Oh, I forgot to mention that all beds will be covered with "plastic mulch" to keep the Bermuda grass from coming back with a soaker hose under that running between the two rows of plants. On top of the plastic mulch, I plan on putting a few bags of "real" mulch and whatever grass clippings I have all summer. I hoping that the consistent use of the soaker hose will prevent cracking.

I plan on having the soaker hose on a timer. It gets pretty dry around here (Austin TX area). How often should I run it? I was thinking about 5-15 minutes every night.

hi, Although I'm not a tomato expert ( more like a complete newbie) I think I can answer some of your questions.

Do russet mites over-winter?
I THINK they over-winter on left over tomato debris or any other member of the nightshade family including bindweed petunias peppers eggplant nightshade and more.

Sulfur spray will treat your problem however you have to start early. According to the texas extension service you should apply the sulfur as soon as the plants are big early june for your zone? and then reapply if you see any bulging of the stem at the base. Once you start to see the leaf symptoms it's to late.

Does my setup look OK?

As long as you get 6-12 hours of direct sun light and the soil PH is between 6.5 & 7.1 your fine

How much water for "Jiffy Greenhouses"?

the trick is to never let the "soil" dry out but don't let it be water logged

I know this sounds hard but i would just let the surface dry out in between waterings. WARNING Things can dry out very fast in those greenhouses if they are put outside even in the shade.

Potting mix or soil?
I just want to warn you of a big problem that you could be getting yourself in to. That is to much nitrogen, Tomato's will just grow a lot of leaves with to much nitrogen. Dry grass clippings aren't a problem but fresh clippings are very high in nitrogen if your grass clippings are dry I would till them in as soon asap. Coffee grounds have something like a 30-1 nitrogen to carbon ratio I added 1 tablespoon of grounds to each planting area in the fall, If i were you though I would leave them out. eggshells are wonderful because they contain calcium but they take a long time to break down. Crush some up asap and apply them to your soil to give them max decomposing time. composted Manure can be high in nitrogen and contain weed seeds you may want to use some other type of compost.

Ok now to answer your question I wouldn't put anything in the planting hole just take the plant out of it's pot and plant it in to your prepared soil. Alternatively you could build a Square Foot Garden (SFG) which is a raised bed no bigger then 4'x4'x6" filled with 1/3 peat moss 1/3 blended compost (from many things) 1/3 perlite or vermiculite. for more info SFG check out the fourm on this website or send me a PM. (thats somthing i know a little about)

Sorry if i rambaled a bit It's just very important to get your soil just right
Everything else look OK?/advice

Ok well first things first Don't worry to much! last year was my first year growing anything edible I think I read everything that had ever been written about vegetables (ok maybe not But I read ton of stuff) I looked at every imaginable pest and disease and came up with ways to treat them organically.

I didn't get any ripe tomatoes last year and it wasn't because of some pest or disease it was for some very simple reasons that I didn't even dream of being a problem.

1) sunlight: I thought I had enough sunlight Cause I had on a sunny day first checked the time it first got sun (7:00) then at about 11:00 I looked a gain and it was sunny and I checked the time it last got sun which was 6:00 It turnedout that becuse of tall trees houses and other obstructions those were the only time it got sun giving the sight about three hours of sun.

2) start date: I started about 2 weeks late I recomend you count back 6 weeks from your last frost date for your seed starting date and then transplant them 2 weeks after your last frost date. (the last week you should put your tomatoes in a shaded area outside during the day)

3) spacing: I planted 5 plants inside one tomato cageabout 6" apart. this didn't turn out to be a problem because 2of the plants were killed by verticillium wilt and a cherry tomato plant was shaded out by my two beefmaster plants. The beef master plants got to about 6ft which was tall enough to get 5.5 hours of sun on the toppart of the plant and they burst in to bloom in september but frost took care of my baby tomatoes.

