Here's a general synopsis of spring planting dates, with the earliest date being recommended for southeastern Oklahoma and the latest date being recommended for northwestern Oklahoma. If you live in between, choose a date accordingly.

February 15th through March 15th: Cabbage (plants), carrots (seed), cauliflower (plants), kohlrabi (plants), lettuce (seed or plants), onions (plants or sets, some from seed), peas (seeds or plants in plantable pots), potatoes (Irish)[seed potatoes], spinach (seed), Swiss chard (seed or plants),and turnips (seed)

March 1st thru March 31st: beets (seed), broccoli (plants)

March 1st thru April 15th: radishes (seed)

March 25th thru April 30th: sweet corn (seed)

April 10th thru April 30th: green beans (pole, bush or Lima) (seed), cucumbers (seed or plants), eggplant (plants)

April 10th thru April 30th OR LATER: Okra (seed or plants), peppers (plants), pumpkins (seed), summer squash (seed or plants)

May 1st thru May 20th: Watermelon (regular) and other melons (cantaloupe, muskmelons and other European, Asian and American melons) (from seed or plants)

May 1st thru June 10th: sweet potato (slips), southern peas (black-eyes, cream, crowder, etc.) (seed)

May 15th thru May 31st: Seedless watermelon (from seed or plants)

May 15th thru June 15th: winter squash

Those are the dates for the "spring garden". For the fall garden, you begin planting as early as July 1st (I actually plant fall tomatoes 2 or 3 weeks earlier than that) and continue planting through September and even (sometimes) October.

In January, I try to get everything ready to go if I didn't get it all done in the fall. This can include removing plant debris, removing any winter weeds that sprouted in the mulch, adding organic material to beds (either by tilling it in or just piling it on lasagna-gardening style), etc.

In February, in my southern Oklahoma garden, it is time to plant onion transplants and seed potatoes. If I didn't plant garlic in the fall, I can add some early this month but it won't produce as well as fall-planted garlic. Now is a good time to plant rhubarb from roots too. I usually plant swiss chard, from transplants started inside and hardened off, late in Feb. or early in March.

In southern Oklahoma, I don't plant many cool season crops in the early spring. One reason is that the deer on our property are too hungry at this time of the year and eat everything down to the ground. Another is that we are so far south that we go from "too cold" to "too hot" for a lot of cool season crops seemingly overnight. Thus, it often gets too hot just about the time the cool season plants are about to start producing. If I did plant broccoli, cauliflower, etc., I'd do it in late Feb. to early March.

In the first week of March, I plant carrots, radishes and sometimes lettuce and swiss chard. (Swiss chard can go in even later as it produces throughout the summer.) I plant tomatoes sometime after the third week in March, in general. I might start planting a week or two earlier if it is really, really warm. I might not plant until early April if the cold is hanging on. It varies. I do plant a handful of tomato plants in containers beginning in late Feb. or early Mar. and drag them into the garage if a frost (or sleet or snow) threatens.

I plant regular sweet corn beginning the last week in March, and plant supersweets a couple of weeks later since they need warmer soil to germinate.

In April, I plant almost everything else: tomatoes that didn't make it into the ground in late March, beans, cukes, summer squash, eggplants late in the month, melons late in the month, a succession planting of corn, peppers if the soil and air temps. are warm enough, and pumpkins.

May is reserved for the true heat-lovers like okra and southern peas (black-eyed, crowder, cream, etc.), winter squash (sometimes plant as late as early June), sweet potato slips and seedless watermelons. May is also the "catch-up" month to plant anything I didn't "get around to" in April, or to replant if anything failed or froze.

In earliest May or even latest April, I start tomato seeds in peat pots for the transplants I begin setting out in the June to July timeframe. I start a LOT more than I think I will need, and I use them to plug in any "holes" that develop in the garden. For example, when the onions come out in June to July, tomatoes may go into those spots. Or, if a zucchini or squash plant gets sick and is declining, which is not uncommon esp. in a humid year, I'll yank it out and put a tomato plant there. Often, I am plugging in "holes" with tomato plants from early June to mid-July or even later. These late tomato plants (unless they are cherries, currants or Romas) won't give us ripe fruit until September at the earliest, but it is great to see them coming along all green, lush and fresh as the spring-planted tomatoes begin to decline due to the heat.

