Better Tomato Plants

Okay, so last year was the first year, since I had my two oldest children, that I finally started gardening again. I had big plans that fell to the wayside. (How I wish I had taken pictures.) I grew tomatoes and other vegetable plants, but because I didn't amend the dirt, my plants were puny and didn't do well. It didn't help that some of my plants were attacked by local critters (e.g. cutworms and squirrels). 

Fast forward to this year. I was determined, despite the state of my physique (I was seven to eight months pregnant and quite bossy with my Mr. Man). In April and May, I purchased tomato plants and double dug the dirt (yes, while I was seven to eight months pregnant). I made my Mr. Man not only build me two raised beds, but also go get compost from the county's free compost pile. I amended that patch of dirt with compost and other organic matter (e.g. bone meal, blood meal) before planting twelve tomato plants. I also used this method of planting tomato plants.

Now, that patch of dirt doesn't get the most sun, but it does get at least four to five hours of sun and that's the best I can do for the time being (short of cutting down a tree and ripping up my front yard). The only thing I hoped for was that it would do better than last year. As the weeks passed, I discovered some tomato plants that I grew from seed, two surprise volunteer plants from last year's tomato plants, and several self-sprouted tomato plants I found in my compost pile, so I planted them in containers and made room on the other side of my amended patch of dirt.

Well, a month later, I'm so surprised by the results. The tomato plants are huge and already sprouting flowers. I know we've had an early spring and the weather's a great contributor to the plants being so big. At the same time, the soil amendments and fertilizer have worked wonders for the plants. I've been trying to deeply water my plants every few days and continue feeding them organic fertilizers. I know my plants aren't going to grow and be six feet tall (due to the lack of light), but I'm hoping for something better than last year (my expectations are low and I'm hoping for more than a dozen tomatoes from twelve plants). I'm really hoping that my gardening won't fall to the wayside this year. Of course, life gets in the way sometimes. But I'll try really hard to not give up on my tomato plants this year.

How is your garden doing so far?