The reason I just went in to such detail about why MY tomatoes failed last year is becuase it makes the point that although there are more tricks for gorwing tomatoes than I could count, sucsess comes down to these basic rules.

Sun: 6-12 hours

start date: 6 weeks before last frost

transplant date 8 weeks after start date with one week of hardening off

spacing: about a foot apart

water: from seed to harvest keep evenly moist but not wet

fertilizer: only a little 5-5-5 after planting (tomato fertilizer is fine) sea kelp after first burst of flowers and sea kelp at the end of summer ( fish emulsion and geen sand will work too)

Soil: not to rich (in my oppinon SFG is the way to go)

I really hope this helps!

I would suggest 30 minuets once maybe twice a week. I would cuation against the grass clippings on topof theplastic but another kind of milch is fine but not nessesary for the tomatoes.

Thanx Daylilyfanatic4.

The grass clippings I plan on using right now are from last summer, so I don't think too much N will be a problem, especially considering that my current dirt is little more than red clay and rocks. That's why I call it "dirt" and not "soil". Although, if 6-10 month old grass clippings are still a problem, someone speak up before I end up with a crop of tomato leaves and stems :-). As for the "new" clippings that I'll cut this year, I'll place in the same place I did last year where I don't plan on growing anything edible and move them to the tomato gardens next year to till them in.

Sunlight won't be a problem, at least not on the north fence. I am a little worried about the south fence, however. Right now, the whole area where I plan to plant is in the shadow. This won't be a problem later in the summer, but as for planting time, direct, raw sunlight might be still be limited in early March. It may be beneficial once the Texas high temps kick in. Last year, it seemed as if we went from Winter straight to Summer with 95+ temps every day, finally reaching over 100 for weeks at a time. However, my single Bush Early Girl plant seemed to love it and produced well when everyone said it wouldn't. I have family members asking for seed, although I don't think if it will do them any good. I doubt the heirlooms I'm planting this year will be so forgiving of the heat.

Thanx again for the advice. I feel like once I get them in the ground, I'll be OK. Right now, I'm just worried that none of them will sprout and I'll get another late start, not to mention waste all the wonderful seeds someone here was so kind to send me.

As for the watering, would it be better to break that 30 minutes once or twice a week into, say, 5-10 minutes a night?

would it be better to break that 30 minutes once or twice a week into, say, 5-10 minutes a night?

No, infrequent deep watering is much better for the plants than is frequent shallow watering.

On the question of how much water in the seedling tray. None should be left in the tray - fill it with 3/4 to 1" of water, let the cells absorb that until the top of the soil is just barely moist. If water remains in the tray at that point, dump it out. Roots will only rot if left in standing water or excessive moist soil. Air circulation around the roots is just as important as water and excess moisture prevents that needed air from reaching the roots.

I would agree that over all your plan sounds fairly ok. It's a bit over complicated for my personal taste - the potting mix, egg shells, coffee ground, grass clippings, extra fertilizer, etc. - but that is how we learn - by experiments and seeing what works for you in your own garden.

As pointed out above, avoid excess nitrogen with tomatoes or you'll simply have blossom drop, BER, and low production. And you have alot of N on your list! So if you are going to use the manure and the coffee grounds and the grass clippings etc. you sure aren't going to need all the other fertilizer for N but will need it for a bit of P and K. I'd suggest forgoing some of the other N sources instead.

Please note that even dried grass clippings are C/N rated as a "green" and will provide N.

Dave

No, infrequent deep watering is much better for the plants than is frequent shallow watering.

Great! That's what I was wondering. I had heard that sporadic watering would cause splitting, which is what I am trying to avoid. I will set the timer to water for 30 minutes, every 4-5 days and simply turn off the spigot when during and after rain. Of course, before putting the plastic mulch down, I'll run it to see how it does and adjust accordingly.

