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May 11 2009

Growing Tomatoes

Posted by: Rose in tomatoes, tags:

tomatoAs tomatoes are most gardener’s favorite plant, especially but not exclusively amongst beginners, here are a few things that might be worth knowing about growing tomatoes.  If those among you who have decades of tomato growing experiences are unhappy with my information or have things to add, please feel free to comment :D

  • Basically, all that tomatoes need is healthy, well draining soil, sunlight – don’t plant them in a shady spot – and sufficient water.  To keep the soil from drying out too quickly, mound grass clippings or other mulch around the plants and cover the soil of the whole garden bed with mulch too.  This will also improve the quality of the soil.
  • If you have a square foot garden, plant one tomato per square foot, that should give them enough room.
  • You can pinch the suckers if you wish, but you do not have to.  Pinching suckers will lead to less, but bigger fruit, whereas leaving the suckers on the plant will lead to more, smaller fruit.  If you are not sure what suckers are, just forget about them ;)
  • As for suitable companions, do not plant tomatoes and peppers within root distance from each other, as they stunt each other.  The same counts for onions.  Tomatoes like the company of carrots, lima beans, and parsley.
  • Marigolds will help keep bugs away.
  • Keep an eye out for the tomato horn worm.  It likes your tomatoes (the leaves mostly) even more than you will.  Here is a little site that is rather informative and has some pretty impressive pictures, too. tomatoworm Here is the link and one of the pictures you find there. http://www.gardengrapevine.com/TomatoWorm.html
  • When your tomatoes get taller, you might want to stake them.  You don’t have to, but if you don’t, you will have to be very attentive to ripening fruits that rest on the ground.  If you let them sit there for too long, they will rot.  If you stake the tomatoes, this will not be an issue.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under tomatoes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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