Adding Dirt to the Tomato Starts

In other update news re: the tomato / tomatillo plants - yesterday my daughter and I added a lot more dirt to the cups. It's not getting consistently warm yet, so I don't want to plant them outside just yet, but they seemed so big that I wanted to give them more dirt.



I used the organic vegetable potting mix (don't remember the brand off hand... it has a scarecrow on it... will repost later) I had and I sprinkled in some organic tomato / vegetable / herb fertilizer. I prepped the dirt by mixing in plenty of water and sort of kneading / stirring it by hand. I figured that way the soil would be plenty moist, which was specifically mentioned in the square foot gardening book I followed last year, when we first added our "Mel's Mix" soil to our square foot garden.

Following Tammy's helpful suggestions, I removed the lowest tier of leaves that would have been covered by the dirt. I also made sure to do this while the plant was dry, as I'd read that was important - to prune when they're dry to avoid rot... Although... it's just dawning on me that adding very wet soil immediately after pruning, directly over the "wound" is counterproductive... Good thing I only did it to one or two plants, and only the littlest leaves.

NOTE TO SELF:
Next time I'm going to add dirt to tomato starts and I want to prune off lower leaves... prune FIRST when dry, wait for the wound to seal over, like a day or so, then add dirt. Durh.