Yesterday was the day that the Master Gardeners got dirty and got the first bunch of tomatoes in the ground. They planted tomatoes in the Family of 4 Garden, the “early” tomatoes in the Early & Late Tomato demonstration, and  the non-grafted heirloom tomatoes in the grafting demonstration.

We’re using the stake & weave system on the heirloom tomatoes, so they are planted in a row down the middle of the garden. I think we’ll be able to get the stakes in later this week and get the first level of twine on them.

In the Family of 4 Garden, we will be using tomato cages, and we are also double-cropping the space. We pulled out enough lettuce plants to make space for the tomato plants, and by the time the plants are larger, we will have pulled out the remaining lettuce.

The grafted heirlooms will probably get planted next week. They are just now getting big enough to think about going outside. Today is their first day outside, in fact! They are in a sheltered spot out of most of the wind and in the shade of one of the gooseberry bushes. They are almost big enough to pop off the grafting clips, but not quite.

Since we pulled some lettuce and spinach to make room for the tomatoes, we have more to report for the Family of 4 Harvest this week.

Family of 4 Garden Harvest

2.8 lbs. mixed lettuce @ $7.00/lb = $19.60

0.5 lb spinach @ $7.00/lb = $3.50

1 bunch radishes @ $1.39/bunch = $1.39

Weekly Total = $24.49

Year to Date = $39.88