TOMATOES OUT OF DOORS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1747, 30 August 1905, Page 61

TOMATOES OUT OF DOORS

The right time to sow for the out-door crop is early in September. They then .have two clear months, or rather, ten weeks, in which to make growth, and, with, ordinary care and good fortune, ready grand plants should be obtained in that time. As they advance, and the weather improves, more and more air should be given, and, for the last two or three weeks, mo fire-heat at all should be allowed, and air be given abundantly, both night and day, unless the weather is unusually cold, with night frosts, when it is wise to close all the ventilators before sundown. We usually sow thinly in boxes, transferring the little plants singly to “thumb” pots (2in) as soon as they have fairly formed the first pair of proper or “rough” leaves (beyond the seed-leaves), and shifting them on from these, in due course, first into 4in or 4£in pots, and finally into the sin or 6in sizes. Or they may he pricked out into flat, shallow boxes from the seedpans or boxes, and potted direct from these into the larger-sized pots. A compost of good, fresh loam, with a half or third part of well-decayed manure or leaf-mould, the same quantity of burnt earth, and a sprinkling of soot and bone meal or superphosphates, will grow them to perfection. Water must only be given when the soil becomes moderately dry, then freely. RAISING PLANTS, where done at home, ought to he taken in hand in good time, as it is of' the utmost importance to- secure large, strong and well-hardened plants ready to- go out at the earliest safe date. With small, weak, or late-sown plants to start with, the best of the summer will be gone before they can be got t*o work —-or in other words, begin producing fruit; and the same thing is apt to occur when the plants are not got out until the season A getting somewhat advanced —after the middle of December it is usually practically useless to plant, unless the plants are extra large and forward, or the'autumn proves unusually fine and warm. The kind of plants to use, where it can be managed, is good big stuff in sin or Gin pots from 18in to 2ft in height, and each with one or more trusses of bloom already expanded, and possibly some fruit already set and swelling. From such plants as these, ripe fruit will probably be gathered within something like a month from planting, say some time in January—while other plants, especially if put out at all late, will not afford any before February, or possibly later. But in order to accomplish this, the seed must be sown early, the plants he kept growing on steadily with plenty of space, and finally they must be thoroughly well -hardened off. Tomatoes are tender plants (i.e., they are, generally speaking, injured or killed by frost), but well hardened off before being exposed, certain varieties in particular will not sustain any real damage from a few degree® of frost, provided it does not- act upon them too long. As regards A SUITABLE SITUATION,

it can scarcely be too warm and sunny, with shelter, if possible, on the southeast, or both. I prefer a border at the foot of a wall with north or northwest aspect, and if some spare framelights. or the like, can be leant up over the plants, and against the wall, in case of wet weather setting in, so much the better. Tomatoes will grow in almost any fairly good soil, out of doors, but avoid the extreme of actual poverty and excessive richness, both of which are detrimental. I usually plant about 2ft apart, with a space of 3ft between the row®, for the convenience of working among them. They should he mulched with manure, abundantly watered in dry weather, but at other times condition of moderate dryness is desirable. —“Practical,” in “Farm, Field and Fireside.”