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Few people know that the tomato is one of the most demanding and capricious vegetables. He loves the sun and heat, and does not tolerate excessive humidity and strong winds. That is why, when a gardener wants to get good tomatoes, planting and care in the open field must comply with all the rules for their maintenance.
Disembarkation dates
Since we know that a tomato is a heat-loving plant, the time when it is possible to plant tomatoes in open ground is determined by atmospheric phenomena and weather. That is, as soon as the soil warms up a little, and there are no more frosts at night, seedlings can be planted. May is usually the month when tomato planting becomes possible. The second half of the month or the beginning of the next is best suited for disembarkation. Read more about the timing of planting tomatoes on gryadki.com.
But still, before planting seedlings, it is worth knowing its variety and features of planting. In addition, the climate of the area where the tomatoes are planted has a great influence on the timing of planting. So, for example, in some areas you can plant tomatoes already in February, because there is a milder and warmer climate, but in places like Siberia and the Urals, you can plant vegetables not earlier than mid-March, or even in early April, if you want. get a harvest of tasty and healthy tomatoes.
It is worth noting that it is better to plant seedlings in the afternoon, for the reason that by the evening the soil warms up well, and the tomato will have the whole night ahead to absorb the heat and get stronger.
Landing patterns
The scheme of the tape-two-line planting of tomatoes
Tomato planting is carried out according to schemes, which usually depend on their variety, height and irrigation system that is used in your garden. There are several planting schemes, but the main one should still be the fact that there should be a small distance between the bushes for sufficient air and sunlight to enter.
Square-nesting
This tomato planting pattern is suitable for high varieties of the vegetable, where row spacing is of particular importance, which helps keep the open ground loose and clear of weeds.
Such a scheme involves planting a tomato at the corners of a square, thus reducing the number of plants in a row. In order not to plant too few plants in a row and, accordingly, not to reduce their number per hectare, planting is carried out as if in a “nest”, i.e. two or three plants are planted next to each other. Such planting allows to reduce the amount of processing time for rows with tomatoes by 10-20 working days and reduce labor costs by almost half. But the most important advantage of such a planting scheme is an increase in the amount of yield due to the timely inter-row processing of bushes. That is why this method is one of the most popular among gardeners, because it allows you to mechanize the processing of vegetables and makes it possible to carry it out in two directions.
Tape-nested
Scheme of the tape-nesting method of planting tomatoes
The tape-nested scheme allows you to plant more bushes in one area than the square-nested one. The advantage of this planting pattern is the fact that closely planted tomatoes can better withstand the weather. In this method, the soil is cut into irrigation furrows every 140 centimeters, and the bushes themselves are planted on both sides of these furrows. It is also worth noting that, ideally, a tomato during growth develops within 0,3 sq.m. Therefore, for good growth, each bush needs to be given its own space.
Such planting of vegetables also allows mechanized processing of bushes and removal of weeds.
Preparing for planting
About a week before the time you are going to plant tomatoes, it will be correct to process the soil and prepare it for receiving seedlings. Usually, the soil is treated with copper sulphate, other fertilizers are applied, and the soil is fertilized if any other vegetables grew on this soil before. 
Also, the soil should be dug up before planting a vegetable in order to open the soil to oxygen and sunlight. Then holes are made according to the scheme that was chosen, and they are poured with warm water. To choose the right depth of the hole, you should pay attention to the height of the bush, and if necessary, deepen only the soil bag.
Also, before planting a tomato, you should take care of the readiness of the peg for the tomato garter in the future. The tomato itself needs to be watered abundantly before planting, so removing it from the pot will become easier and not a single element of the root system will be damaged.
Planting tomatoes
When the soil is ready for planting a tomato, the seedlings are very carefully removed from the container in which they have been growing all this time, it is very important not to disturb the earthen ball that has formed around the root system of the bush, then the bush is vertically lowered into the hole, which must first be opened and lightly covered with earth. You can sprinkle a little compost around the planted bush so that the plant immediately receives nutrients and takes root better.
The compost is again sprinkled with soil and the soil around the bush is slightly tamped. After that, water each bush, using a liter or two of water for each. After the bush is planted, you need to install a peg next to it, the height of which will depend on the variety of tomato, for example, for undersized tomatoes, pegs can be 50 cm high, but for medium-sized ones, the height of the peg should be about 80 cm.
More effective is the method of tying tomatoes not to pegs, but to an arc and a wire about 1 meter high.
Care after landing
After you have managed to plant all the tomato bushes, it will be correct not to water them until the seedlings take root. Adaptation occurs from 8 to 10 days, and only after that you can open the irrigation period. It is necessary to water the bushes under the root, avoiding getting liquid on the leaves, this can lead to disease of tomatoes. It is also undesirable to water the tomatoes with the help of rain, because although the plant receives the necessary moisture, at the same time the temperature decreases and the air humidity rises, which tomatoes really do not like.
It is worth watering vegetables in the afternoon – in this way it is the roots that absorb all the liquid and it does not evaporate. What can not be said about if you water the tomatoes in the morning. Also, do not water them too often, especially before the fruit set, you just need to open the soil access to moderate moisture, but try not to flood it. But after fruit growth begins, tomatoes need more water. At this time, watering should become more frequent in order to maintain the level of moisture in the soil at the same level.
It may also happen that individual bushes begin to wither. The reason for this may be an insufficient amount of sunlight, which is not detrimental to the vegetable. Therefore, you should not pull out or cut the bush, if it has begun to fade a little, you do not need to water it too much either. If possible, you can try to open a little space so that more light enters this bush. Within a few weeks, the bush will come to life again, and the tomatoes will take on a healthy look, and you will not find yourself deprived of a crop.
After you have watered the bush, it is worth loosening the soil around it and removing the weeds. The loosening depth should be about 8-12 cm in order to open the roots to good oxygenation and warming of the soil. In the future, the loosening depth decreases to 4-5 cm. It is worth being very careful with this stage of processing tomatoes, because soil compaction can damage the root system.
It is also worth taking the time to hill the tomato, at least two or three times a season. This will saturate the soil with oxygen, ensure the development of the root system and good plant nutrition, and during hilling, grooves form in the soil that retain water longer, which ensures regular soil moisture.
After planting, tomatoes should be fed from time to time. In total, for the entire period of plant growth, four stages of feeding should occur.
The first occurs three weeks after transplanting, the second after the second flower cluster begins to bloom, and the third when the third flower cluster blooms. The last feeding is usually carried out three weeks after the third feeding.
When planning to plant tomatoes, you should still remember that planting tomatoes in open ground is not an easy task. This process is stressful both for the plant itself and for the gardener, therefore it is worth having patience and putting in as much effort as possible, following all the rules for caring for this capricious vegetable, and then a rich harvest will not take long.
Video “Secrets of growing tomatoes in the open field”
In the video, experienced vegetable growers talk about how to properly plant tomatoes in open ground, what fertilizers should be fertilized, and how to tie up tomatoes.
