The hardest part about growing Mule Team is paying attention.  With a 12 oz tomato, leave it on the vine too long and it will fall.

Mule Team
A great choice for a ‘main crop,’ all-purpose tomato. Vigorous plants bear plenty of 8 to 12 ounce round, bright red tomatoes with excellent flavor and texture. Not only are harvests very abundant, but production continues right up until frost. Heirloom variety. Indeterminate. 80 days

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3. Transplanted: Abraham Lincoln Tomatoes

Paste tomatoes are a great addition to the farm.  I purposely buy early, medium, and late season tomatoes so that I can spread the “wealth” around.  Paste tomatoes are a great addition because you don’t necessarily slice and eat them.  I grow paste tomatoes to make pasta sauce to freeze.  I generally finish the tomato season with about 12 to 20 cups of tomato sauce in the freezer.

Last year I had blossom-end rot problems with the paste tomatoes.  Blossom-end rot generally occurs when there is not enough calcium in the soil or the tomatoes grow to fast.  I have Stop Rot (a calcium soil supplement) in case that happens again this year.

Grandma Mary’s Paste
This familiar heirloom variety has large, pointed red paste tomatoes that are meaty and flavorful, just right for cooking into sauce or chopping up for fresh use. Expect abundant harvests, as these plants are prolific. Indeterminate. 70 days.

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1. Transplanted: Mule Team Tomato
2. Transplanted: Abraham Lincoln Tomatoes
3. It’s a tough day for a Tomato

Up until now, we have been well above 40 degrees each night and in the 50s, 60s, and 70s each day — a safe zone for plants.

Additionally, just like a baby, the plants need plenty of liquids once they’re out in the open.  Over the past few days we’ve made up for a relatively dry April.

In the past 7 days, we’ve had 2 inches of water in the Chicagoland area.  The general guideline for an average nice week is a 1/2 inch of water a week.  I’d recommend a little more water during the transplant days which we have clearly covered this week.

I’ll have before and after photos soon showing how the plants have done all week.  Look for them this Friday.

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Tomato Seedlings going in the ground, April 24, 2009

The tomato plants started just over a month ago from seed indoors under a grow light.  Pictured above, the seedlings are a little tormented from the trip under the warm grow lights to the outdoors.  I’ve let them out during the day to start to acclimate to the cold weather over the past week, but today is going to be a rough day.

From above, the seedlings are about 4 to 6 inches tall.  When you transplant them, you want only the top set of leaves above the ground.  The rest of the stalk so far goes in the soil to help create a strong stem for the tomatoes to grow on.

Tomato Plant just planted in the ground, April 24, 2009

Above, the plant is almost completely in the ground except for those top leaves.  Also at the same time, I put the tomato plant supports in the ground.  That way I won’t damage the roots if I were to put it in the ground in a few weeks when the plant really needs it.

The little guy is a bit sad after moving from the warm heat lamps to the relatively cold outdoors.  The next 5 days, the plants should get plenty of rain and warmer spring nights to give them a good start on their way to blooming.

I’m planting 9 different varieties of tomatoes this year.  I’ll post about each variety in the coming days.

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