Tricks for great tomatoes

Young tomato plant in "V" pruning

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

There are a few tricks to know about growing tomatoes. The first is knowing what type of tomato to purchase. 

There are two types of tomatoes-indeterminate and determinate.  Determinate grow to a set height and fruit sets all at once.  This can be a great candidate for canning if you would like to get your tomato canning done all at once.  Indeterminate continue to grow and yield fruits (yes, the tomato is actually a fruit) until frost.  These are the best for fresh tomatoes all season long.

I grow only indeterminates.  For what we don’t eat, I freeze whole in quart freezer bags for chili and salsa until fall.  Come fall, I start canning the surplus.  Right before the first frost, I pick all the tomatoes left on the vine and put in a dark place for them to ripen.  We have fresh tomatoes into December.  They are definitely not the same as summer tomatoes, but better than anything you can buy in the store!

With indeterminate tomatoes, they definitely need something to help them grow upwards (although not required, it does make harvesting much easier).  A very sturdy pole can be used and the plant tied onto it as it grows.  The more popular option is a “tomato cage” that the tomato grows up in to.  This is what we use.  It is important to get the cage on while the plants are small or severe damage may ensue when you try to force the gangly plant into it’s cage.

Tomatoes are susceptible to blossom-end rot and fungal diseases.  End rot is typically caused by not having enough calcium in the soil.  The best way to prevent fungal disease is to rotate the plants and not plant them in the same spot every year.  

So, when planting, it is important to provide the right fertilizer and nutrients.  In each planting hole, I added a handful of worm castings and dusted the roots with mycorrhizal life support.  It contains mycorrhizal, vitamins and minerals.  This blend improves soil fertility and the plants ability to take in the nutrition it needs.  It is not all about just the big 3-nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.  They are important but vitamins, minerals, and particularly living soil makes a huge difference in how healthy and lush the plants become.  I also added fertilizer made specifically for tomatoes so that they get the calcium they need.

When you plant your tomato, make sure to plant it deeply.  I take off all the limbs except the top couple and bury the plant up to these stems.  Roots will grow from where the removed and buried limbs were.

Now that your plants have the right start, pruning is the next step.  To get the highest yields, it is important to prune your tomatoes.  You want no branches below 12” (some recommend 18”).  You also want to prune the plant to only 2 branches, the center stalk and one side stalk.  You want to keep the “suckers” cut or pinched off as well as the tomato grows.

Now, to on-going watering and fertilizing.  Many think more is better when it comes to watering and fertilizing.  Not so for tomatoes!  What you end up with are tons of greenery, mushy tomatoes, and very few of them.  Some tomato afficiados recommend a deep watering and fertilizer at planting, then again at flowering, and that is it.  I do water when there is a long dry spell.  Overwatering or erratic watering can also cause the fruits to crack.  

If your plant will not flower and fruit with lush green foilage, quit fertilizing and watering.  A little stress should jump start it.

Although tomatoes love hot weather (they will not flower until night time temps get above 55), they also don’t like it too hot.  If daytime temps get above 90 and nighttime temps above 76, the plant will drop its flowers.

If you want to grow tomatoes in a container, you need to either have a really big container for full size tomatoes (5 gallon) or plant varieties that are adapted for containers.  Tumbler, Tiny Tim and Gold Nugget are all good small fruit bearing plants for containers.  

If you grow in containers, you will need to water weekly or maybe even more depending on the container/plant size.

See my blog from January 6th on varieties of tomatoes to grow.

How brave are you? Moving up the planting season.

Undercover-pepper, cucumber, basil

Monday, April 16, 2012 

This unseasonably warm weather gets the summer gardening need going at a fever pitch.  

There can definitely be freezing temperatures that blow in this time of year.  So, warm season crops like tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, peppers, basil can melt overnight with one good frost.

I couldn’t stand it and planted all these warm weather crops!  

What can you do to protect them?  You can throw a sheet or plastic over them when the cold snap comes in.  You can buy “cloches” which are little plastic or glass bell shaped covers and place over each plant.  Or you can put a portable greenhouse over them.

I tried the plastic cloches this year.  They definitely protect the plants.  The watchout for them is that you can fry your little babies if you leave the cloche on during sunny, warmer days.  The ones I bought come with vents that I did leave open, but I had one casualty.  

Since I leave for work right before the coldest part of the day (sunrise), I have to wait until I get home from work to remove the cloche.  This time of year we get some real wide swings in temps.

Surprisingly, I had some peppers under cover and others that were not, and the uncovered peppers did just fine, even when the temperature dropped to 28 degrees.

Separating baby lettuce to plant

Left-baby lettuces planted, spring flowers blooming, chard, dill, kale, French sorrel up.
Right-Earthbox uncovered with greens and celery winter survivors.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

I scattered lettuce seed in my Earthboxes last month.  Sprouting had been slow up until the record breaking warm weather we have had recently.  Now they are growing like crazy.  There were way too many in my Earthboxes and they were clumped together.  They would not have grown well like that.

I separated them out and replanted them in the Earthboxes and in the garden.  It is easy to do.  I took my trowel and just cut about 3 inches of soil under the tiny plants.  For the romaine that survived the winter and were already 5 inches high, I went about 4 inches deep.

