After the main season of the Ranunculus has come to an end, here at the La Marca Flowers the plantation of the summer crops begins: courgettes, “trombette”, tomatoes: “cuor di bue” and Ligurian basil.
The tomato is without doubt one of the leading articles of our summer vegetable garden, we are dealing with one of the most popular horticultural species and it donates great satisfaction to all farmers.
Various varieties of tomatoes exist, in our company we mainly cultivate: tomatoes and “cuor di bue” but there are several varieties.
The planting period generally takes place between April and May and it is rather delicate since the plants have to acclimate to a totally new environment. Their ideal climate conditions are around 20-25 degrees, temperatures under 13 degrees can damage the plants up to killing them. For this reason it is essential to cultivate the tomatoes at the right time so that the period in which they are bedding out in the soil coincides with the warmest months of the year during which there will not be too cold temperatures.
The land must be carefully prepared before planting. In order to obtain a good yield, a balance between a good manuring and even levelled land is necessary as this last procedure conveys drained soil avoiding backwater and it prepares the basic nourishment which the plant will need.
After which we proceed with the transplantation, this ideally should be carried out during days in which the soil has an ideal temperature that is neither too dry nor muddy. The procedure is quite simple: you have to dig small holes at a variable distance between 40 and 70 cm between the plants, whereas between the rows we must consider a space between about 70 and 120 cm. Later the plants must be removed extremely delicately from their vases trying to avoid breaking the roots, arranging them in their corresponding holes. Finally you must compact the soil around the edges, making sure that the crown of the plant is at the same level as the soil and that our young tomato is upright.
As far as the support for the little plants is concerned, since the plantation takes place in a greenhouse, inside raised pallets, we have used a binding method with thread, this gets carried out on each upright plant.
After having transplanted the small plants, we certainly have not ended our work: indeed taking care of the tomatoes has just begun!
We have to ensure that the soil is continuously watered, checking any growth of infesting weeds in order to avoid that they pinch any resources from the plant and paying attention to snails and avoiding that they go and eat the small plants.
As always please don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.