Even in the dead of winter, there are a great many garden related tasks to occupy one’s time. If you happen to be a tomato addict, one of the most enjoyable of those tasks is the process of deciding which varieties to grow in the following season.
2018 will be my most ambitious year yet, featuring 12 varieties of tomato and a total of 24 plants. This year, at least one of each variety will be grafted onto Estamino rootstock, which performed exceptionally well in last year’s experiments — finally allowing me to harvest some tomatoes from the more disease prone varieties, while dramatically boosting vigor even on the varieties that do not succumb to bacterial or fungal pressures.
Managing all these seedlings is part of the process. In this flat, I have 18 heirlooms and 18 rootstock (all Estamino; here unlabeled). The next trick is ensuring that each heirloom has a rootstock growing at the exact same rate — since the thickness of the stem needs to be virtually identical to ensure the success of the graft. Stay tuned for updates!
