbed quicker and better. And then also it
<v Speaker 2>allows it to absorb them easily, so you can't go
<v Speaker 2>wrong with them.
<v Speaker 4>And after planting your tomato hole, we actually along with
<v Speaker 4>the compost, we spigger worm castings around the base of
<v Speaker 4>the plant, now not to the base where it's touching
<v Speaker 4>the stem, but in a like four and a half
<v Speaker 4>you know, six inch circle around a little ring around it. Again,
<v Speaker 4>so the next time you water, the next time it rains.
<v Speaker 4>That is providing more nutrients through the soil.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, so compost again, we're gonna just recap compost two
<v Speaker 2>to three, maybe even four cups if it's a massive plant.
<v Speaker 2>And then too, you know, half a cup is really good,
<v Speaker 2>a quarter cup of work, a half a cup worm castings.
<v Speaker 2>And then number three and this is a huge one too.
<v Speaker 2>But it's how you put it in is egg shells,
<v Speaker 2>but not just eggshlls, not crushed in your hand. It's
<v Speaker 2>got to be pulverized into a powder. Eggshell powder. Mary
<v Speaker 2>I think this is where people make the mistakes. They
<v Speaker 2>think about eggshells and they're loaded with calcium. They can
<v Speaker 2>help blossom in rod, they can help prevent it, and
<v Speaker 2>they can also Calcium is important for the health of
<v Speaker 2>a plant and for its blooms. But when you crush
<v Speaker 2>them up or put partial pieces of egg shells, that
<v Speaker 2>doesn't help this year's crop.
<v Speaker 3>No, it takes a long time for those eggshells to
<v Speaker 3>break down. Think about it.
<v Speaker 4>If you do have a compost pile, if you go
<v Speaker 4>to throw an eggshell out, it takes a long time
<v Speaker 4>for that to break down. So you need to give
<v Speaker 4>it a boost by breaking it down before you put
<v Speaker 4>it in your tomato planting hole.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you know calcium is so important, and that's
<v Speaker 2>eggshells are made up of over ninety percent of calcium.
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's just amazing what they do. It's the
<v Speaker 2>health of the plant. They build strong stems and roots,
<v Speaker 2>and of course it's critical when it comes to warming
<v Speaker 2>that fruit. When you get that blossom in rot that
<v Speaker 2>appears on a tomato plant, that is usually, but not
<v Speaker 2>usually it is the result of the plant not getting enough.
<v Speaker 4>I think we should probably explain for those people that
<v Speaker 4>don't know what blossom and rot is.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so you know it's that little black area on
<v Speaker 2>the end of the blossom with the tomato forms, and
<v Speaker 2>all of a sudden you'll see your tomato have that
<v Speaker 2>soft spot on the end, and it ends up ruining
<v Speaker 2>that tomato.
<v Speaker 3>Right.
<v Speaker 4>Think about a tomato that's half grown, or it starts
<v Speaker 4>to even starts to turn red. You go to pick
<v Speaker 4>it and you turn it over in the bottom of
<v Speaker 4>it is all black and mushy.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I hate when I put my fingers, and I.
<v Speaker 2>Do want to explain to a lot of people that
<v Speaker 2>grow tomatoes that is a very common occurrence for the
<v Speaker 2>first four or five tomatoes that appear on your plant,
<v Speaker 2>because they're immature. The plants still learning how to do things.
<v Speaker 2>The tomatoes are trying to learn.
<v Speaker 3>How they're still the roots are still absorbing nutrients.
<v Speaker 2>And they don't understand that, and so they think, oh
<v Speaker 2>my gosh, I've got blossom in what you do on
<v Speaker 2>those initial ones. But we always tell people when we
<v Speaker 2>do this, and we were telling that this weekend at
<v Speaker 2>the conference, pull those first few tomatoes off, I mean
<v Speaker 2>the first five or sixth at form. First of all,
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna take them forever to mature. They're most likely
<v Speaker 2>going to have blossom and rot. You don't need them
<v Speaker 2>on there. And what that's going to do by taking
<v Speaker 2>them off is allow the plant to continue to produce
<v Speaker 2>more power and more power so that what it does
<v Speaker 2>produce it's next set it to me is they're going
<v Speaker 2>to be really good. However, if you don't have enough
<v Speaker 2>calcium in the soil that blossom rock can continue on it.
