By Jan Hersey
Regarding Peter’s TWIG post on planting tomatoes, here’s what I did with tomatillos (same technique for tomatoes).
Remove lower leaves from tomato plant.
Dig about a 14-in trench, 6-8” deep on the end where root ball will go, sloping the trench up to original soil level at opposite (stem/leaf) end. Place tom as shown below, gently bending up leaf end, supporting it with and securing it to a small stick.
Cover root ball and stem with soil, then create a moat around the former trench. Trim off more leaves if needed. Ultimately, you’ll want a foot of leafless stem (helps prevent getting water on leaves) before allowing plant to branch into 1-3 stems).
Weight down an empty gallon plastic pot with some stones and place it on the soil between the root ball and growing stem. Throughout the season, water into the pot, which will slowly release the water into the trench.
This is what my grandmother had taught me to do as well, and I have always had good results with this method. Thanks for sharing.