Well, it is Monday and I am kicking off the Learning Plot 221 week with some very overgrown tomatoes. Yours might be the perfect size, maybe 8–10 inches tall. Mine are tall because when you start your own from seed, you keep backups for germination purposes, and then more backups in case one dies after planting. Some of these will need to be trenched because they are so tall. I don’t do that very often, but my 4‑inch auger will make short work of it. When planting, I like to streamline things so the whole process runs like clockwork. Here is how I do it.
Runs Like Clockwork
To make sure everything runs like clockwork, you need to have things ready before you ever pick up the drill. I start by placing the cages where each tomato will go. These aren’t the flimsy cages from the big box stores — they are handmade from cattle‑panel fencing. I cut the bottom ring to create the points that anchor into the ground. If a tomato grows tall and heavy with fruit, I can always add a stake for extra support.
Most of my cages came from other gardeners, and honestly, keep an eye on the trash pile on Road 5 — you’d be surprised what people throw away. I’ve found plenty of useful things there.
Next, I pre‑measure my soil amendment mix — what I call my soil recipe. I’m planting six tomatoes today, so I prepare six containers, each with one batch of the recipe. The Learning Plot soil is low‑nutrient this year. After that 4‑inch rain, I could see the topsoil washed away. That means my nutrients went to the next plot, and mine needs a boost. So the planting holes will be enriched heavily.
Here is my recipe:
Per Plant (Bucket Mix)
2½ cups Jiffy professional potting mix
2 cups Black Kow
1 tablespoon Pennington Rejuvenate
1 tablespoon Dr. Earth Home Grown
1 tablespoon blood meal
1 teaspoon gypsum
1 teaspoon finely ground eggshells
½ tablespoon bone meal
1 teaspoon kelp meal
Pinch cinnamon
Mycorrhizae on the roots (sprinkle in hole)
Two of my tomatoes are so tall they will be trenched, so I will double the batch for those.
I place each bucket by its planting spot, along with the tomato itself. I also bring a couple of bags of chopped leaves from the free mulch pile and a bag of pine needles. Everything goes to the staging area. When everything is prepped, planting six tomatoes takes about 30 minutes — all thanks to my new favorite tool: a rechargeable drill with a 4‑inch planting bit. Planting six with a shovel used to take much longer.
Now that everything is staged, it’s time to plant.
Drill Baby Drill
Before we get into tomatoes, I was showing my daughter‑in‑law the garden — the Pickle Patch, the Back 40, and RRR — and quizzing her a bit. These are my working plots, always in progress. Learning Plot 221 is the community teaching plot where anyone with a plot here can come learn, ask questions, or help out. And in my plots you’ll see where the cardboard shifted, but that’s already on my fixing list.
The Learning Plot 221: Tomato planting begins at 03:10.
Here’s my planting workflow:
My Drill Method
Drill the hole
Scoop out the soil and mix it with the amendments
Add a little of the mixed soil to the bottom of the hole
Sprinkle mycorrhizae into the bottom
Gently pop the tomato out of its container
Place it in the bottom of the hole
Remove any branches that will be buried or too close to soil level
Fill the hole with the rest of the amended soil
Gently firm the soil
Repeat for all plants
Once all tomatoes are planted, I add chopped leaves around each plant, keeping them 6–8 inches away from the stem to prevent rot. Then I top the leaves with pine needles to keep the leaves from blowing away. Repeat for all plants.
Next, place the cage over each tomato.
I give each tomato about ½ gallon of water at planting. It’s just enough to settle the soil, activate the mycorrhizae, and ease transplant shock without drowning the roots. I had a little of my mix left in the bucket, so I went back and gave all the tomatoes a small extra splash until it was gone. I don’t waste anything, and the plants certainly don’t mind a bonus sip. You’ll find your own rhythm over time — this is simply the method that took me four years to dial in.
And then — do a happy dance, because you’re done.
Before
The reason I say do a happy dance is this method saves me so much time compared to last year. I should have trenched last year, but decided to dig a 2‑foot hole instead. Mind you, it worked — my plants produced — but it was a long, drawn‑out process of taking the soil out and mixing it in my wheelbarrow with a different recipe.
I should mention that I like to use Copilot to figure out my recipes, and last year I had different soil and ingredients. Last year planting 6 plants took a lot of time — that was all I did and then went home. Today I worked on tamping down the edges of the ditches for water flow and watered my entire pickle patch. So, more energy to do more in the garden.
The other thing I controlled with my tomato starts is how big I wanted them at planting. This means controlling how much fertilizer they get in their planting mix as they grow. I don’t repot, but add soil as they grow — this is only for tomatoes, since those little hairs on the stems can become roots. Some people repot into bigger pots, but this is my method.
I was successful in the first batch, but the Learning Plot 221 is getting my leftover plants, so they’re a little on the big side.
I bought the 4‑inch garden auger bit on Amazon and the rechargeable drill at Lowe’s.
I highly recommend the auger and drill as essential gardening tools that should be in your garden shed.
Happy Planting!