Thanks Linda! I hadn't even thought about the fact that some types of tomatoes may be less prone to BER. I also am not necessarily picky about what type of tomatoes I use to make sauce. At this point I just want to find my gardening groove! I also need to realize we moved into this house in April...I have many years ahead to figure out what works best!

BER tends to happen early in the season. As the temps warm up it doesn't happen as much. It's not usually a calcium deficiency so much as inconsistent soil moisture.

Never too late to mulch. I usually don't until the soil is nice and warmed up. Just make sure to adjust your watering when you add mulch.

Watering less often and more deeply is good for tomatoes. Let the top couple of inches of soil dry out before you water. You want to encourage the roots to go deep. I water via a soaker hose for a couple of hours every third day or so. It's a slower method, so there isn't any ponding or flooding or running off, and it gives the water a chance to really soak down deep. If you're going from container to in-ground, you'll probably tend to reach for the hose a little too often. The key to watering is to check the soil. Stick your fingers down a bit and see how wet it is, and how far down. You'll get a feel for when you need to add water. Also, you can learn to see the subtle droopiness tomato plants get when they need water. Don't let them get really wilty, but slightly droopy is a good indicator. Be aware that as it heats up they might naturally wilt a little during the hottest part of the day. As long as they perk back up in the evening, they probably don't need water.

The soil might be part of the reason. If I recall it's supposed to be mixed into your native soil, not used straight out of the bag.

The box garden had some existing native soil but now that I think of it I don't know that we mixed it presay. Hopefully the bagged soil will slowly turn to native soil as it adjusts. Thanks for the advice!

"What watering schedules or "rules" do you go by that works? I can't decide if we are watering too much or too little!"

Unfortunately, there are no watering schedules as there are too many variables that are at play to make a generalization like that. Agree with Aniajs. You water when the soil or plants need it. How can you tell? Go outside and shove your finger into the soil. If it's moist, don't water. If it is dry, water.

Rodney

I understand not every watering schedule works for every garden. I don't really have any serious gardener friends to ask in real life so I was just curious what people here do. I'm trying to go back to the basics and make sure there aren't any fundamentals I'm missing. Like for example, my fiance wants to water every day but aniajs only needs to water every 3rd day or so.

Ditto what Rodney said - watering on some kind of fixed schedule is a good way to kill plants since it disregards what the actually need to thrive.

I think you may find that the MG Garden Soil is your primary problem as it has quite the reputation of heavy compaction when not thoroughly mixed with existing native soil. When contained in any way the problem is worse. The bag stresses the importance of that. It is and additive and not intended as a growing medium all on its own or even as the majority of the medium. I learned this the hard way and so have many others.

So drainage may well be compromised and root rot may well result. I'd sure plan this fall to make some major revisions to the bed mix with lots of compost and quite a bit of native soil additions as well.

Dave

Thanks Dave! That will work well because we have a spot in the corner of the yard that needs some revision so I can swap some MG soil with the native soil this fall. I saw the warnings about not using the soil in containers but hasn't thought about a bed that does have direct contact with the ground.

I also hadn't considered the soil as everything else I planted is producing well including lettuce, kale, sugar snap peas, bush beans, Italian flat green beans, jalapeños, zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. All of my herbs are doing well in the MG soil but I've always found it difficult to kill herbs (except dill, growing dill is my herb downfall).

The tomato plants are over 5 ft tall with dozens of flowers and small/medium fruits, just hoping I don't loose all fruits to BER or similar issues.

"I'm looking for advice on watering"

The best time to water is immediately before direct sunlight hits the plant (usually in the early morning) and the worst time is at dusk.

"I was just curious what people here do."

Well, prior to last night's storm we were in a bit of a drought here. Even so, I was still only watering about once a week. I'm not one to pamper my plants.

Rodney