How to Grow Ideal Tomatoes – Top Advice for New Growers
Growing the perfect tomatoes should start with the question of what you want from your tomato. Do you want just to eat the tasty vegetable or are you wanting to make sauces? Some types of tomato will give you better results than others and typically the price of the seeds will determine the quality in a lot of cases. When you attack your first batch try and grow 2 or 3 varieties so you will know what you prefer in your next batch.
Now to start, prepare your garden area, whether it is a plot of land or simply a pot. The soil should be loose and you can add perlite if you find your soil has a tendency to get hard. Manure is a perfect additive for your soil if you have it readily available, but remember not to use fresh for tomatoes. The fresh manure can burn the plants and you will lose all your hard work. Good manure and soil will give you good growing conditions. Try to plant your seeds around 1 foot apart so they have room to spread out.
After planting the tomatoes, mulching should come next. The most common for a lot of people is straw but there are commercially available ones that are very good. Once the tomatoes are planted we need to keep them safe from those garden predators. The best way to prevent that is to place a long nail, right next to the stalk of the plant. That will prevent the worms from being able to cut through your plants. When they are starting to grow you will need to support them which is best done with a wooden stick. Just tie it to the stalk. This will prevent them from falling over with the weight of the heavy tomatoes.
Pest control will be one of your main concerns as you wait for the tomatoes to ripen. Organic pest control is always best and making your own organic spray is simple. Get out the gin and a spray bottle. Add two measures of the spirit with two measures of water and one tablespoon of washing up liquid. Mix the substances well and spray your plants. The alcohol will stop the creepy crawlies coming near and the washing up liquid makes the mixture stick to the plant better. Now you can rid yourself of the unwanted pests and not harm your tomatoes or your pets with chemicals.
Water your plants on a daily basis if the temperature drys your soil out, or every other day when the soil stays moist. Remember not to water your plants during the height of the day as the hot sun will evaporate the water and can harm the plants. You need to water early morning or late afternoon ideally.
Birds are another problem so you will probably want to consider netting or a polytunnel if you are in an area plagued by them.
Now as you wait for that delicious tomato to ripen, watch for worms and other pests and treat with either your homemade concoction or an industrial chemical. The only thing left to worry about is the sun damage that occurs at times, but sit back and wait for those delicious tomatoes to grace your dinner table.
If you are interested in grow your own equipment like kilner jars then a good online store like Nutleys Kitchen Gardens have everything you will need to be sucessful.
