Tomatoes are our absolute favorite things to grow. This year we planted 17 different varieties. We had 29 varieties the first year we ever did tomatoes! That was way too ambitious and so hard to maintain, so as we learn from each previous year’s harvest, we do less and less varieties each year. These are some things we do to prep our soil for our tomato plants and it’s based on what Ben learned from this post on Love Apple Farms…

For every 50 square foot garden space add:
– 5 cubic feet of Gardner & Bloome Compost
– 5 quarts of Gardner & Bloome Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer
– 1 quart of 100% worm castings

Once all the amendments are on top of the soil, turn them over into the soil below with a spade fork.

At the bottom of each hole for each tomato plant:
– Fresh fish head (It’s kind of nasty to see and I actually went to the grocery store to pick these up)
– 2-3 crushed egg shells
– Handful bone meal
– 2 handfuls Gardner & Bloome Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer
– 1 heaping tbsp worm castings
– Sprinkle 1 tsp Xtreme Gardening Mykos
Note: This is done on the root ball of the tomato plant just before popping it into the hole and backfilling with soil. Mykos is a myrchorrizal fungus that grows along with the tomato roots and helps keep them safe from soil viruses.

Ben does the research for our fruit and veggie gardens, but we all work on it together. We’re so thankful that the girls totally get into it too. We’ve learned over the years that having a garden can be quite expensive and take so much time, but when you finally harvest your goods, it feels so rewarding. I love having our own produce section in our backyard!