Top Three Tomato Growing Tips by:Lec Watkins

Anyone considering growing any food should try growing tomatoes

. Not only are they healthy they are really versatile, and so long as you take a few precautions, very easy to grow too.

Growing great tomatoes is really simple. People can be put off tomato growing by the shear number of tomato diseases mentioned in any vegetable gardening book. It is true, there are a huge number of diseases which can affect tomatoes but that is just because there are so many tomato types and so many tomatoes being grown everywhere. A few diseases are serious, but in the main tomato problems are just issues which reduce your tomato crops greatness somewhat. The tomato is such a vigorous and highly productive plant that even a less than perfect crop is likely to be tasty and abundant.

When growing tomatoes there are three important facts which should never be ignored.

Firstly tomatoes will not put up with frost. You can only grow them between the first and last frosts unless you provide protection such as greenhouse, cold-frame or cloche. So there is no point in planting tomatoes early when frost still threatens. They will die. Much better to wait till the risk of frost is over and then watch how quickly they romp away in the warm soil. It is tempting to leave plants in the ground for as long as possible as the summer draws to a close. But make sure you harvest any fruit before the frost starts again. Any fruit left on the vine will turn black and inedible after a night of frost. Bring all the fruit in, even green unripe specimens. These can be turned into hot fiery salsas or mellow chutneys. Or, you can even leave them somewhere cool and dark such as a paper lined draw, to ripen themselves.

Secondly tomatoes really must be rotated. All those diseases which can so easily attack your tomato plants build up in the soil very easily. Always leave at least two years between plantings of any of the 'Solanaceae' family of plants. This includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, aubergines and tobacco. So long as you maintain strict crop rotation disease will be unable to take over your soil and your crops will be much safer. Many people practice very relaxed crop rotation, occasionally having two years or even more, of the same crop in the same bed. Although some other types of crop are more forgiving, the tomato family is not. Forget to rotate your crops and you will encounter problems.

Thirdly tomatoes and cigarettes should never be mixed. All the Solanaceae family including tobacco pass on diseases very readily. The tobacco processed for smoking often still contains virus disease. This virus disease is easily passed to your tomato plants from your hands. All smokers should wash their hands thoroughly before handling tomato plants and should never smoke near the vines.

Of course whole books have been written about exactly how to manage tomato plants and indeed every year that you grow them, you will learn more. However, these three 'must follow' rules are the critical factor in ensuring you get a good tomato harvest. Additional things you learn may improve that harvest, but even partially neglected plants grown in warm disease free soil free from tobacco infused gardeners fingers, will produce more tomatoes than you can eat.

About the author

Copyright Catalan Garden 2009. For more tomato growing tips and information on growing organic vegetables visit the Catalan Vegetable Garden site.

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