How to Plant Tomatoes, Trenching Method with Video

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about how to plant tomatoes using the trenching method. Since that post has been a really popular one over the last two years, I thought I would share a video of how to plant tomatoes, using the trenching method.

You can watch the video below or if you really don’t like to watch videos, scroll down, I’ve included the instructions below.

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How to Plant Tomatoes, Trenching Method

First I prep the soil by adding some organic fertilizer and mix it in. Then I dig a trench to plant the tomato plants in. I plant my tomato plants side by side, so I just make one long trench.

After the trench is dug, place banana peels into the trench to line the bottom. Now, I don’t know where I learned this trick but it is to help supply the tomato plant with potassium. I’ve been using this idea since I learned it a while ago. It seems to help.

The other item I like to add to the trench is a sprinkling of powdered milk. I’ve read it helps to prevent blossom rot. Over the years, I’ve only had blossom rot on my tomatoes a few times. Those times were before I learned about add the powdered milk and the year I planted the tomatoes, even though I didn’t have any powered milk. I always use the powdered milk now.

Before adding the tomato plant to the trench, I pinch off all the leaves and stems up to the top of the plant. It looks a little sad, I know, but it helps to promote good root growth. I also place the leaves and stems into the trench too.

Now comes the part that can be a little tricky. You want to lay the plant down on its side in the trench. Make sure the top of the plant ends up where you want your tomato plant to be positioned in the garden.

Then gently, bend the stem so the top leaves are just above the soil line and fill in the trench with dirt. Be careful when you bend the stem, if you bend it too sharply, it could break.

Once the dirt is filled in around the plant, I like to sprinkle a little more powdered milk around the plant too. Finish planting the other tomato plants in the trench the same way and then give them a good watering.

Planting the tomato plants this way helps them establish a good root system all the way down the stem that was buried. One year, I actually careful dug up one of my trenched tomato plants to see if they really do grow roots, all the way along the stem and my tomato plant did.

This method might not be the best for planting in containers. The deep planting method would work better for containers. But it works great in the garden.

How do you plant your tomato plants in the garden?

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