So my initial way-too-early tomato, little miss Petaluma Hill Purple is… way too big for her pot.
Remember this was the first one I got, in late February when we got a ton of early tomatoes and I thought, oh what the heck.
So I got it in a 4 inch container, re-potted it into a gallon, and now…
Well. It’s nearly April which is a much more rational tomato time. Still though.
After some consideration, despite the fact that I’d like a proper tomato bed- I think this lady will go into a pot. I have the perfect space, though I did give it a trim after I took this snapshot.
I am being spoiled by having way too much time on my hands, and a working string-trimmer. The garden’s never been so well mowed!
As far as tomatoes go- like my bay tree, I’m being extra aware of drainage.
Not only did I scrounge up some old bricks and carefully position it- I used some screens for the holes in a (vain) attempt to hold off bugs.
As for the soil…
Plant them if you got them!
Yes, yes this soil is obviously for- the good stuff- but I don’t grow the good stuff, I grow the better stuff: Vegetables. (Not that in these anxious times I’m not considering… that’s another post.)
Any soil that’s designed for pot is gonna be just GREAT for tomatoes- as like MJ, tomatoes are heavy feeders that need good drainage to thrive.
The other thing to always consider about tomatoes is how deep you plant them. You always want to bury them up to their necks- unlike other veggies you want at least 3 to 6 inches of the stems and leaves to be under the soil. The buried leaves will turn to roots and help the plant absorb nutrients.
Congratulations- it’s a tomato!
Also a mess- but that’s just what happens. I like to plant them in a mound so water can drain away from the main plant.
I’d been hoping, in the before times, to buy a brand new tomato cage- but in these days, I’m just using what I have.
Which is this rusted out monstrosity!
Meh- it’ll work.
Now you two weirdos get to stay in your pots and just focus on getting bigger.
I’m gonna take the hottest, sunniest bed and use it for these two- but when they’ve grown a tad.
For now my job is to feed the crap out of my ‘maters with high Nitrogen ferts and make sure they don’t flower til late April.
You got to get those guys as big as you can before they fruit or they’ll run into trouble.
Of course there’s the bug issues…
I mean the whole yard is teeming with ladybugs since their release, and I have another can just waiting to be unleashed- might as well tag this baby with a lure and see what happens!
It was nice to get out after more rain.
Which is likely to happen into April because San Francisco is being very typical this year.
It’s always nice when something is reliable- even if it’s terrible weather!
The Neanderthal Gardens 
Buried leaves don’t really turn to roots, but adventitious roots will develop on the buried portions of stems. For many other plants, roots develop from buried nodes.
All I know is historically it adds to the sorta overall vigor of the plant so I always bury the bottoms.
Oh, it does improve vigor, by putting the roots down lower into the better insulated soil (which is nice when they are starting out) and allowing more roots to develop from the otherwise useless bare section of lower stem. You probably noticed that the lowest part of the original stem are rather scrawny, but that they are a bit more stout just slightly higher up. It is better to have that stout portion as the main stem, rather than the scrawny section (if possible).