I am quite accomplished at squeezing in three times as many plants as I should into the space available. I do a lot of it by intercropping and companion planting. I sort of started out doing square-foot gardening according to the grids and planting distances described in Mel Bartholomew's book, and then took it to another level by: (a) growing as many things up onto trellises, fences, poles, etc. as I can, like pole beans, cukes, melons (muskmelons, etc.) and (b) intercropping early producers like lettuce or spinach with carrots, onions, garlic, etc.

I get triple duty from my corn patch by planting a traditional Three Sisters garden of corn, pumpkins (or winter squash) and pole beans. First, I plant the corn. After it is a couple of feet tall, I go back and plant pole bean seeds near every 2nd or 3rd corn stalk. The beans will sprout and climb the cornstalks. Just a couple of weeks after planting the corn, I plant pumpkins completely around the corn patch's edges. This helps keep the racoons out of the corn as long as the pumpkins grow fast enough before the corn ripens and attracts the coons. Once the corn ears are harvested, the beans take over the vertical space and the pumpkins or winter squash take over the horizontal space.

I like to grow smaller melons, cucumbers, mini-pumpkins, and gourds on trellises, bean pole-type tepees, or fencing.

I cram everything I can into a bed with my tomatoes. Take a bed that is 35' long and 5' wide, for example. I'll have a row of tomatoes down the center of the bed, spaced 2' to 3' apart depending on the variety. They are each individually caged. I might have one row of onions along the wooden edging of the raised bed, about 4" from the wood. I'll then have a mix of the following between the onions and the tomatoes: peppers, basils (many varieties), small marigolds like Lemon Gem, parsley, chives, chamomile, shorter zinnias, calendula, nasturtiums, bush beans, borage or any other herb or flower that strikes my fancy (and attracts beneficial insects). They are all mulched. Between the mulch and the plantings, not an inch of dirt is available in which weed seeds can sprout. It is an amazing crazy quilt of plants and that helps to keep pests down (since many pests prefer a monoculture). This kind of over-planting works if you keep your soil really enriched with manure and compost.
(And, it drives my more traditional gardening neighbors nuts because they think I should have "a row of this, and a row of that" and not crazy mixed rows. But, when they are busy removing weeds that come up in the exposed dirt between their plants, or are spraying for a pest that's overruning their monocrops, my mixed beds are breezing along. It works for me.)

All the pathways are mulched to keep the weeds and bermuda grass out. Ill plants are those with a severe insect infestation (rare in my garden) are promptly removed and destroyed. The larger the garden, the more important it is to stay on top of things.....mulching to prevent weeds, promptly pulling up any sprouting weeds while they are still very small, etc. Watering is by soaker hose or drip irrigation only, and I make every effort to keep moisture off the foliage of the plants.

All the dates are approximate, of course. I try to "go by the calendar", but with our erratic spring weather, I more often find myself sliding planting dates either earlier or later because of ongoing weather conditions. If life is especially hectic, like it often is during a bad wildfire year, I sometimes get REALLY behind and feel like I never catch up all year long.

In a really good gardening year, it is sometimes hard to have the discipline to yank out plants that are still producing (although their productivity does tend to decrease over time) in order to plant the fall garden.

While all the veggie garden planting is going on, I am companion planting the appropriate herbs and flowers with each and every veggie I plant. After doing it for so many years, I don't make planting shedules, lists and graphs....I just wing it. Back when I was a younger and less experienced gardener, though, I did make lists, schedules and graphs and they always helped me remember to do everything at "just the right time".

Some years, you can do everything "by the book" and have a great garden. Other years, everything from the weather to the grasshoppers to family situations, etc., can really mess up the garden routine. You just have to be flexible and go with the flow. And, inevitably, there will be a year when it seems like EVERYTHING is ripe all at once--the tomatoes, the peaches, the plums, the onions, the carrots, the corn, etc. I just do the best I can, and just when I think I've survived the worst of the hectic harvest period, a neighbor shows up with their excess peaches or plums or apricots or whatever and says "Can you use these? I have all that I need." LOL Sometimes it takes all winter to recover from the craziness of the gardening season....but "ain't we got fun!"

Dawn

Thank you so much once again Dawn. This is exactly what I am looking for.

very_blessed_mom: thank you for asking this question and okiedawn; thank you for answering it so precisely. I am off to get my calendar, this is some fabulous information - you are truly gifted.

Hi VBM and Renee!

