Hello friends, sorry it's been awhile. If you follow my other blog Bridget's Daughter than you'll know why, if you don't follow it-why not? LOL
I'm sure most of you have grown tomato's before, but I had a request to write about this so I am, for you wonderful pro's just skip this blog-but come back later! And as you all know I love to answer question, get your idea's or learn from you!
Tomatoes like a nice warm area in full sun, and need at least eight hours of sunlight a day, or they get spindly and produce little mature fruit.
You'll want soil that will hold water as evenly as possible because uneven uptake of water can cause all kinds of problems with tomatoes including: flower drop, fruit splitting and blossom-end rot.
Honestly I think the three most important things you need to do to grow wonderful, tasty tomato's is lot's of sunshine, good organic filled soil, and water consistently.
My mother has a friend that grows them in concrete blocks, you know the ones with two big holes in them? I believe that she has them sitting on her porch. My Dad plants them in flower pots then bury's the pot's, IDK why but it works!
I have grown them in both pot's and in ground. I like both ways.
I'm also a big believer in pairing them with certain other plants,one is pairing it with the herb Borage is an annual, edible herb with blue star-shaped flowers. The leaves can be used in salads. It improves tomato plant health and even makes them taste better. Borage also repels the tomato horn-worm, the bane of many a tomato grower.
Another pairing is with young dill . Young dill also improves the health and growth of tomato plants. Be sure to remove the dill before it is mature, because it will actually have the opposite effect and stunt tomato growth.
Basil is not just great in tomato sauce. The plant is also able to ward off spider mites, aphids, and white flies. You will have better pollination results, it attracts bees.
Try planting any member of the Umbilliferae family near your tomatoes. Members are, among others : parsnip, carrots, Queen Anne’s Lace, and parsley. These plants attract hover flies, which go after many tomato pests.
You shouldn't need pesticides with them around. Also Marigolds are good for keeping pest away, Plant them around your whole garden.
If you grow alot of tomato's or have a big garden a natural way to restore the soil is to plant Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa), a nitrogen-fixing legume, in your garden bed in the fall.
In the spring, cut it down and till the residue into the soil. This provides both nitrogen and an instant mulch that preserves moisture.
And last, many tomato diseases reside in the soil and affect peppers, eggplants, potatoes, and other crops in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family.
To break the disease cycle, and to help get rid of the disease-causing organisms, rotate tomatoes with unrelated crops, such as corn, beans or lettuce.
Here's a list of a few different types of tomato's:
1)Roma, tomatoes are plum-shaped or oval tomatoes that are typically smaller than common slicing tomatoes. When picked up, the Roma tends to weigh more than expected because of its thick, dense flesh. A 2-inch long Roma can weigh up to 4 oz., with some versions of this tomato reaching weights as high as 12 oz. Romas are ideal for making tomato sauces and ketchup because of their dense flesh and low water content.
2)Sun Gold tomato is a popular indeterminate variety of hybrid tomato, meaning that it continues to produce fruit until the weather no longer allows it. These cherry tomatoes are an especially sweet variety that work well for sun drying and ripen to a bright orange color.
3)Beefsteak tomato is perhaps the most common slicing tomato there is. These large tomatoes are dark red in color, full of juice and often weigh more than a pound.
4)Brandywine tomato is a popular, pale-red tomato with a tangy taste, many varieties of which are open-pollinated heirloom tomatoes.
This is just a short list, we'd be here all day if I tried to name them all.
I hope you liked this article today, I feel like I didn't give you enough information but couldn't decide what else to tell you. If you have anything to add please let me know. Until we met again.....
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