Fish Oil and Lessons Learned

On Sunday I put in my first set of tomato transplants and peppers (Feb 22nd). I planted 7 Roma tomatoes, one Celebrity, one Champion, and one Early Girl. The peppers are 2 green bell peppers, one banana pepper, and one jalapeno plant.

Now for the lesson learned.... I got some fish oil fertilizer at the garden store. It is supposed to be great stuff. I put some in the dirt under several of the tomatoes. Well the next day I come out to find several tomatoes ripped out of the ground and holes where the tomatoes were. Looks like something in the neighborhood also likes fish fertilizer. At first we thought it was the dogs, so we reinforced the fencing at the bottom and replaced the tomatoes. I was heartbroken to find the transplants ripped out again the next morning. I was so frustrated. We replaced the transplants on Wednesday morning, again. Plus I poured fertilizer on the ground on the complete opposite side of the yard from the garden. I hoped it would be a stronger decoy. I don't know if the smell is wearing off in the garden, or my decoy worked, but this morning my plants were intact.

Now I am just waiting for things to grow and hoping that the tomatoes last. The pea plants are around 2.5 feet tall, the carrots are growing real leaves and are about 2 inches, some of the beets are 5 inches tall, and the bok choy looks more like bok choy :) I also put in a few marigolds to help with insect control and diffuse the fish smell.

Lessons for the week:
1) No more fish oil. Ever.

2) Lowe's actually has better, bigger transplants. Plus they come in a peat pot, so it adds to the garden, and I don't have to throw away plastic.