This weekend, we had some beautiful weather here in Colorado and my wife an I took advantage of it. In Colorado we had snow last week, so we are just getting around to doing our “last frost” plantings. It is a little later than most parts of the country, so if you are waiting to get started now is your chance. We started out by heading to our local garden store and bought a few tomato plants. I have been gardening on my own for a few years now, but I have never attempted tomatoes. For some reason I have always been a little apprehensive about growing tomatoes. This may seem silly to all of you professional gardeners out there, but growing up in the south, I don’t think that we ever had tomatoes that made it all the way through the season so that we could enjoy them. I am not sure exactly why, because my mother can grow anything, but tomatoes always gave her trouble. Maybe it was all the wet weather that we had in the mountains of North Carolina.
But anyway, this year I am giving tomatoes a shot. I lucked out with a great local garden center, O’Toole’s, and so that was my first stop. I was blown away by the selection of plants that they had. There must have been 20-30 different varieties of tomatoes, I had no idea where to start. It was a busy Saturday, but after a few minutes of looking I found a very helpful employee, who seemed to know everything about growing tomatoes. I told her exactly how I felt about these delicious red fruits, and she guided me right to the easiest and most disease resistant plants. I ended up with a Brandywine herloom tomato, an early girl variety (that is suposed to mature by the 4th of july), and a super fantastic tomato (after all, how could I pass up that name). They are all vine tomatoes, so they take up about a 1-2 squares of my square foot garden, and I am hoping for the best.
The service that I found at my local garden center is enough to make me avoid the big chains for life. If you are on the fence like I was, then I suggest you get online and find your local garden center. If you go on a weekday, then you can probably find a very helpful employee who would love nothing more than to talk to you about your garden for as long as you want, and even on a busy Saturday, I am sure you will get the help that you need. Stop procrastinating and get planting, and don’t forget to take advantage of all the resources that you have, especially your local garden center.
Growing Tomatoes
Square Foot Gardening Links
-Square Foot Gardening From the Greener Truth
-Square Foot Gardening Foundation
Spring Planting Schedule
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