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10 Tips To Growing The Best Tomato Plants
Of course there are times when things can go wrong but the vast majority of gardeners have a relatively easy time of it. If that isn't you then here are some tips on how to improve your lot. 1) Buy good seedlings – Seedlings that are starved for sunlight when they are growing will develop as long, thin, straggly looking plants. This is not what you want. A good seedling is compact and robust looking. Avoid the leggy ones. 2) Grow good seedlings – If you are growing your seedlings yourself then make sure that they get sufficient sunlight (around 8 hours a day of filtered light is good) or if this is not possible then supplement it with some fluorescent lighting placed no more than a foot or so away. Also fan or brush your leaves daily to toughen them up. 3) Get your soil tested before you plant! - I don't know how many people I talk to that think that this is an optional step, it isn't. There are good soils and bad soils and I am pretty certain that you can't tell the pH and N-P-K balance of your soil just by looking at it. (If you can then can you tell me next weeks lotto results please I need a vacation) 4) Don't plant this years crop where last years was – Crop rotation principles are there for a reason. Sure you can feed the soil with a ton of great organic compost in the off season but that isn't the reason for this advice to the home gardener. Soil borne diseases like Early Blight and pests like Nematodes rely on you plonking you new babies right where the old ones were so deny them the pleasure. 5) Sufficient sunlight – Tomatoes don't need UV protection. Shade gardening is a horrible practice which leads to thin, sickly, easily infected plants. Make sure your tomato plants are in an area that will give them at least 10 hours of direct sunlight every day of the season. 6) Plant your seedlings, don't bury them – You really don't need to dig to china when planting your garden. Seeds and seedlings both do not need to be deeper in the earth than a few inches. Roots grow down and tomatoes don't like cold, so keep them near the surface for best results. 7) Weed your garden – Really nothing much to say here it is so obvious, however the obvious is sometimes overlooked. Certainly in most tomato care advices I have seen hardly anything is mentioned about weeding. But weeding is a vital part of keeping your soil clean and your plants healthy and free of disease. 8) Stake your plants – Tomato plants get heavy as they grow and the vines will inevitably head towards the ground. You do not want your fruit in contact with the soil. If it 'gets back to mother nature' then you will see rot, pests and diseases galore. 9) Don't drown your plants – people often fret about giving their plants too little water. Often though, especially with tomatoes, the reverse is the problem. Tomatoes can stand a little dry conditions quite well, they are fairly robust, but they do not like swimming. Simply check the sol down a couple of inches, if the soil is moist then you don't need to water, come back in a few days and check again. 10) Harvest – Pick your tomatoes when they are just ripe, over mature tomatoes are not good. In some cases picking them a little greener is even recommended depending on circumstances however I can't think of a situation which calls for leaving them till they are over-ripe. Also the longer that you leave them there the greater the chances that you are going to be fighting the local bird-life for them. So curb those feelings of 'just another day' and get them off the vine. I have tried to focus here on things that are normally not mentioned in most tomato gardening how-to articles. Hopefully there are some tips that will help you to a better harvest or at least serve as food for thought. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Want to learn more about Types of Tomato Plants? Visit www.growingbettertomatoes.com for helpful tips and information on planting and caring for a thriving tomato garden. |
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