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How To Grow The Best Tomato Plants

Many people throughout the world love to grow vegetable gardens. In some places these gardens feed the family throughout the year, but in other places they are grown more for pleasure than for food. Sure, the people that grow in these areas will enjoy the produce as well, but for the most part it is something that is done for pleasure. One thing that all people with vegetable gardens are interested in, however, is growing great vegetables.

If you want to grow some of the best vegetable plants that you can grow you are going to need to plan carefully and give them plenty of care throughout the growing season. Some of the most typical variety of garden vegetables will have various results, simply according to the amount of time that is spent on them throughout the year. For example, most people with vegetable gardens grow tomatoes. They are a hardy plant that will grow without much attention from the gardener. In fact, most people simply grow them in a cage and pick their fruit when they become ripe. You could do the same thing, but why not grow a better tomato plant?

Tomato plants will put off shoots that come up in between the stalk and branches. They are typically called suckers because they do not give your tomato plant anything, they simply take away from it’s strength. If you pinch these suckers off when they first appear you will give your tomato plants a chance to grow strong and produce well throughout the season. If you are consistent with this process you can expect to have some strong plants that produce extra large fruit and most people love having large tomatoes.

Mulch The Secret To Growing The Best Tomatoes

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I often advocate the use of mulches for your tomato garden. A good mulch used correctly can be of great benefit. However there are both good and bad mulches and right and wrong ways to apply them. Knowing the differences are vital and getting mulching right will have a dramatic effect on your tomato garden.

The Benefits of Mulching

Best Tomato Growing Tips You Need!

Growing Tomato Tips tomato seeds

How to sow tomato seeds is challenging but also very rewarding. Hopefully the following tomato growing tips will help you to get started the right way. You may obtain your seeds from reputable stores. You may also opt to use heirloom tomato seeds, they are considered as a variety that has been passed down through generations because of its valued characteristics. Whatever variety you choose homegrown tomatoes usually produces succulent fruit crops.

Basically planting tomatoes seeds is done indoors for about 6 to 8 weeks prior to spring frost in your area. Transplanting tomato seedlings outdoors takes another 2 weeks after that.

Here are some tips on growing tomato seeds:

Is The Tomato A Vegetable?

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The controversy as to whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable has been around for some time now. But did you ever hear the story as to why there was so much conflict as to how to classify it? Well, in order to get the real story you have to back back a few years. Actually you have to go back over a hundred years for the answers to this story.

Back in 1893 the United States Supreme Court made a ruling that tomatoes were to be classified as vegetables and that is the way that it’s been for over 100 years. But you might ask yourself, why was the very highest court in the United States asked to make a ruling on this controversial issue? The answer comes from an issue surrounding what else but taxes. In the 1890’s there were three fruit importers named George, John and Frank Nix who were in the business of importing and they just so happened to have a shipment of tomatoes arriving from the West Indies. It was this shipment of tomatoes that would create a huge controversy that to this day is still something that people argue about. During this time period in the 1890’s there were no taxes placed upon the imports of fruits but all vegetables had taxes levied against them. These fruit importers, in an effort to avoid the taxes on the tomatoes, wanted them classified as fruits so that’s how we got to the point of engaging the highest court in the land.

In the court’s decision it did in fact acknowledge that tomatoes were technically a fruit but in what the court called the “common language of the people” they should be classified as vegetables. In addition to tomatoes the court also ruled that peas, squash, cucumbers and beans should also be classified as vegetables because they are grown in the common kitchen garden and because, for the most part, they were normally served as part of a meal rather than as a dessert. It’s at this point where history wrote the book on tomatoes being classified as a vegetable.

Tomato Seeds – Storage and Care

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Selecting an ideal tomato for its seeds is a pivotal step in storing the most enduring tomato seeds. If you are negligent in selecting a high quality fruit for its seeds, the resulting tomato plant will also suffer in quality.

Below are a few key components to look for when selecting the right tomato for its seeds:

� Be certain that you extract seeds from an open-pollinated, rather than a hybrid, tomato.

� Make sure the tomatoes you select are fully ripe. Seeds from an overly ripe tomato could already be on their way to germinating or even accumulating mold growth

Keep Your Tomato Plants Disease Free

Diseases And Pests tomato plants

Tomato plants’ diseases are a problem for all gardeners, even those old pros who have been growing tomatoes for years. Fungi and bacteria can cause disease in easy grown tomato plants. The good news about these problems is that you can prevent and easily cure them. It is easiest to minimize plant distress by early detection. Good gardeners must always keep a close watch on their garden to monitor that their plants are healthy and thriving. As soon as any problem is spotted, the issue needs to be dealt with as soon as possible to keep the disease contained and to lessen plant suffering.

