to get growing?

Is it too early to be thinking about your tomato plants? Not if you’re the competitive tomato gardening type who wants the earliest and sweetest tomatoes on the block. However, growing great tomatoes doesn’t just happen, it takes a little effort. If you don’t believe it, just sample some of the varieties on sale at your grocery store this spring. Start early with some time-tested tomato growing tips to ensure your bragging rights this year.

• Tomatoes love heat. Planting around last frost will give the soil a little time to warm. Those extra degrees of warmth will translate into earlier tomatoes. Planting too early does more harm than good and can result in problems later in the season.
• Bury tomato plants deeper than they come in the pot, all the way up to a few top leaves. Tomatoes are able to develop roots all along their stems.
• Mulch after the ground has warmed. Mulching does conserve water and prevents the soil and soil borne diseases from splashing up on the plants, but if you put it down too early it will also shade and therefore cool the soil.
• Be proactive. Once the tomato plants are about three feet tall, remove the leaves from the bottom one foot of stem. These are usually the first leaves to develop fungus problems. They get the least amount of sun and soil born pathogens can be unintentionally splashed up onto them. Spraying weekly with compost tea, filtered juices from your compost, also seems to be effective at warding off fungal diseases.
• 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.

By following these tips, you too can have the best tomatoes on your block.

Grow On!