Well, it is a dark and rainy day and even though I am loving the rain, I also would love to be outside playing in the dirt! Luckily, this is March, so it could be 80 degrees again in a few days.

I hope the info is helpful. Once you've gardened for a few years in one particular location, you'll be able to follow your little established routine just like clockwork, except for adapting to the variable weather and soil conditions.

I do have an older neighbor (I'd guess he's maybe in his late seventies or early 80s) who gardens "by the calendar" MUCH more so that I do. His two most important dates seem to be April 1st and July 1st.

On April 1st, he plants everything. (Well, he may have planted onions earlier but, if he does, I never notice them until April.) He always has a lovely garden and he does water it as needed.

July 1st, though, is his cut-off date. From July 1st on, all he does is harvest. He doesn't do any heroic watering to try to keep his plants in production. He harvests stuff, cans it or freezes it, and is "done" until he plants spinach in the fall. It is not a bad strategy if you don't want to spend a lot of money trying to keep the garden producing in the worst heat.

Different strokes for different folks!

Dawn

Dawn and all you other experienced gardeners,

Thanks for tolerating me and my endless questions. Well until I get the hang of it better, I think I'm going to have to work with lists and a planner. I'm feeling pretty confident about the spring planting and how to get it going, but a little anxious about planting for the fall now. Besides tomatoes what all do you plant in the second round? What has to be started ahead from seed and when (mainly tomatoes I'm guessing)? I know you can get in 2 corn harvests if things go right. What little exposure I've had has been around the more traditional gardener that quits at a date and harvests from that point.

I'm planning on starting things from seed myself as much as is practical in the future for both plantings.

Is there anything I should/could start indoors now for spring planting? I'm feeling like I've waited too late for this year, but I thought maybe peppers since I want to wait until it's good and warmed up before they go in the ground.

I know you grow a lot of heirloom tomatoes, which varieties are your favorites? I'm just overwhelmed at the number available. My goal is the old fashioned tremendous flavor. Since I'm such a newby, I'm trying not to get too carried away, but I've always been one to dive right in :)

You can start peppers and eggplants inside now. You probably would be OK starting tomatoes now and transplanting them outside in late April.

For everything else that can be grown from transplants, look at the spring planting date for your part of the state, and start your seeds 3 to 5 weeks prior to that planting date, with 3 weeks being ideal.

THE FALL GARDEN: You can plant almost everything in the fall garden that you would plant in the spring garden. Some plants do better when planted in the fall than in the spring, including brussels spouts and (for me) cabbage and other cole crops.

The hardest part of planting a fall garden is that you must, by necessity, start new plants and seeds during Oklahoma's hottest, driest, most miserable weather. You can get around that by starting seeds in peat pellets indoors where it is cooler, hardening them off in semi-shade and the transplanting them into the ground, preferably on a cloudy day (or in the evening, so they have all night to recover).

You also can give new plants some shade while they are getting established, using shadecloth and other methods, including spraying them with Wilt-Prufe.

If you keep them well-watered, the tiny summer-planted transplants will catch hold and grow although you may not see a lot of topgrowth until the weather cools a little in September.

Here's approximate planting dates for a fall garden in southern Oklahoma. If you are significantly further north, you may want to plant 2 weeks earlier so you can get a harvest before frost arrives.

June 15th-July 1st: Cantaloupe, muskmelon, watermelon and any other European, Asian or American melons (seeds or transplants)

July 1st-15th: Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers (all from transplants, not seed)

July 15th: Sweet corn (seed) (I pre-soak it in water overnight to help it germinate more quickly, especially if the soil is very dry.

July 15-30th: Cilantro (seed or transplants), pole beans (seed), southern peas (black-eyed peas, crowder peas, cream peas, etc.)(seed), winter squash (seed or transplants), pumpkins (seed or transplants)

July 15th-August 15th: okra (seed or transplants)

July 15th-September 1st: Summer squash (including zuchinni) (seed or transplants)

July 25-August 10: potatoes (seed potato pieces)

August 1st-Sept. 1st: collards (seed), brussels sprouts (seed or plants), cabbage (seed or plants), swiss chard (seed or plants), kohlrabi (seed or plants)

August 1st-Oct. 15th: spinach (seed), mustard (seed),

August 1st-15th: Rutabagas and turnips (seed), carrots and parsnips (seed), broccoli (seed or transplants),

August 1st-October 1st: parsley (seed or transplants)

August 15th-Sept. 10th: lettuce (seed or transplants)

August 10th-20th: Bush beans (seed), lima beans (seed), cucumbers (seed or transplants)

Sept. 1st-15: beets (seeds)

Sept. 1st-Oct. 1st: peas

Sept. 10th-Oct. 1st: Leeks (seed)

Sept. 15th-Oct. 15th: Garlic (for a spring harvest)

HEIRLOOM TOMATOES: I'm going to list the ones that not only have great flavor, but that have great production. Some that have INCREDIBLE flavor, like Brandywine, might only give you a few fruit per plant so they are VERY frustrating to grow.

