How to Plant Heirloom Tomatoes Sideways

With evocative names like "Black Prince," "Pink Ping Pong" and "Garden Peach," heirloom tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) seeds are tempting late-winter purchases -- and it is equally hard to resist starting those seeds as soon as you have them in your hands. To be considered heirloom, plants must be open-pollinated, meaning they grow again true to the parent plant from saved seed, and have been grown for at least 50 years. When heirloom tomato seedlings become tall and spindly before weather warms enough to get them in the ground, plant them sideways for stronger roots.

Shovel
Compost
Hand trowel
6-foot stake
Twine

Instructions

- 1
  Clear weeds from an area of the garden that receives full sun and where tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants or peppers have not been grown in the previous three years. Because heirloom tomatoes have not been bred to be resistant to common tomato diseases, it is important that you don't grow them where problems might linger in the soil.
- 2
  Spread a 2-inch layer of compost over the soil and dig it in with a shovel, incorporating the compost and loosening the soil down to at least 8 inches. Heirloom tomato varieties tend not to be as vigorous as hybrids, so they benefit from thorough soil preparation. Prepare your soil at least one month before you expect to plant your heirloom tomatoes.
- 3
  Set seedlings in a protected area outside for a few hours a day, gradually increasing the time outdoors once temperatures begin to warm after the last expected frost.
- 4
  Pinch the leaves and any stems from the bottom two-thirds of your heirloom tomato seedlings when daytime temperatures are about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and nighttime temperatures are 50 to 60 F.
- 5
  Dig a trench with a hand trowel for each heirloom tomato in the prepared soil. Make the trench two-thirds as long as your plant plus its root ball. Dig it about 5 inches deep at the root-ball end, angling up 30 degrees.
- 6
  Remove the plant from its pot or tear open the side that will be on the bottom on a peat pot.
- 7
  Place the root ball and the bottom two-thirds of the plant in the trench and fill it in with soil. Every little hair on the stem of the plant can now develop into a root.
- 8
  Place a 6-foot tomato stake about 3 inches behind the top of the tomato plant, away from the trench.
- 9
  Bend the top of the plant gently into a vertical position, and tie it loosely to the stake with twine or a plant tie.
- 10
  Water in well.

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