The Red Baron Project year three

[Rairdog]

I am going to try this approach this year. I experimented last year by putting a couple tomatoes that where left over in the grassy common area of my neighborhood.



It is river bottom soil and basically a big wicking bed. I very rarely watered and pretty much neglected them. The soil is always moist. The tomato's grew to the top of the stakes 4 to 5 feet and back to the ground. I dug out a 3 gal size hole, turned the sod over and added some mulch but I don't think it was needed. I also put grass clippings around the base to keep weeds and grass down. These 2 plants showed very little Septoria compared to my normal garden. They did finally succumb but it was late in the season and acceptable.

The plan this year is to mow with my 44 in deck in a checkerboard pattern. The tomato area will be roughly 2x2. This will allow an easy pass with the mower and minimal trimming.

This is rich river bottom soil. It is black 3 plus feet down until you hit sand or limestone. I assume there are less Septoria hosting plants and much better air circulation. The neighborhood association has pretty much dissolved and no one cares about this area. The teens like to take their 4 wheel drive vehicles out there when its wet and leave big ruts which make it a pain to mow. I figure they don't want a tomato cage wrapped around their axle. They drove around them last year.

I could plant 2 to 3 acres of crops out there. I have also debated strawberries but the ph is fairly high. Another idea was rows of tomato's with a Florida weave. The soil is rich and toms can get 10 ft plus so it would take a lot of support. Let me know f you have any other ideas.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Rairdog

I am going to try this approach this year. I experimented last year by putting a couple tomatoes that where left over in the grassy common area of my neighborhood.

Welcome to the project! I know Noblesville well! I used to live there. That's REALLY good soil in that area! Tomatoes explode out of the ground! My grandmother used to claim there is no better tasting tomato in the world than a central Indiana tomato. Of course she may have been slightly biased.

ETA Since I know the area well I can say with experience that tomatoes is definitely your go to crop. Rows with a florida weave would work if you can source the posts. I would try and find some cheap or free that were left around when the local farmers largely took out their fencing. Alternately you could go with determinates and let them sprawl.