Time to plant fall tomatoes!
June 27, 2012
Yep, so it's 106 degrees...but it's still time to plant your fall crop of tomatoes if you live in Texas...or other similar Southern climate. Most Determinate varieties of tomatoes planted in spring are finishing up their fruit production now. If you have green fruits on those plants, many may not ripen properly at this point due to the heat. You can harvest and allow them to ripen indoors. Pull those plants and compost them...UNLESS you've had bad problems with early blight or other fungal disease, in which case you may need to dispose of the plants completely.
Be sure to plant your new transplants a couple of inches deeper than where the plant emerges from the soil in the pot and add 2" of mulch. You'll have to keep plants hand-watered to get them established during the heat, but plants usually settle in pretty good. You can use floating row cover, frost cloth or shade cloth to protect plants for the first few weeks as they get acclimated and established. Get your transplants in the ground by mid-July for best fall production!
Some varieties I like for fall production include: 'Defiant', 'Golden Mama', 'Green Zebra', 'Yellow Pear', 'Celebrity', 'Red Grape', 'Sun Sugar', 'Super Sweet 100', 'Early Girl'.
