There have been a few disasters in my veg patch as a result of our weather seesawing so violently recently. A week ago I took three of my standard, non-fussy tomato plants grown from Lidl seeds and carefully planted them at the allotment, patted them gently on the head and went home.
At the weekend I went to have a look and all three had been stripped to stumps by slugs and were total write-offs. I’ve never known slugs to eat tomato plants before and as I stood there gazing sadly at the remains of treasured plants I’d grown lovingly from seed, I realised nature really is a bit of a *****. Oh well. More slug pellets needed. If you can’t beat them, nuke them I say.
Planting tomato plants by the way is not especially an art, but do remember to plant them in a hole deeper than the pot they were in. This will mean the lowest leaves are buried but it ensures that the plant roots itself down firmly.
Take the empty plastic pot the plant was in and bury it up to its neck next to the plant; when summer has finally arrived and the ground has gone hard, water the plant via this pot and the water will soak down to the roots and not just splash off the soil and evaporate.
Push a firm stake into the ground next to the plant; do it now because later you will be in danger of smashing roots as you stick it in. Make it a good thick stake too as it will hopefully have to take a lot of weight later when the fruits are swelling. Tie the plants loosely to the stake to prevent them whipping about in strong winds and possibly snapping. I have put out my remaining eight plants and hope for the best.