Planting Tomatoes

So I have planted tomatoes every year I have a garden and almost every year I have had black end rot. Basically the tomatoes get all black on the end and are rotten. It is very frustrating. So last year I was listening to the Gardenerd podcast and they mentioned that Black End Rot is due to a calcium deficiency in the plants or the plants are unable to take up calcium from soil. However this is supposedly easily fixed by adding Epsom salt which is mostly Magnesium Sulfate, and according to the podcast and some other things I read or heard this helps to prevent Black End Rot and makes for healthier plants all around. We shall see...

Anyway on to planting tomatoes. I started these plants indoors around St. Patrick's Day and was a little worried they would outgrow their cups so I planted them earlier than planned but they should be fine., but I digress. I normally try to keep my plants a good 2-3 feet apart if I can it makes it easier to navigate between them. I normally dig a hole with a standard trowel. This year I dropped a handful of epsom salt in the hole. Then I put the plant into the hole covering it with dirt.

Once the plant is in the ground I take a black 3-5" flower pot with the bottom cut out and I put it around the plant and in the dirt. This is mainly to give the plant support and to keep the plant warm since the black attracts heat. After putting the pot around the plant I cut a circular trench about 12-16" in diameter around the plant to keep the water near the plant. Once all that has been done water the plant thoroughly and move onto the next. After the plants have been in the ground a bit I set up my cages more on that later.