In the Garden with Deb — Anatomy of a tomato

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http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=439636

By Deb Terrill
The Daily Journal correspondent
[e-mail]

Choose tomato plants that are well rooted and healthy appearing, not wilted, yellowed or showing signs of stress. Don't buy overly large plants that already have fruit formed. They will be set back by transplanting and need to "rest" before growing again. Younger plants will transplant more readily and grow quickly.

If the tomato plant was in a greenhouse, acclimate it to outdoor conditions slowly, over several days. Be prepared to cover plants when nighttime temperatures dip below 45 degrees. We have had frosts as late as Memorial Day.

Tomatoes like deep, rich soil and all-day, full sun. Prepare poor soil by adding compost. Place crushed eggshells in the planting holes to provide calcium. It helps prevent blossom-end rot.

The best way to support the plants, which will grow much larger than you think, is a 2x2 inch, 6-foot-tall hardwood stake, driven deeply into the ground. Drive the stakes in before you plant so you don't injure the plants' roots. Tie the main stem to the stake as the plant grows.

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1. Cut worms.

In certain areas cutworms love to eat the tender tomato plant stems right where they enter the ground. I've seen them cut down a whole row I had planted the day before.

To avoid them, cut empty paper cylinders (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) about two inches wide, make a slit, and wrap around the newly planted stems so part of the cylinder is below ground, part above. (Don't wrap tightly, use original dimensions, just overlap a little where you cut the slit.) Cutworms can't get to stems. Problem solved.

I always put a good layer of mulch around the plants, too, right up to the paper cylinder. Use compost, grass clippings, hay with no chemicals (hard to find). Keeps the moisture in, weeds down, and soil friable from the start.

Another tip - in my area we can pick up bare root heirloom tomato plants at the feed stores loose, by the dozen, and quite cheap. Not planted in a pot, just the loose plants with the bare roots, usually about 8-9 inches long. Before planting, I strip off the lowermost nodes of leaves. Then dig a little trench to lay the lower part of the plant in. Cover the whole root and stem, including the nodes where the leaves were removed. Plant them so only the upper part of the plant sticks up with the upper leaves above ground, water well, tamping the dirt slightly. Then do the little trick with the paper cylinder and mulch. You will not believe how fast those little suckers will grow!

Another trick. In mid to late summer in the south, you can take a long limb of a spent tomato plant, strip off some of the leaves in the middle, and put them in a little trench, sort of like above. Don't even remove the branch from the main plant. Treat it just like a new plant (see above) and soon you will have a new plant, sprouting new roots in the middle that you buried, that should bear till frost.

The eggshells are a neat trick. I have used ashes for the same purpose.

Wat

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2. Many years ago when we bought young tomato

plants from the wise, old extension agent, he told us, 'plant 'em up to their ears'. Every year I put out tomatoes, I always tell them 'I'm planting you up to your ears so you get good roots'.

[BeFree]

3. Mmmm boy

Just had my first red ripe tomato of the season. Organic grown, no pesticides except me and my fingers. Lots of caterpillars.

Just threw the seeds in the raised beds made from well composted garden wastes.

Homegrown tomatoes rule!!