All About Tomatoes!
Gardeners LOVE growing tomatoes. So much so that the subject of tomatoes made the Top 5 audience favorite segments among all of the 2021
Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcasts. The latest episode, #160, The Greatest Hits of 2021: All About Tomatoes, runs over an hour. And the top listened-to segments are directly or indirectly related to growing tomatoes: Starting Tomato Seeds (episode 79), Reusing Potting Soil (also Episode 79), Transplanting Tomatoes (Episode 93), Tomatillo Pollination (Episode 124), Tomato Pruning (Episode 106) and Tomato Troubleshooting (Episode 110).
There is so much to talk about when it comes to growing tomatoes, that even an hour+ special podcast isn’t enough. So, for the Garden Basics Newsletter readers…enjoy the conversation posted at the beginning of this newsletter with Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA. We talk about our tomato winners and losers of 2021 in our own yards; the best tomatoes to grow for the novice gardener (or any gardener who want a successful tomato-growing experience); and, our picks for our favorites to grow this year.
By the way, if you know a gardener who is venturing into growing tomatoes for the first time or just wants more tomato information, please share this newsletter with them.
Thank you!
We spent a bit of this special newsletter podcast talking about the All-American Selections Winners, and how that can be a good barometer for choosing the tomato varieties that you might want to plant this spring and summer. The AAS has tomato trial gardens throughout the country; many of their choices are national winners. You can also drill down into the complete AAS Winners list to find the best performing vegetables and flowers for your region of the country.
Growing Tomatoes in Containers
This year’s Great Tomato Growing Experiment: is this small area (4’x16’), adjacent to a north-facing fence, truly the sunniest spot on the property?
After monitoring my entire full sun-deprived Folsom yard for nearly three years, this one spot, near the garage, may be the one area that gets more than eight hours of direct sun a day, perfect for growing tomatoes.
The dilemma (well, two dilemmas, actually): because it is a concrete surface, the tomatoes must be grown in containers; and, how do you avoid water stains on the concrete when the barrels drain?
Solution: use a big container (in this case, half barrels with five 7/8” drain holes drilled through the bottom) and place that container on top of a catch basin with several 3/4” holes drilled on the side rim on the back side, allowing the water to drain from the catch basin to the 12” wide gravel area along the fence line.
The prototype catch basin was at the suggestion of Master Gardener Lori Ann Asmus, owner of Emerald City Interior Landscape Services, who decorates Christmas trees professionally (you can see her work during the holiday season at various lobbies in public buildings, including the downtown Sacramento’s Citizen Hotel).
The catch basins were, in reality, meant for placing beneath Christmas trees to catch any water overflowing the tree holders. They are available wherever fine Christmas tree accessories are sold. And Amazon, of course.
The barrel/catch basin combo have shims under the front side, allowing a gentle slope towards the fence, coaxing the water to go out the back side of the holes in the catch basin and into the gravel. So far, so good.
Regarding the container dilemma: when planting thirsty summer vegetables in full sun, try to use the largest containers, preferably made out of something that doesn’t allow heat build-up. Plastic pots are notorious for overheating the soil. It’s not unusual for the soil in an unprotected plastic pot in full sun to reach temperatures in excess of 140 degrees on a day in the upper 90’s. A wood barrel works perfect for that purpose. Plus, the greater volume of soil in a barrel (as opposed to a 15-gallon plastic pot) also helps the plant avoid stress from dried-out soil if you miss a watering during 90 and 100-degree days. And, more soil means more room for root development. And don’t forget Smart Pots, lightweight fabric containers that breathe, so they stay cooler and inhibit root girdling, as well.
Because a container plant may need water every day in the summer, I’ve given these two tomato plants (a Champion full-size tomato and a very popular grape tomato, Juliet) their own watering system: a battery operated timer on a nearby faucet with a Y-adapter. Connected to the timer is a short, half-inch drip line run, going along the backside of the barrels.
Connected to the half inch line: quarter inch tubing snaked through a small hole on the lower backside of the barrel, and topped off with an adjustable drip bubbler/sprinkler in the middle, which sends out 6 or 8 even streams of water in a circle. Unfamiliar with drip irrigation systems? Entire kits are available, such as this.
Pro tip: run the quarter inch line in the barrel BEFORE filling it with a good quality potting soil. (By the way, “Pro Tip” = “lesson learned the hard way”).
The tomato cages are made from 4’x5’ sheets of concrete reinforcement wire, 6” mesh (for easy reaching of the tomatoes). Bend the sheets in a circle and fasten with plastic zip ties. Or, use your barbed wire tool (What? Everyone doesn’t have a barbed wire tool? It’s also known as fencing pliers.) to cut off the vertical 12-gauge wire ends on one side, and then bend the free horizontal wires around the opposite side. Or, an even easier way to connect the opposite sides of the wire sheet: use sturdy zip ties.
Watering containerized plants is tricky, and must be increased or decreased more frequently, depending on the weather. Having a nearby faucet/timer/drip system in place helps ease those adjustments.
Fertilization can also be tricky. Because of the leaching nature and frequent watering that an easy-draining potting mix needs during the summer, fertilizers must be applied more frequently. Note that “frequently” does not mean “more fertilizer”. If, for example, the directions on your slow-release vegetable fertilizer package advises fertilizing with a certain dosage once a month, modify it to meet the needs of your container plant: cut the dosage in half, and apply every other week.
Don’t forget that topping that containerized plant with a few inches of a bark mulch can help maintain soil moisture on a hot day and also keep the soil temperature moderate.
Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter and podcast, I appreciate your support.
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And thank you for listening to the free, Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.
Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener based in Sacramento County, California.
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