Black Krim (maroonish-greenish-reddish fruit)

Cherokee Purple (or Cherokee Chocolate or Cherokee Green)(all taste about the same to me, only difference is skin color)

Nebraska Wedding (Orange-gold fruit)

Hillybilly or Royal Hillbilly

Aunt Gertie's Gold

Dr. Wyche's Yellow

Mortgage Lifter (pink fruit)

Dr. Carolyn (ivory to yellow cherry)

Arkansas Traveler or Traveler 76 (not technically an heirloom, I suppose, but has been around Arkansas so long that I think of it as one)

Earl's Faux (flavor almost as good as Brandywine, not technically an heirloom, but a sport or cross grown from at least one heirloom parent)

Porter, Porter's Pride or Improved Porter (pinkish-red)

Bradley (pink, an Arkansas heirloom)

Marianna's Peace (pink)

Snow White--another ivory to pale yellow cherry, fruit are larger than Dr. Carolyn

Black Cherry--relatively new on the market, so I guess it is not an heirloom, but it has that special heirloom-type flavor

Sungold--is not an heirloom, but it the best cherry tomato ever

If I could only grow 5 heirlooms, I'd grow Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Mortgage Lifter, Snow White and
Arkansas Traveler OR Nebraska Wedding.

And, if I could only grow 5 hybrids, I'd grow Brandy Boy (flavor incredibly close to Brandywine's), Better Boy, Sweet Million, Sungold and Porterhouse.

If I could only grow 5 tomato varieties total, I think I'd grow Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Sungold, Better Boy and Mortgage Lifter.

That's my list of favorite tomatoes, heirloom and hybrid. And, if you asked me on a different day, you might get a different list. Each heirloom has a flavor that is unique and special, sort of like fine wine. And, flavor can vary from year to year and also varies due to soil and growing conditions.

You didn't ask about paste tomatoes for canning or cooking, but some of the best ones are Opalka, Amish Paste, Grandma Mary's Paste, Martino's Roma and San Marzano Redorta. For sun-dried tomatoes, you can't go wrong with Principe' Borghese.

Dawn, thank you so much for doing this. Back in November, when I first found out I'd be moving to Oklahoma, you gave me some very helpful information about gardening in this fine state. And now, the things you've written here will increase my success. I really appreciate how much time you give to this forum.

Jennifer

Dawn,

Thanks for including the paste tomatoes. I really appreciate all this great information. I'm going to order seed today and maybe over the weekend. I've got a huge list of things to look for when I get out this weekend. We're supposed to start warming back up Sunday and hopefully drying out a bit.

I have potato questions. The second round you plant in the summer, do you save/make your own pieces or are you able to find them somewhere? I knew they're easy to find this time of year, but I don't recall seeing them later. Also, I read in another thread that they were really easy to grow in trash bags. Sounded bizarre to me at first, but now I'm thinking that might be a thought, keep in mind I've never actually planted them before. I bet there are people reading this, laughing and shaking their heads.

Jill

Hi Jennifer! It is good to hear from you. Have you moved to Oklahoma yet? Despite the week's snow, spring is busting out all over and I am so ready for it.

Jill, The snow is melting here (and quickly!), so the cold hard ground under the snow is getting muddy, mushy and mucky! It will dry out quickly though, because our humidity is very low. I hope to be out in the garden by Sunday, getting a little work done before it rains.

Potatoes. (sigh) I have the hardest time finding seed potatoes for fall planting. Sometimes you can order them online, but you have to be careful about that because....

If the retailer is shipping "fresh" seed potatoes to you in August, those potatoes need to have been harvested 4 to 8 weeks before so they have gone through a period of dormancy. If not, they won't sprout. Most seed potato suppliers are in colder climates, and won't even dig up their potatoes until August or September. If they have older seed potatoes from last year's harvest that they didn't sell in the spring, though, they might ship you those and that probably would be OK.

