The two most often asked questions in the veggie gardening world are:
How can I grow BIGGER fruits/veggies?
How can I get a BIGGER harvest of my fruits/veggies?
One assumes that, if you do the basics – plenty of water, feed your soil and the right amount of sunlight – you’ll get that bumper crop of whatever it is that’s making your heart sing. Tomato Bob has provided a lot of great information as have a number of other gardeners in the Rogue Valley for growing tomatoes, but most of this information can be applied to anything you’re growing. Some factors that you can’t easily modify are weather and insects. Last year, I wrote about some home remedies for various nasties in the garden. Email thegardengrrl@gmail.com for a reprint of that article. They say that soil is one of those things you can’t easily remedy, but I don’t believe that for a minute. Feed the soil and the soil will – to a large degree – feed your plants.
Let’s talk first about soil. The best soil conditions result in a well-drained garden that holds moisture well; within its structure, not pooled on the surface. A loose structure allows for superior root development, which is vital to healthy plants and thus greater yields. Dense clay or sandy soils can be improved greatly and immediately by adding peat moss or compost. You can use uncomposted leaves or grass clippings, but it’s recommended that you till those in four to six months before you plant as this kind of soil amendment lowers the available nitrogen. You’ll get slow growing plants with yellow leaves if there’s not enough nitrogen. If you mulch with either leaves or grass clippings, it won’t affect the nitrogen levels, will provide a really great long-term source of nutrients, keep down weeds and conserve water. You can add compost any time.
Perhaps the greatest mistake people make with tomatoes is over fertilizing. A number of the commercial liquid or mix with water fertilizers are high in nitrogen and produce huge glorious plants. But they do this at the expense of the harvest. A good average nutrient formula, found in several available commercial organic fertilizers is N-P-K (5-5-5). Nitrogen promotes growth of the plant, phosphorous promotes blossom development and potassium promotes root growth and disease resistance.
Prior to planting, you will want to till in an application of a dry organic fertilizer with an NPK rating similar to what I’ve described above. At the time of transplanting, liquid fish emulsion is a really great choice, as it will give your seedlings a nitrogen boost, as it’s a 5-1-1 fertilizer. Every three weeks throughout your growing season, use that same dry organic fertilizer as instructed on the package. When your ‘maters (or whatever) start to bloom, apply some bone meal (4-12-0) to help increase the number of blossoms and to help the dreaded Blossom End Rot.
Be aware of the pH of your soil. This is really important, folks. The optimal levels you need to provide for the best rate of nutrient absorption is between 6.5 and 7.5. Main Building has some inexpensive pH test kits available. If they’re out, have them order one for you.
Let’s talk a minute about WHAT you’re going to be growing…
If you’re after size, some of the best varieties for HUGE beefsteaks are: of course, Beefmaster, Brandywine, Amana Orange, Giant Belgium, Mexico and Old German. My kids LOVE tomato sandwiches – bread, mayo and tomato – and the beefsteak varieties totally fit the bill for those one-slice sandwiches.
If it’s sheer numbers you’re after, any variety of Roma or paste tomato is going to produce in copious amounts. Others include Rutgers, Old Brooks, De Pinto, Campbell’s 1327 and Avalanche.
Of course, everyone has his or her favorites and I’m no exception. Every year, I tell myself, “Only five plants, only five plants…” Last year, I had twenty-three. The year before that, nineteen. My neighbors actually started to hide and pretend they weren’t home when I showed up with my bags of tomatoes, zucchini and Armenian cucumbers. (If you haven’t tried those, do. They’re super tasty and seem to appear in your garden overnight, as if by magic!) I love the Heirlooms and I love anything weird or different. My kids love any tomato, but have a marked preference for grazing on anything small. Hits in our garden have been Green Zebra, Green Grape, Moon Glow, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, Oxhearts, Royal Hillbilly, Blosser Pink Beefsteak, Black Cherry, Black Krim, Red Fig, Marmande, Fox Cherry, Pantano Romanesco, Pineapple, Red Zebra, Black Pineapple, Yellow Pear and Lemon Oxhearts.