<v Speaker 2>If you have an extended period of bossom rock, you
<v Speaker 2>have an issue. And that's where that egg shell powder
<v Speaker 2>can really just knock it away when you plant it
<v Speaker 2>right away.
<v Speaker 4>So it's not very common to go out to your
<v Speaker 4>nursery to find a bag.
<v Speaker 3>Of eggs shell powder. So how do you get eggshell powder?
<v Speaker 2>Well, if you save your eggshells, you know, you crushing
<v Speaker 2>down by hand to a certain point. We put ours
<v Speaker 2>in a coffee grinder and we just you know, grind
<v Speaker 2>them up and they into the finest powder we can
<v Speaker 2>and then it's perfect and it's it's the reason it
<v Speaker 2>works is you said it best. It takes so long
<v Speaker 2>for them to break down, it doesn't really break down
<v Speaker 2>until next year and help next year's crop. But when
<v Speaker 2>you make it in a powder form, it's instant. The
<v Speaker 2>water comes through, it absorbs into the roots, and it
<v Speaker 2>can happen. So that's why you want to do that.
<v Speaker 4>And I just want to clarify that we don't use
<v Speaker 4>the same coffee grinder for our coffee beans as we
<v Speaker 4>do our eggshell powder. We bought inexpensive coffee grinder that
<v Speaker 4>we use solely for things like that for the garden.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think you can get one now for fifteen
<v Speaker 2>or sixteen dollars, and it's just we just use that
<v Speaker 2>for grinding that up or grinding other things up. But
<v Speaker 2>you know, there's eggs shells, Like I said, they have
<v Speaker 2>over ninety percent calcium carbonate, and by putting them in
<v Speaker 2>your hole, it's just unbelievable how much they can they
<v Speaker 2>can do for plants. So again, magical question. We talked
<v Speaker 2>about the amounts of what to use. You know, about
<v Speaker 2>the equivalent of you know, three to six eggs shells
<v Speaker 2>per hole, which when you grind them up, I think
<v Speaker 2>what you and you say about two tablespoons.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's pretty much what I use.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And actually I've seen some eggshell powder on sites
<v Speaker 2>now that it's for sale. So if you don't have
<v Speaker 2>a source, I think you can try to find it online.
<v Speaker 2>That's a great way to do it. But I'm telling you,
<v Speaker 2>save your eggshells, grind them up, use them in there.
<v Speaker 2>It's an amazing thing.
<v Speaker 3>And if you don't have enough eggshells, Jim, we should
<v Speaker 3>tell them what we used to do.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, go to your local breakfast place and
<v Speaker 2>take a five gallon bucket in, maybe patronize the breakfast
<v Speaker 2>place and have a breakfast there. Every weekend. We had
<v Speaker 2>a little small hole in the wall that we would
<v Speaker 2>go to. We would take them two five gallon buckets
<v Speaker 2>and they would save their coffee grounds, their egg shells,
<v Speaker 2>and all their potato peilings and everything else for us.
<v Speaker 2>And we would go in, usually on Saturday morning, and
<v Speaker 2>have breakfast and leave with two buckets full, and we
<v Speaker 2>would give them two more. We did that for a
<v Speaker 2>long time before we had our own chickens and our
<v Speaker 2>own ability to have as much. But same thing with
<v Speaker 2>coffee shops. You know they're going to save the grounds
<v Speaker 2>for people, and they're more than.
<v Speaker 4>Happy to even Starbucks, I think save coffee grounds for people.
<v Speaker 4>And they actually put the patron's names up on a chalkboard,
<v Speaker 4>and I've heard in some occasions.
<v Speaker 2>I love it. I love it. So okay, so we've
<v Speaker 2>done three and four. We've got composts, we've got warm castings,
<v Speaker 2>and we have eggshll powder. We'll come back with that
<v Speaker 2>final tip and final tips on growing tomatoes after this
<v Speaker 2>message we are back. We've covered the first three important
<v Speaker 2>things to put in that tomato planting hole. First, we
<v Speaker 2>talked about digging your tomato plant hole with a postal digger.