Then, you gently “tease” the roots apart of the individual plants.  I replanted the lettuce and spinach about 4-6” apart in the Earthbox.  We will use these greens by taking individual leaves off the outside of the plant.  We’ll be able to cut leaves from them up until they bolt this way.  It is a gentler version of “cut and some again.”  You can cut them close to the ground and they will resprout, but the taste changes and you can only do this 2-3 times.

I also took several and planted them in the garden.  I don’t usually grow full heads of lettuce, but decided to try this year.  I planted these about a foot apart in the garden.

In each hole I dug, I added a handful of worm castings and dusted the roots with mycorrhizal life support.  It contains mycorrhizal, vitamins and minerals.  This blend improves soil fertility and the plants ability to take in the nutrition it needs.  It is not all about just the big 3-nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.  They are important but vitamins, minerals, and particularly living soil makes a huge difference in how healthy and lush the plants become.

I plant my veggies amongst our flowers.  The flowers attract pollinators which help yields of fruiting plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, squash, etc.), attracts beneficial insects, and being in mulch takes weeding down significantly and keeps moisture in the soil.

Onions, chives, sorrel, celery ready for March harvest

Left to right-Kale, Mint in background, French sorrel, chives

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Wow.  What a crazy, warm late winter!  In the 80’s in mid/late March in the Midwest.  Everything is blooming and growing weeks ahead of normal.  The daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and tulips are all in bloom at the same time. 

Right now, the french sorrel is lush and ready to harvest, chives and garlic chives are up, celery is going strong, onions are already bigger than green onion size, cress is a good size, chard, arugula and lettuce have leaves large enough to cut.

Other herbs that are greening out-thyme, sage, oregano, dill, mint, tarragon.

I separated out the small lettuce sprouts from the earthbox and replanted them in the pot and garden.  Had some kale that had survived the winter in a pot and planted in the garden.  

I purchased cilantro and basil plants.  I put these in the ground.  It is a high chance that it can still get cold enough to melt the basil.  They are very cold sensitive.  I ordered some plastic covers for them to protect them just in case.

Short day? Long day onion?

Onion blossom

Thursday, February 23, 2012

There are 3 types of onions-short day, intermediate day, and long day onions.  Intermediate and long day varieties have been around for a long time.  Short day onions are relatively newcomers.  It is daylight hours in summer that determine which type is for you.

Onions are sensitive to daylight hours.  They start forming bulbs when daylight hours hit a minimum.  For long day onions, it is 15 hours.  For intermediate, it is 12-13 hours.  Short day onions are 9-10 hours.  

I would have thought long day onions would be for further south, but this is wrong.  The north get the really long summer days (think of Alaska in June with no darkness).  Long day onions should be planted in states north of the Oklahoma/Kansas border (approximately 36 degrees latitude).

Long day onions are planted in states in the northern part of the US.  Intermediate in the middle and short in the South.  

Short day onions are planted in the fall and form bulbs in the spring.  Intermediate and long day onions are typically planted in the spring as sets, not seeds.  Seeds require sprouting indoors and transplanting.  

In the Midwest, you should have already started your seeds.  Transplanting is next month.  Transplanting should be done 4-6 weeks before the last spring freeze.

 You should enrich the soil with plenty of organic matter before planting.   As common sense would tell us, they also like loose soil.  Organic matter helps this along.

Onions are ready to harvest when the tops turn yellow and fall over.  They should be pulled and allowed to harden in the shade for a couple of days before storing.

What’s growing in the garden in February?

Chard, giant red mustard, and French sorrel

Monday, February 20, 2012

Winter greens are still going strong in February in our Midwest garden.

Chard (red and heirloom white), Giant Red Mustard and French Sorrel are still going in the garden.  There are many new leaves growing.  New leaves are sweet with frost.  Larger leaves are great for steaming, too.

Parsley and celery are also still green and sprouting.  Both are great adds to fresh salads.

Perennial onions and other alliums

Overwintering onions

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

There are many perennial alliums.  Alliums include garlic, chives, leeks, and onions.  

Garlic, leeks, and onions will continue coming back year after year unless you pull them.  If they are not big enough the first year, leave them and they will come back bigger the following year (scallions in the left photo and onions in the right in our garden right now from last year).

There are also “multiplier” onions like Egyptian walking onions and potato onions.  They continue spreading out from the single bulb you plant.  As long as you leave a few bulbs behind, they will come back the following year.  Egyptian walking onions are not “keepers.”  They are pulled and used fresh.  Egyptian walking onions  Potato onions can be pulled and kept for months until ready to use.

If you grow garlic, you will likely find that the following year you have garlic sprouting again.  Many garlic bulbs will have little “bulbils” that become detached from the bigger bulb when you pull them.  These babies come back up the next spring.

Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

Common chives in bloom in spring

Chives and garlic chives are perennials and can be grown in pots.  They are also invasive so make sure you don’t let their flowers go to seed.  The flowers are edible.  They are a pretty addition to spring salads.

For more on growing onions,  

Onions-everything you need to know to grow 'em

Alliums are very nutritious, easy to grow, and tasty.  Try some in your garden this year!