Now, about seeds…
Start with fresh seeds that will give you the healthiest seedlings. Old seeds may not germinate well and inferior plants will be the result. They are more likely to become diseased and produce poorly. I’ve had good luck with the variety of seedlings available from a number of sources. Without shoehorning in a shameless plug for my favorite places, email me if you’d like to know. thegardengrrl@gmail.com.
Temperature is a huge factor as well. Seeds need it to be at least between 65 and 80 degrees to germinate. You can direct sow in your yard at 50 degrees. Tomatoes will blossom from 55 to 95 degrees. However, several days above 95 degrees and most tomato varieties will drop their blooms until things cool down a bit. The warmer the ground, the more quickly your plants will become established.
Tomatoes are both HUNGRY and THIRSTY. If you’re growing Heirlooms, you have to be really consistent with your watering to be successful with them. Their skins are thinner, so if you skip a day and then make up for it with extra water next time, you can almost count on your ‘maters splitting. Try and keep even moisture in your ‘mater bed. Compost, plastic and any kind of natural mulch will help retain moisture. In my opinion, a soaker hose or drippers on a timer are an excellent choice for a couple of reasons. #1 – you don’t have to think about them; they do all the work for you. #2 – they provide bottom watering preferred over top spraying as it helps prevent soil borne disease.
Tomatoes need at least six hours of full sun a day. Seems like a lot. I’ve tried growing near a grove of trees and between a small orchard and – people – it just doesn’t work. They want the sun. If you’re looking at getting the most out of your tomato plants, get the out into the sun!
The preferred spacing for tomatoes is two to three feet apart. They need air circulation to keep the leaves dry, otherwise you’re just asking for disease to come make a home in your garden. If you’ve chose an indeterminate variety of Heirloom that’s going to try to grow to be eight feet tall, I’d recommend training against a fence. Sure, you can cage them and stake them, but if you’ve got a fence with nothing on it and have no plans to run your beans there or grow morning glories on it, why not use it for tomatoes? Now, when you plant your seedlings, dig your holes deep and plant them all the way up to four or six leaves. This will help them develop a robust root system as roots will develop all along the buried stem.
Heirloom tomatoes are more susceptible to disease than their hybrid relatives. These include Fusarium and Verticilium Wilt, Septoria Leaf Spot, Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Root Knot Nematodes. “That’s all?”, you say. Not really, but those are the major ones. Keep your plants well- but not over-fertilized and utilize bottom watering and you will minimize the risks greatly. Rotate tomatoes and potatoes (or grow your spuds in a bag) every year if possible. Clean up your crop residue in the fall and get rid of it instead of composting it or tilling it under.
Pests, ah pests. First of all, get some marigolds and put those around your tomatoes. Maybe some garlic and onions, as well. That’s a start. The biggest – literally – pest of tomatoes is the Tomato Hornworm. They’re disgusting. You can spot the leaf damage from about a mile away and – horrors! – the best way to get rid of them is to hand pick them off your plants. Ick! But worth the effort. Nasty little beetles can be kept at bay with insecticidal soap, garlic spray or tomato leaf spray (either one made by soaking garlic or tomato leaves in warm water over night and then decanting into a spray bottle).
OK…Now for the good stuff…The secrets…
For MONSTER tomatoes, remove all the tomatoes from a plant except for four or five. Snip off the blossom clusters and keep an eye out for more blossom production. When fruit sets, always leave the largest. This allows more energy to go into those remaining tomatoes.
For SCADS of tomatoes, prune off any branches that don’t appear to have blossoms on them. They’re just taking up space. Your plant will now focus energy on producing tomatoes and not on growing fruitless branches. This IS time consuming, but well worth the effort, if you’re going for numbers.
Remember, plant a row this year to help feed those less fortunate.
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