What I like to do is to purchase ORGANICALLY-grown potatoes from a specialty health-food type grocery store like Whole Foods or Central Market (They have a better variety selection than the typical grocery story.). I'll buy them in June, remove them from their plastic bag, and put them in a single layer on top of newspaper or cardboard in a cool, dry location. I like to use the tornado shelter (under and behind the stairs where no one is going to walk on them), but you can use the garage or basement or a pantry closet or whatever.

By the time I need them in August, they usually have green-sprouted, or at least have eyes. Sometimes, if they are looking a little dehydrated as they sit there in the tornado shelter, I'll lightly mist them with a little water from a spray bottle. The reason I buy only the organically-raised ones is that they generally have not been sprayed with a chemical agent to prevent sprouting, while conventionally-raised potatoes often are sprayed with such a chemical. (Even the sprayed potatoes will eventually sprout, but it takes them longer to do so.)

If you don't have ready access to organically-grown potatoes, you probably could buy regular ones and get the same results, but it might take them a month longer to sprout.

I also like getting mine at a gourmet-type grocery store because they often have unique varieties like the fingerling types. (I have noticed, though, that more and more conventional grocery stores are offering more and more specialty types.)

Obviously, then, I am planting potatoes that ARE NOT certified to be disease-free. In the springtime, such a thing might not be a good idea. However, in the fall, it doesn't matter as much since the soil is so much warmer and dryer.

There are MANY ways to grow potatoes, including...in the ground in the conventional way, in containers like wire cylinders or cages filled with organic material, in large pots, buckets, tubs, etc., in Smart Pots, Grow Bags, etc.
I like growing things in unusual ways....and pushing the limits. Just because "crops" are conventionally grown in straight rows in plowed-up dirt does not mean that is the "only" way to do it. You can grow tomatoes in other organic growing medium too, not just in dirt. As long as your potatoes have access to nutrition (in compost or soil), you can grow them in hay, straw, chopped-up leaves, etc. I like to layer material in a wire-cylinder type cage and grow them there. I start out with a layer of dirt and throw on some compost, then lay down the seed potato pieces on that, then add more layers of all of these: compost, grass clippings, straw, hay, chopped up leaves, composted manure, soil, seed potatoes. Think of it as a pan of lasagna, and just keep adding the layers. You will have to water it, but the potatoes will sprout and grow out of the sides and top of the cage. In a very rainy year, it can be the BEST way to grow potatoes 'cause they usually won't rot like they might in excessively wet ground.

Sometimes, if I leave potatoes in storage too long, they sprout and I toss them on the working compost pile and forget about them. Weeks or months later, I am usually rewarded with huge potato plants and, often, a nice yield of potatoes.

This year I am planting red, white and purple-skinned potatoes and I got the seed potatoes for all three at Lowe's!

Dawn

I'm baaaack!

Been busy refinancing my home, paying off old bills, dealing with the IRS and getting some medical issues out of the way. Whew!

I went to TLC on NW Expressway in NW OKC today and picked up a 4 cu. ft. bag each of perlite and vermiculite. They were the only ones in town that had it in larger bags. Perlite was $15.99 and vermiculite $18.99. I decided to attack my clay garden soil problem with additions of lots of perlite and vermiculite. That ought to take care of the friability and crusting over issues. We'll see I guess.

Took a look at their plants and they have a bunch of 4" high tomato plants in 4" containers for 99 cents apiece. Lots of heirloom varieties. I'll be going back soon to get some and plant them after I get some high welded fencing wire for the tomatos to climb up.

Hank
in NW OKC

Hi Hank!

Wow! You've been busy. It's good to see you're back.

I hope the perlite and vermiculite do the trick. If you think the soil still needs help after you add them, you can always add compost, manure or peat moss later on--even using it as a top dressing/mulch this spring and just working it into the soil the next time you plant.

I'm glad TLC has heirloom tomatoes too! Lots of folks from OKC are always asking where they can find heirlooms, so I'll try to remember that you've seen them at TLC.

Sounds like you're gearing up for another gardening season.

Dawn

Another tomato question(s) for Dawn or anyone else planting tomatoes for fall. Do you use as many heirloom varieties in the second planting as you do the first? I don't know why I would think you wouldn't, I'm just still amazed that you can get them going in the heat when it seems like the spring ones are all but burning up at that time. Do you follow a different process for starting your fall garden seed?

