This week's tip deals with growing great tomatoes. We will explore different methods of helping your plants to grow healthy and produce a lot of fruit.
After you have transplanted your tomatoes into your garden you can follow these tips to help you through the season.
Pinch & Prune for More Tomatoes
Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2009) licensed to About.com, Inc.
Pinch and remove suckers that develop in the crotch joint of two branches. They won’t bear fruit and will take energy away from the rest of the plant. But go easy on pruning the rest of the plant. You can thin leaves to allow the sun to reach the ripening fruit, but it’s the leaves that are photosynthesizing and creating the sugars that give flavor to your tomatoes.
Water the Tomato Plants Regularly.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2009) licensed to About.com, Inc.
Water deeply and regularly while the plants are developing. Irregular watering, (missing a week and trying to make up for it), leads to blossom end rot and cracking. Once the fruit begins to ripen, lessening the water will coax the plant into concentrating its sugars. Don’t withhold water so much that the plants wilt and become stressed or they will drop their blossoms and possibly their fruit.
Blossom end rot, which appears in the picture above is common in many tomato varieties. From my experience, however, Romas seem more suseptible to the fungus than others. Other methods I have found in addition to regular watering is to put a tsp. of Miracle Grow Tomato plant food in with a pitcher of water and pour at the base of every plant at least once a week. This should reduce the amount of tomatoes that will develop the fungus.
Look for more tips each week at the Fruitful Nut.
Thanks and we'll see you at the market!
New items available this week:
Radishes
Fingerling potatoes
Red potatoes
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