Growing tomatoes in the garden is easy and almost every house has enough sunshine and soil to grow this bountiful crop. Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Folic acid, potassium, calcium and Vitamin K for stronger bones. Imagine being able to get all these nutrients everyday right in your own garden and you’ll be amazed to the taste difference of the home grown tomatoes.
Home gardening is all about simple tips and tricks to get the best possible produce. With tomatoes, it is no different.
Right from a seed to the final fruit, you’d need to follow a few rules that you just cannot go wrong with.
- Long season or short that is the question! The foremost decision you face is whether to use short harvest or a long harvest variety. With long harvest, you have a lot of options. If you’re planning on becoming a serious tomato planter, go for varieties that will continue to produce in the hot season too.
- Allow space for seedlings to branch out. If you over crowd them, chances are you’ll stunt their growth.
- Arrange for sturdy sunlight supply. Heat and light will go a long way in ripening the fruit earlier and getting quality tomatoes.
- In order to develop a strong structure, the tomato plants need to move a bit with the wind. In case Mother Nature is not in the mood, put up a fan.
- Once the seedlings are ready to be planted out separately, plant them deep. You don’t have to worry about the last bits ending up in soil as the plant has an ability to root from anywhere on its stem. Deeper the better!
- Mulching at the right time helps keep the soil borne diseases from affecting plants, saves water, and is a good for crops that require more heat than usual.
- As the plant develops, trim away the bottom leaves. Also remove the suckers growing in stem joints to allow sunlight to reach the plant as much as possible. Don’t ever do it as you may compromise on the flavor of the fruit that way.
- Water you crop regularly. Haphazard watering will make tomatoes more susceptible.
- Allow the crop to fully ripen. You’d be losing a lot of flavor, and the quality if you’re hasty with your tomatoes. Be gentle when harvesting the ripe fruit. The thin skinned varieties can easily bruise.
Sources: Organic Matters and Lifestyles,trc.dost.gov.ph; Photo: en.wikipedia.org