As for the grass clippings, I keep hearing about how important compost is. After digging and seeing what is under the lawn, (red clay! Sticky when wet, hard as a rock when dry!) I feel it needs something. Since all of the trees in my fairly new neighborhood are too small to give off much in the way of leaves, the only compost ingredients I have are grass clippings, whatever we toss from our kitchen (orange peels, coffee grounds), sticks and stems from pruning shrubs and trees, and store bought mulch. The sticks and stems don't break down fast enough so my only other "brown" option is the store bought wood mulch. I have about 2 inches worth of that on top of last years garden that will also be worked into the dirt along with last year's clippings. The total clippings and mulch will be about an inch or two once spread out, before tilling, so I'm not expecting it to have that much of an effect. I'll see if the budget allows for some extra store bought "browns" to be added to offset the excess N.

Although, you mention experimenting to find out what works. Since I will have two separate gardens to work with, maybe I'll only be over complicated with one and compare the results. You're right that I could be over thinking all of this and simply try it before over doing it.

Thanks Dave.

Hi, Wood chip mulch makes a lousy brown material beause it is very slow to break down. shredded office paper works well And I use it when ever there isn't when ever i'm out of leaves ( almost never since there are enough trees in our yard alone to provide for everyone)

Hope this helps

So doesn't Austin make 'dillo dirt? Is it too expensive? City programs never get all the carbon stuff broken down so there should be some there. And you could use some paper.

What you need is a poor little old lady with a yard with lots of trees. You get all the leaves and she gets the yard cleaned.

As for the grass clippings, I keep hearing about how important compost is. After digging and seeing what is under the lawn, (red clay! Sticky when wet, hard as a rock when dry!) I feel it needs something.

Yes compost is important and your clay could surely use some. If all else fails buy some or check into city compost.

Since all of the trees in my fairly new neighborhood are too small to give off much in the way of leaves, the only compost ingredients I have are grass clippings, whatever we toss from our kitchen (orange peels, coffee grounds), sticks and stems from pruning shrubs and trees, and store bought mulch. The sticks and stems don't break down fast enough so my only other "brown" option is the store bought wood mulch.

There are many options for browns other than leaves (check out all the discussions on the Soil & Compost forum) and since all you have listed so far are "greens" you definitely need some browns - lots of them - to end up with any compost. Otherwise it is just "stuff". ;) Newspaper, shredded cardboard, wood shavings, old sawdust, and straw - the ideal brown (not hay). Wood chip mulch isn't a great brown - fair but not great because slow - as already mentioned and if tilled in, can cause you several problems. Better to rake it out of the way, plant and then rake it back in place on top.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: What can you use for browns?

Here's some helpful info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Earl's hole

daylilyfanatic4:
The wood mulch that am planning to use is already a year old (plus however long it was in the bag). I'll look at it to see how well it's broken down. I may just leave it in place as it is mixed with the lawn clippings. Last summer, I put down plastic mulch (weed stop), mulch on top of that and lawn clippings as they were cut all summer. It's all mixed together now. And still, we are talking about 120 lbs of mulch (three bags) spread over over three 30x4 beds. Assuming it's all still there and I spread it perfectly, that's just 1/3 lb per square foot.

Still, depending on how much Dillo Dirt I pick up, I may just leave it in the bed it's currently in.

shebear:
Dillo Dirt!!! I think you've nailed it! I've seen it at Home Depot and even bought it because it was the cheapest dirt on the racks (poverty sux!). I thought it was just general purpose crappy dirt. I did not know it was from city compost. From their site:
Curbside collected leaves, grass, branches and Christmas trees are used to make Dillo Dirt.TM
I think I found my brown! This stuff goes for about $0.89 for a 40 lb bag. I've been using it to fill holes that dogs have dug in the yard!

Dave:
Thanx for you excellent advice. I think I found my browns from the "city compost" in the post from SheBear. At under a dollar a bag, ten bucks worth should do the trick. That's over 400 lbs of dirt. (The new garden location needs to be leveled some anyway.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Austin's Dillo Dirt Program.