Jill,

I usually plant just as many heirlooms for fall tomatoes, and sometimes I have more heirlooms than hybrids. I'm actually growing a lot more hybrids this year than usual, because some years I hardly have any hybrids at all. (I have more hybrids because I am going to experiment with planting them in 10-gallon Growbags.)

Heat is good for tomatoes up to a point and I'll explain that at the end of this post. There is a huge difference, too, in transplants grown outside in the heat and sun during the mid-May to late June timeframe. Because they are grown completely outside (unlike the winter/spring-raised seedlings which are started indoors under lights), they are tough--not a wimpy plant in the bunch.

Remember that the seeds of the heirloom tomatoes were saved and passed down for generations for several very good reasons--not flavor alone, but also because the plants were productive and able to withstand all kinds of weather. After all, the people who were saving the seeds generally HAD TO raise their own food since they didn't have grocery stores like we have today with produce flown in from all over the world 12 months out of the year. Obviously, since they were depending on their crops for virtually their entire food supply, they saved the seeds they felt provided them with the best crops.

Summer-raised seedlings tend to be tougher and hardier than spring-raised ones since they've had to grow in harsher conditions. The hardest part is the actual transplanting since transplant shock is more likely at high temperatures.

And, remember, timing is EVERYTHING with plants intended for a fall harvest. You have to get the plants into the ground early enough that they can grow and make fruit that will ripen before fall frost threatens.

Finally, I know that gardeners always blame the heat and sun for the tomato troubles that occur during the summer. Heat and sunlight are only part of the equation, and they are not really the major part. In general, the plants have been putting ALL their energy into growing and making fruit, which is what they are supposed to do. THEN they get hit by excessive heat, very strong sunlight, pests of all kinds, etc. It is the combination of ALL the stresses that get the plants and not the heat alone. Fresh plants put into the ground in June or July grow like gangbusters, and all that holds them back from setting fruit is the temperature and the problems it causes with pollen.

My biggest problem with the heat is not the effect it has on the plants, but the effect it has on me! Once it is really hot, I just don't want to spend all day outside in the garden like I used to, back when I was younger. Oh, it is sad to get older....LOL. I used to stay outside from sunup to sundown, and the more sun I got, the better (who doesn't love a good, dark tan in their 20s and 30s?). Now that I'm in my late 40s, though, I try to keep from getting too much sun (it DOES age the skin!) and the heat bothers me, so it is the plants that often pay the price because I am not as attentive to them once it is really, really hot.

Dawn

Dawn,

Where did you get the grow bags? Are they sturdy, or do you have to prop them up against something? Sheri

Sheri,

I ordered them last year during the massive rainfall, thinking I'd plant some of the fall tomatoes in them. Then, our rain stopped in July and I never used them.

Having not used them yet, I don't know how sturdy they will be, Since I'm going to be growing tomatoes in them, I am going to put the tomato cage on the ground around them, and then stake the cage with two stakes, so that will make them stand up straight no matter what.

I bought the ones made by SunLeaves and think I ordered them from Worm's Way. I like the Sunleaves bags because they have a white layer on the outside to help deflect sunlight's heat (black bags absorb more of the heat).

At some point I'd like to try Smart Pots too, but guess I'll confine my experiments to growbags this year.

I'm going to plant mostly determinates in the Grow Bags but will plant some indeterminates in the Grow Bags to see how well such large plants will grow and produce in a limited amount of soil. My plan with the indeterminates that I plant in Grow Bags is to plant one in a grow bag and one in the ground so I can compare their growth and production. Partly, too, I need to reduce how many tomato plants I put into the ground because I've been taking away too much space from other veggies, and I need to get away from that.

For soil, I'm going to basically use Al's Container Mix recipe from the Growing in Containers forum, but will add a couple of organic amendments geared specifically towards the tomatoes.

I'm going to spray the area of ground where the bags will sit with Round-Up to kill the bermuda grass, and then put down layers of newspaper or cardboard. Then I will set the Smart Pots on top of that, fill and plant into the bags, cage and stake them, and then pile mulch on top of it all. By doing this, I hope to keep the weeds and bermuda grass away from the bags, and am hoping the mulch will reduce soil splash and the diseases it transports.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Worm's Way webpage