<v Speaker 2>The nice thing about that is you're not taking a
<v Speaker 2>big scoop of dirt out, just a nice area for
<v Speaker 2>the whole. It's easy on your back. And then once
<v Speaker 2>you lift that soil out, mixing in these ingredients, you know,
<v Speaker 2>two to three cups of compost, the worm castings, you know,
<v Speaker 2>half a cup or so, and then the eggshell powder
<v Speaker 2>two to three tablespoons. Two is more than enough. And
<v Speaker 2>then comes number four with your coffee grounds. Another free
<v Speaker 2>resource for people. And we're not talking about fresh coffee grounds.
<v Speaker 2>We're talking about used coffee grounds. Right, they have to
<v Speaker 2>run through that coffee maker in order to get the
<v Speaker 2>acidity out of them. But when they do, those coffee
<v Speaker 2>grounds are just unbelievably healthy for your tomato plants and
<v Speaker 2>for your soil.
<v Speaker 3>Right, both coffee grounds contain nitrogen and other trace elements
<v Speaker 3>that helps your tomato plants grow big and strong.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, nitrogen is a key factor for tomato plants. I
<v Speaker 2>mean you're talking about it is what helps plants grow.
<v Speaker 2>You don't want to hit your tomato plants with too
<v Speaker 2>much nitrogen. But coffee's perfect because it's a low dose,
<v Speaker 2>just enough to keep it green and growing without overproducing
<v Speaker 2>too much foliage.
<v Speaker 3>Just like you can't have too much coffee in the
<v Speaker 3>morning too.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you've been telling that I can't, so that might
<v Speaker 2>be a problem. Apparently I'm limited now to cups. Apparently
<v Speaker 2>there is a point where it's not good, kind of
<v Speaker 2>like a tomato.
<v Speaker 3>It's right, too much, just enough?
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know we talked about they contain the nitrogen
<v Speaker 2>and other ingredients. But how much should you mix in?
<v Speaker 2>You know, two to three tablespoons is really good for
<v Speaker 2>the planting hole. You said this too. That's another thing.
<v Speaker 2>We usually put a few more tablespoons up on top
<v Speaker 2>of the soil when we're done in that in that
<v Speaker 2>mix of compost, and what it does is it helps
<v Speaker 2>to it helps to you know, really control the moisture
<v Speaker 2>and also get things in and also just give that
<v Speaker 2>little bit of nitrogen boost.
<v Speaker 3>That they Yeah, just don't do the fresh coffee grounds
<v Speaker 3>because those fresh coffee grounds have just too much acid
<v Speaker 3>in them. They have to be spent.
<v Speaker 2>You're right, you know that's the big thing. So once
<v Speaker 2>your tomato plants gets boosted, or once once they get planted,
<v Speaker 2>then you're going to fertilize them after a few weeks.
<v Speaker 2>Just remember, once you start fertilizing your tomato plants, we
<v Speaker 2>like to use liquid fertilizer and look for a fertilizer
<v Speaker 2>that's higher in phosphorus than it is nitrogen. You want that,
<v Speaker 2>you know, NPK numbers is going to tell you the
<v Speaker 2>three numbers you need. In that first numbers, nitrogen, you
<v Speaker 2>want it to be low, so maybe a five ten
<v Speaker 2>ten or a five fifteen. You want that phosphorus and
<v Speaker 2>calcium or potassium to be higher because that's what drives
<v Speaker 2>blooms and plants and not just overall growth. I think
<v Speaker 2>we've covered it.
<v Speaker 3>With I'm excited for planning season.
<v Speaker 2>I am too, So listen, thanks for joining us today.
<v Speaker 2>We'll be back next week with another one. Here's some
<v Speaker 2>knowing what to put in your tomato planting hole this
<v Speaker 2>year and having your best harvest of tomatoes ever.
<v Speaker 3>I'm Jim Campetti, I'm Mary Capetti.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Happy gardening, everyone, Happy gardening.
<v Speaker 5>We hope you've enjoyed this episode. Subscribe to the Simple
<v Speaker 5>Garden podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or most of
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<v Speaker 5>of the show notes to every episode.
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<v Speaker 5>Until next time, Thanks everyone,