Tomato Success

Everyone loves a tasty, homegrown tomato. As the song writer Guy Clark has written, “There are just two things that money can’t buy: true love and home grown tomatoes.”

For the best success with this plant in our area, use the following guidelines.

1. Enrich the soil with compost in the fall or early spring. Plant your tomatoes where they get at least six hours of dead-on sun including the noon hour when the sun is strongest.

2. Apply an organic fertilizer such as TomatoTone in April before planting and again in June. If you think your plants still need a boost, use a liquid organic fertilizer in July.

3. Water deeply every four days in hot weather, once a week if the night-time temperatures fall into the sixties. Hand-watering usually isn’t deep enough – use a sprinkler or soaker hose and water in the morning so that the foliage dries quickly.

4. Mulch around the plants to keep a more constant moisture level.

5. Begin spraying once a week to control early blight. Come into the store for organic fungicides!

Now that said, we loved the photo below from our Plant Department manager’s house. She had a Sweet Millions tomato in a pot on the driveway last year and this summer several volunteer plants sprouted in that location. In the rocks, with no fertilizer or extra watering, these cherry tomatoes have been producing all summer!