We moved into a house at the beginning of June after a gazillion years in an apartment. I’ve never had a garden before. So … of course I had to plant one. Given the late date and the fact that I was super busy with moving stuff, I planted only two tomato plants (one Early Girl, one Big Beef) and three bell pepper plants (one green, one yellow and one red). Okay, it’s a very small garden.
Plant care so far: I started out with clay-ish soil and added some compost, crushed eggshells (for calcium), and–I think–some peat moss. Also, just yesterday, I sprinkled all the plants with compost tea. I’ll probably do that every two weeks or so. I water about one inch a week, and, except for a few hours of shade in the mid-morning (giant tree), the plants get full sun. There is no windbreak.
My quandary: Because I planted them so late, I’m concerned that I won’t get very many blossoms on the plants, and thus few tomatoes. (My MIL gardens and says that she’s noticed that tomatoes tend to not blossom much in the heat, though of course the fruit already on the vine loves the heat.) I plan to pick the tomatoes before they’re completely ripe to encourage the plants to keep producing; is there anything else I can do? BTW, I already have a few little green tomatoes. Yippee!
I’m a newbie, so I hope I’ve posted to the right board; this subject could be called mundane, but I’m not really sharing–more like I’m asking you to share.
Sounds like you’re off to a very good start! I take it you’re going organic? Good for you!
Don’t remove the green tomatoes. The plant has already put a lot of energy into those baby tomatoes, so let them develop. You can encourage more fruiting with proper pruning and staking.
If you remove most of the “sucker” vines, you will encourage the plant to produce more fruit on the vines that it has left. This page has a lot of information on pruning and staking.
You might not get the maximum number of tomatoes this year but enjoy the ones you do have!
(As to your question of forums–I’d guess that IMHO would have been a better choice, as that is where people usually go to solicit opinions, and most gardening topics tend to congregate there. I know some of the forum distinctions are a bit confusing to the newbie!)
Plant a new tomato every other week this way they all ripen at the same time, usually when you are on vacation
For fertilizer use that special liquid tomato fertilizer & read the directions cause few people do. Some require a half teaspoon & some a tablespoon per gal. I met two women who just put half a cup in a gallon of water & their plants became quite brown.
Thanks, Green Bean and yoyo. That’s what I love about these boards–philosophy AND practical advise.
Thanks for the link. And the FYI about posting. It never would’ve occurred to me to post at IMHO.
BTW, yes, I’m going organic. I buy regular (not organic) produce at the grocery store, but when I was buying the stuff for my garden, chemicals didn’t even come to my mind as an option. I mean, I’m going to be eating this stuff.
Anyone know how I would get a moderator to possibly move this to the IMHO board?
Wouldn’t that only be an issue with indeterminate varieties?
Good point about following the label directions. I think that liquid fertilizer that you’re referring to isn’t an organic fertilizer, though. If it is, please let me know what it is!
I think skeptic_ev’s fertilization needs will probably be met with the compost tea and amended soil. But–if the tomatoes need an extra boost, I hear fish emulsion and seaweed extracts work very well. (Commercial fish emulsions vary in quality and eco-friendliness, though.)
I find that allowing the plants to become slightly water-stressed (for no more than a day or two) when the fruits are just starting to ripen, results in tastier tomatoes, but a slightly reduced crop.
If you want really large, early tomatoes, you can lop off the whole plant about an inch above the first fruiting truss (once they have set fruit) - the plant will then divert all of its energy into that one truss, resulting in huge tomatoes (but not very many of them) - the bit you cut off can be rooted as a cutting in another pot and it will grow on to produce more tomatoes. (You can also pot up the sideshoots that you pinch out in the same way).
Unless youreally have to, don’t pick tomatoes until they are fully ripe - they produce chemicals that promote the ripening of the rest of the fruits and they just plain taste better when they have been ripened on the plant. In most varieties, they are ready for picking when the little ‘knuckle’ on the fruit stalk separates easily on lifting the fruit gently with your hand.
For a real flavour explosion, grow one of the green-fruited varieties next year - it isn’t always easy to buy the seeds, but they are great plants - they typically produce a golf-ball sized fruit that ripens to a translucent yellowish green colour (even though it is fully ripe), the flavour of these is the most intensely ‘tomatoey’ that I have ever tasted.
Do you have tomato cages? It’s not that they’re fierce, it’s just that tomato plants will fall over without support.
Here’s how. Find a concrete contractor, and ask him for two 6-foot pieces of re-mesh. That’s the heavy fencing-like stuff they pour concrete over to keep it from cracking. He’ll either sell it to you cheaply or just give it to you from his scrap pile. Anyhow, the stuff is 5 feet wide and the wires are 6 inches apart (plenty of room to reach in and grab a fat tomato.) Count off twelve sections (6 feet) and cut the runner off the last section. Use those tangs to bend over to make the piece into a big tube, roughly 21 inches diameter. Stand it on end over the plant, and drive a fence stake next to it so it won’t blow over.
As it grows, cut off anything that grows outside the cage. Otherwise, you won’t be able to find all the tomatoes.
Tomatoes use more nutrients than you’d think. In fact, the gardener’s joke is that nobody has yet discovered what’s “too much” fertilizer for tomatoes.
If you have some marigolds left over from the flower beds, plant a few near the tomatoes. Organic garden lore says root nematodes (harmful worms) don’t like to live around marigolds, so they’ll flee your tomatoes.
Take a few minutes every day to inspect the plants for caterpillars, such as the tomato hornworm. Pull 'em off and smish 'em.
Well, the plants are still pretty small 'cause I planted so late (though they’ve grown quite a bit), so I haven’t caged them yet. (BAD! BAD GARDENER!!!) Actually, I’ll get some cages next year; this go 'round I’m going to stake. This weekend. I swear.
And I have been trying to pinch off the suckers, too, though I don’t think I’ve been aggressive enough in doing so.
Sorry, Casey, I don’t think I’ll have enough samples for “quality control” with only two plants. Not testing is risky, I know, but we’ll just have to chance it.
Well, the plants are still pretty small 'cause I planted so late (though they’ve grown quite a bit), so I haven’t caged them yet. (BAD! BAD GARDENER!!!) Actually, I’ll get some cages next year; this go 'round I’m going to stake. This weekend. I swear.
And I have been trying to pinch off the suckers, too, though I don’t think I’ve been aggressive enough in doing so.
Sorry, Casey, I don’t think I’ll have enough samples for “quality control” with only two plants. Not testing is risky, I know, but we’ll just have to chance it.
Well, I had a hard time figuring that out as well. Here’s what I’m 95% sure it is. You know how you have the main branch, and then branches (some sites call them leaves, for some reason) growing off the main branch? A sucker is a branch growing between the two. I have done a lame ASCII art representation below. The vertical branch represents the main branch, and the horizontal branch represents the secondary branch. The sucker branch is the diagonal branch.
More experienced gardeners, tell me if I’ve got this wrong somehow.
Okay, well, I should’ve done a preview on that one. My ASCII art ended up looking pretty lame. But I think it manages to communicate the concept somewhat.