My grandfather, and later my uncle, owned a large commercial greenhouse where they grew tomatoes. I spent many an hour working in that greenhouse picking tomatoes in the early morning, before the Indiana heat and humidity got too unbearable.
I guess it is only natural that when I grew up, that I wanted to have my own tomato-producing greenhouse (made using some of the same panes of glass, I got when my relative’s greenhouses were torn down) I naturally used the same tomato-growing techniques, I had seen my grandfather use in his greenhouses.
Once my seedling tomatoes have grown big enough (and the cold British Columbia weather is no longer a threat) I plant the young tomato plants in the greenhouse. I spread a mulch all over the ground around the plants to prevent weeds, and hold moisture in the soil. My grandfather mulched with straw, but I use the dried “hay” I cut from tall weeds growing in my unused pastures.
When the plants get tall enough, I string them up with twine tied to wire that is strung high across the greenhouse. This holds the tomato plants up as they grow taller, and keeps the tomatoes off of the ground.
Today, I changed my morning routine of painting, because I have fallen so far behind in all of those many “need to do” jobs, and I used my usual painting time to string up my more than fifty tomato plants I have in the greenhouse.
I am happy to report that I can now cross that task off of my “To Do” list. To use an old Forestry term that was used to describe logging cut-blocks that were successfully replanted, my tomato plants are now “Ready to Grow.”
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment