Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

___________Posted by: justthe12ofus@
>I am a little confused about the spacing of tomatoes, asI have read
about a 36" spacing in my Garden Wizard/planning cds, but in all the
info at this site, 9" seems to be the desired spacing. <snip>

Yield can be increased on a per sq ft basis if you train them
vertically, usually pruning to 1,2,3 or 4 main leaders. Hydroponicists
& Mittleider do some version of this, as do many Square-Footers...
whereas "traditional-garden-farmers" may have wider, shorter plants,
just 6 ft tall or even less, a few even allowing them to sprawl on the
ground, as is their true nature. I did see 1 tom that was grown in soil
with disregard, and reached 18ft, over 3 years. It may still be there...

>BTW, do you soak your seeds before planting, as some advocate? Thanks
for all the help...S.

It's optional; and depends. your medium ought to be moist and your
seeds ought to be fresh. If for some reason, you have a dry medium or
old seeds, some folks do soak seeds. With a small seed like toms, with
a relatively soft coat, 5-15 minutes may be adequate. A few folks add a
tsp of hydrogen peroxide to a cup of water, for this, esp if their
seeds are from suspect-dirty sources... to help deter dampoff and other
pathogens. Others use 5-10% of 5% bleach, for far less time, purely for
disinfection of the seed coat's surface (NOT to be confused with
sterilization, which is 100%.)

I do use a soil medium that is commercial-new-clean or disinfected via
heat to 160-170F in my oven or pressure cooker, to retard dampoff for
seed starter trays.

BillSF9c

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