Question: Nursery tomato transplants that are available are often too tall and lanky. Can they still be used? Also, is it better to buy tough transplants that have been grown in cooler weather outdoors, or the more succulent, vigorous-looking ones I find in greenhouses?

Answer: You can use those tall transplants, but lay them angled on their sides in trenches in the garden. They will form roots all along their stems. Always buy the toughened transplants. They’ll re-establish much more quickly than the succulent plants that may suffer wind burn or sunscald when they get introduced to the realities of Texas weather.