Tomato Tactics

Since we found that our main polytunnel was contaminated with the powerful herbicide, Aminopyralid, we have had to come up with a plan for how we were going to continue with our planting programme, especially for our tomatoes, aubergines and beans that are all devastated by this hateful substance. After loosing all our early beans and tomatoes already we were extremely cautious and fully aware of what we were now up against. 

Watching plants which we have devoted time to and lovingly grown, literally shrivel up and die before our eyes was not an experience we could cope with for the third time, so Plan B for the 100+ tomatoes that we had desperate to get our of their pots had to be formulated. We were soon inspired by the very warm weather that we have had recently as this meant it was time to move the salads to a cooler place.

They took up their new home in the shade tunnel, which provided the cooler temperatures that lettuce prefer, that left this beautiful growing space.

Our new tomato tunnel!!

With effort, the transformation was instant, grow bags were made from old compost bags, filled with a mix of uncontaminated growing media and slow release fertilizer. These were placed in watering trays made from damp proof membrane and gaffer tape and hey presto...

The chickens were keen to help as soon as we opened the doors for ventilation!

100+ tomato plants later - we were full - after what we have been through it was a beautiful sight, to look through the tunnel and see so many healthy plants.

However we still had a large number of plants to house, so Plan B in the main tunnel came into play, to scrape back the muck and try to provide a clean substrate to plant into.

We needed to do everything we could to try to ensure that the plants put their roots down into uncontaminated ground. To try to improve the chance of this we decided to leave them in their 'Hado' pots and cut the bottom out to force the roots downwards instead of sideways.

Then we excavated a shallow whole, so that the pot still protruded out of the ground, added slow release and carefully lifted into place.

They looked good and fingers crossed we have done everything we can do to ensure that they are good.

We managed to make room for a further 150+ plants, where the beds were narrower, Melv used boards to hold the offensive material back, especially at watering time, when there was a danger that pieces of contaminated material could get knocked in close proximity - belt and braces.

Job done, the race is now on to see which plants produce fruit first, initially we thought it would be the Sweet Cassidy as they were developing well.

However the Latahs are storming ahead and just maybe in a couple of days we will have tomatoes for lunch - lovely, the fresh basil is ready and waiting - that real taste of summer.

We now cross our fingers hard that our tomato tactics are enough to ensure a successful season, with tomatoes all different shapes, colours and sizes a plenty.