The Suburban Farmer: Growing great organic tomatoes
After the recent food scare with industrially-grown tomatoes, there is no better time than now to grow your own tomato plants in your backyard. Even for this time of the year, it's still not too late. You can head on over to your favorite local nursery or farmer's market and find plenty of tomato plants all ready to go.Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow, if you follow a few easy steps.
- Choose indeterminate plants. These are the kind that will continue to produce until the first frost. A bit of research on the particular species that are indeterminate will make a world of difference.
- Plant deep! You can bury up to half the plant in the soil when you first plant your garden. This might seem like overkill on such a small plant, but trust me, you'll want that added strength once the plants grow to 4-5 feet tall.
- Use only organic mulch. Make sure the roots are kept cool and are covered with something like newspaper to keep the moisture in. Be creative! I have a Pin Oak tree in my back yard and the tiny fallen leaves make a perfect mulch.
- Fertilize with organic fertilizer made specifically for tomatoes. An all-purpose fertilizer may help the leaves flourish, but not the fruit.
- Water, water, water! Make sure to keep consistent with the watering, or else those alternations of dry and damp will lead to mushy black spots on the underside of the fruit.
- Pick those tomatoes. The best thing you can do for any vegetable plant is give it lots of attention. With tomato plants, that means pick the fruit regularly to promote the growth of new fruit.
With any luck, you'll have some wonderful red tomatoes to share with the family. Heck, even if you pick them before they're ripe, fried green tomatoes are delicious!
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