Submitted by Mary Ann Steele, Somervell County Master Gardener
If given a choice of one crop to grow, most gardeners would pick tomatoes. There are so many different kinds to choose from. Tomatoes are so easy to grow that most of us plant too many. Oh well, we can share!
Tomatoes need full sun and protection from the wind. They also require a constant source of water and food. To meet their needs, poke a hole the size of a pin in the bottom of a gallon milk jug or large soda bottle and bury the container up to its shoulders next to the plant. Fill with water and insert a stick to make it easier to find once the plants have filled out. Add more water about once a week along with fish emulsion diluted according to package directions. DO NOT be tempted to add more fertilizer than directed. Excess nitrogen can leave you with a bushy plant that produces more leaves than fruit.
There are so many different colors of tomatoes now that you can’t just say they are ready when they turn red. All tasty tomatoes have one thing in common – they smell like a tomato. A perfectly ripe tomato should smell like a glass of tomato juice, especially around the stem. A tomato without aroma will lack flavor. Nothing beats a fresh, cool tomato right off the vine first thing in the morning. Yum!
Early blight is a foliar disease that can destroy the majority of the tomato leaf area. Take early action by removing the spotted leaves and spraying the plant with a fungicide labeled for use on tomatoes. If much of the plant is affected, it will be too late for a spray to be of any benefit.
Warm weather brings out pests including caterpillars, stink bugs, beetles, and perhaps an early outbreak of spider mites. Take time to carefully look over your plants. Stink bugs and their cousins, the
leaf-footed bug, are a major pest of tomatoes. Their feeding can cause deformed fruit and leave yellow and white spots on the tomatoes.
They are difficult to control with sprays. If you do spray, do so when pests are young.
Spider mites love hot weather and dry, dusty conditions. They hide under plant leaves and suck the juices out of the leaves, causing a loss of color in tiny spots. In severe cases, they leave a fine webbing under the leaves.
It is not uncommon for the older leaves on tomato plants to curl upward and roll in somewhat from the outside edges. This is in response to rapidly warming temperatures. Some varieties are more prone to leaf rolling than others. If you notice twisted, malformed new growth, it is either a virus or damage from herbicide that has drifted from nearby or from using treated grass or hay or manures as mulch.
Never store tomatoes in the refrigerator. Cold temperatures turn them mealy and hard. The ideal temperature for keeping tomatoes is 60-65 degrees, so place them in the coolest part of the kitchen stem side down, out of direct sunlight.
For springtime planting, get tomato transplants into the ground
March 15-April 10. For a fall garden, plant from seed July 1st and transplants July 25th.
Resources:
University of Wisconsin Extension.
Lanza, Patricia. Lasagne Gardening.
Richter, Robert “Skip”. Month by Month Gardening.