We did a little bit of work yesterday to our 20 tomato plants. I hope to have a lot more tomato plants next year. Anyway once we removed all the weeds we pruned them all up. They were very bushy and growing really good. It seemed like such a waste on all the extra growth. So off everything came up to the first fruit set. Then we bobbed some of the very long top leaves so they wouldn't touch the ground as well (AKA Rutgers). We then side dressed with a little compost & 17-17-17. Then we staked out all of the plants. Then we took 2nd cut hay and mulched the 4 little rows we have. In the hopes of not getting any dirt up onto the plants. Then of course we watered them in and I didn't see a bit of dirt splash up onto them at all.
The hay came from a family friend about 2 miles up our dirt road. They were out bailing the second cutting when we picked it up. So the hay is really green and fresh. While we were there my girl was asking about the chemicals they use on the hay. Well they told us that no chemicals are ever used on first and second cutting. That only the third cutting would get fungicide and that's the way it's been forever.
So after all that work last night I figured we better not spray anything. I didn't want to put to much pressure on the plants after all that we done to them. So I am going to start our spray program up for the year tonight if all looks well.
I hope to start out with the bleach then follow up with daconil tomorrow morning. Then of course the insecticide maybe on Wednesday.
I hope this all turns out well. Since we are in our first year we sure are learning. All of our neighbors say we are doing really well for a first year garden in a clay soil.
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