This morning a bunch of the Master Gardeners joined me in getting some tomatoes grafted for our Demonstration Garden this summer. (For the low down on why we’re grafting and more details, check out this post, this post, and this post.)

Last time, the tomatoes were definitely on the large side of being ready to graft. This time, we’re definitely on the small side. So small, in fact, that some of them are going to wait until next week for grafting. ]

We have 3 varieties we’re grafting – Black Krim, Marmande, and Amish Paste. All 3 are being grafted onto Maxifort Rootstock.

Step 1:

Cutting the top off the rootstock.

Step 2:

The rootstock with a clip and the label for what the scion (top) will be.

Step 3:

Next you cut the scion (it looks a lot like cutting the rootstock!), and clip it onto the rootstock, maximizing the areas of the stems that are touching as much as possible.

Step 4:

Into the “healing chamber,” also known as putting a couple very cheap black trash bags over the trays, propped up by wooden plant labels.

Check back next week to see how many survived!