It is always a good idea to stay a step ahead of tomato disease while planting your garden. Choosing the type of tomato to plant is the first step in disease prevention. Hybrids are a good option because many are specially bred to be resistant to certain diseases. It is a good idea to be aware of common diseases in your area and then choose a plant that is resistant to that sickness. The bad news is that many heirlooms are vulnerable to disease, therefore a variety of tomato types should be planted, just in case disease strikes. Always remember that varying the types of plants in your garden will help keep diseases at bay, and you will be able to enjoy an assortment of flavors all summer long!

Keeping your plants healthy is not just about planting healthy plants, but also providing them with a nourishing physical environment. Moist climates are more predisposed to fungal disease, so it is very important to be methodical in the way you water your tomato garden. It is important to make sure you don’t saturate the leaves of the plants when watering, just moisten the soil. Watering in the earlier hours of the day will help the absorption into the soil, and the warm daytime sun will evaporate any moisture that may have gotten on the leaves of the plants.

Plant Disease – “Garden Creep”

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One thing you either might have to watch out for or embrace is something I call Garden Creep. This is the ability of certain gardens, let alone the plants in them, of slowly growing and spreading or even multiplying over time. Any dedicated gardener can explain to you the visible symtomology of the disease. New garden growths appear almost randomly at times as new outbreaks of gardens pop up in sometimes rather unexpected corners and sections of the area.

This problem is also seen in certain plants as well. When they have managed to obtain a foot hold in an area, where the available space for them, is inadequate for their realistic size. You will find these plants spilling outwards or upwards into space they were never intended to occupy. This causes constant problems for entryways & walkways, as well as air space occupiers like power lines. These plants then have to constantly attacked and kept back within their territory, often at great cost in time and money to their garden owner. Lawn areas and sometimes even pathways in it’s way are encompassed and/or swallowed up. It even can escape from your area onto and around footpaths and along road verges. It appears I reckon to be a possibly viral disease that affects both the gardens and their gardeners alike. It means that these garden areas extend over a period into every little space they can infect and take over, sometimes far outside the originally intended boundaries of the initial garden/s.

How to Sow Tomato Seeds

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The following sowing and transplanting methods are available to the amateur gardener who wants to grow tomatoes outside without the use of a greenhouse.

Tomato seeds can be sowed directly into a seed bed. However, this is by far the riskiest method in temperate climates. It is only suitable for those areas which have a last frost date in MARCH. In all other areas, the soil is unlikely to be warm enough at a time which will allow the tomato plant to develop and fruit. The soil temperature must be at least 15C (60F) at the time of sowing and during germination. It is possible to utilize a cloche or cold frame. This will warm the soil prior to planting and protect the plants in their early stages.

Using a trowel, dig a shallow drill 2.5cm deep (1in) deep in the prepared bed. Place two seeds every nine inches in the drill and cover the seeds to a depth of 2.5cm (1in). Water well if the conditions are at all dry.

The seedlings should emerge in about 10 days. When they are 5cm (2in) tall, thin to one plant every 45 to 60cm (18 to24in).

Keep Your Garden Organic – 5 Home Remedies and 5 Helpful Tips to Beat Common Plant Diseases

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There are many diseases that can attack your garden and wear down the health of your plants. After you’ve tilled the soil, started your seedlings and faithfully watered and nurtured your vegetables, the last thing you want is for powdery mildew or fungus to get between you and that first crunchy cucumber. And buying pesticides and treatments at the store will add harmful chemicals to your future food, your soil, and the water runoff that returns to our creeks, rivers and oceans. Please don’t do that!

Here are 4 simple home remedies that can help you get rid of many common problems in your garden, safely and naturally. And you probably have at least three of them in your home already.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar

The Best Way To Plant Hanging Upside Down Tomatoes

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Have you ever thought about planting tomatoes hanging upside down? Well, do not be surprised, because this is becoming one of the most popular ways of growing tomatoes. The best part about this method is you do not have to worry about weeding and dealing with pests and diseases that are so common when you grow them in the ground. Do you want to know how to plant upside down tomatoes? Well, here is how you can easily do it.

If you are already a tomato grower, you already know most varieties of tomatoes require a large container. Get an empty 5 gallon bucket with a lid. You can save some bucks if you can find it lying around the house or just head over to the nearest hardware store and get one. Once you find your container, you need to clean the bucket thoroughly to remove any debris or harmful chemicals that may exist inside.

Now you need to drill a hole in the middle of the bucket’s bottom. Make sure that it is about 2-3 inches big. You will also need to drill smaller holes in the lid so you can water it easily when the plant is placed inside.