8 Feb 2015

what I learnt this summer about growing tomatoes

Last year I grew four tomato plants, and it was a bewildering, alien affair. Growing tomatoes is not like growing peas or beans or carrots or beetroot — which are essentially, 1) poke seed in ground, 2) water and feed, 3) harvest.

This year dad gave me ten tomato plants for my expanded vegie garden. He grows his plants from seed; a beautiful, rich heirloom variety of colours and shapes and tastes and names. So I have black krims (my absolute favourite for their colour, texture and taste), green zebras, pereforma abruzzese (new for us, and it’s a big sturdy giant of a plant), mamma mia, big beryl, kellogg’s breakfast, green grapes.
So with more plants in the ground, I needed to lift my game. I needed to learn and understand how to grow tomatoes. Well, learn, at least — some of this I just do, even if I don’t comprehend the reasons behind the actions. In a previous garden share, it was suggested that I get dad to give us a tutorial. So here it is of sorts: Dad showed me on his tomatoes what he does; I came home and practised on mine; and this is what I came up with. Now tending my tomatoes is not stressful or strange, but purposeful and even meditative. It’s almost like editing: whittling away at the weak and superfluous, making space for the strong and wonderful to shine.

Snip out laterals. The easiest thing. Imagine your tomato plant is a series of Ys. Stems, branches — Ys. A lateral is a soft little shoot that pops up between the arms of those Ys. Pick it out with your thumb and forefinger if it is fledgling, or a pair of scissors if longer (I find a pair of small but slim scissors is good for tomato work, better than secateurs). They are superfluous, so out!
 
I've already removed one lateral here, and it's popping out more! Determined little thing.

Shape your tomato tree. Continuing the motif, dad grows his tomatoes like one big Y: a main trunk which branches out to two main stems, off which your leaves and fruit will grow. Think of it almost as a standard, so trim away lower soft off-shoots and bottom branches. I’ve seen dad take it to extremes — the bushes almost look skeletal. I’m not that ruthless. So I have a lot more side branches than dad, even though I have established an approximate Y shape.

This trimming helps focus the plant on its fruit, and also helps with ventilation, which helps with pollination. Tomatoes apparently do not pollinate by bees; the flowers pollinate themselves, dropping their pollen in the breeze. So if you have an airy plant, the flower stems can do a little shake in the breeze and sprinkle their pollen about.

I also figure if air can circulate around the plant, there’ll be less chance of disease, and more light to ripen the fruit.

Trim the fruit branches. This was a bit trickier to photograph for you. If you have leaf growth come out after the flowers (on the same stem), then trim it off. Here you can just see a stem, its flowers, and then some more leaves hanging off below. Cut those leaves off, otherwise the plant will put its goodness into growing the leaves, not your fruit.
Some of my plants also grew large leaves (reminding me of monsterios) so I trimmed them off, on the same basis.
Hmmm, must darn gardening top...
 
Tie up your plant. Ha, now we’re getting to the kinky stuff. As you trim, tie up your plant to the stakes (woop, backtrack here: Dad whacks four stakes around each tomato plant; at first these are used to hold the plastic bag-like guarding we use around each young plant to protect it from wind, but once the plant is strong and the guarding removed, the stakes are used for tying the plant up).

Tying up the plant will help it grow strong and upright, and protect branches from breaking off, either in strong winds or under the sheer weight of your bounteous tomato crop. Tomatoes can be heavy; some of my abruzzeses are massive!

I believe in lots of twine, and tying branches back to the stakes even if they look really sturdy; just in case; better safe than sorry. And heck, it’s only twine; less than $10 a spool from the hardware shop.

Dad gives his a couple of twists in the middle between plant and stake; I’ve adopted the looping method, which reminds me of looping woollen scarves round my neck in the winter time (or last week).
Repeat often. All these steps — laterals, leafy bits, trimming, tying up — need to be done through out your plant’s growth. It helps keeps the plant supported and putting all its energy into big luscious fruit — which is what it’s all about.

However, I will admit two things:
  • I didn’t start doing this until very late December, until Dad’s lessons. So there was a lot of leaf growth to wade thru at first, a lot of ‘re-structuring’ to do, and some branches were growing almost horizontal! But no harm was done; the stems were still soft and flexible enough for me to secure against stakes and pull back to an upright position. It was just a lot more work than doing a little bit regularly as the plants grew
  • unfortunately, this went out the window once I netted my tomato bed a week or two ago, against the blackbirds. The net turned out to be too small and therefore stretched so tight that it’s a pain to lift and re-peg. So while I wait for the hardware store to get a supply of larger nets, I’ve not done any trimming. Which bugs me now I know how important it is! And I miss the work: it’s a good way of regularly checking your plants and fruit.

Wash your hands. Dad said the sap from the plants can sting your eyes, so take care while working and wash your hands thoroughly once you’ve finished. Actually, scrub your hands: I have thought my hands clean and when I dried them on a towel, the towel became very dirty. So obviously tomato sap is very strong stuff!
I haven’t covered watering, or feeding, and only briefly touched on netting your fruit. Let me just say, netting is essential if you have birds in the neighbourhood. There is nothing more upsetting than coming home and finding an almost-ripe tomato you had your eye on pecked to pieces (you could probably hear me cursing from there).
Ugly but essential.
Grrr!
But watering and feeding are straightforward. I wanted to record here all the nitty gritty things dad showed me this summer. I have lots of big fruit on, so obviously this is working — we just need some consistent sunshine now to ripen it all! Then hopefully I shall be drowning in tomatoes; I think we would all agree a glut of tomatoes is no bad thing.
If you have any other tomato-growing tips, I would love to hear them!

Why we do it.

23 comments:

  1. Tomato grown is partly science isn't it? You have shared so much good advice here! I tend to start out following a similar program and somehow by the end of summer my tomatoes resemble a tangled jungle.

    Every year I vow to keep things more structured! Your plants look healthy and beautiful!

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    1. Thank you jane. Today i got in and had a really good tidy up, as they'd gone a bit crazy -they are even better now, and it's a joy to see how much fruit i have on.
      Youhave the right word there, too - tomatoes really are a science, i'm learning.

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  2. Wonderful post. I trim the laterals too, but on a day with a breeze. I over planted the tom bed with other plants and my toms didn't do well. Love the idea of the Y. My staking leaves loads to be desired. Black krims are divine, you would probably like Cherokees too :)

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    1. i shall ask dad about cherokees, frogpond, and look for them in the old diggers catalog i have here. may be the start of a new love... and i am discovering tomatoes like space - even from each other!

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    2. i just google-imaged cherokees, frogpond, and i'm definitely in love!!

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  3. I really enjoyed this post, and I love the names of some of the tomatoes you're growing - Kellogg's Breakfast and Big Beryl, fantastic! I pinch the tops of mine out towards the end of the season and I take virtually all of the leaves off right at the end to allow the sun in as much as possible to ripen them. Probably more necessary here in England! A lovely post, you have made me long for homegrown tomatoes. CJ xx

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    1. probably sheer torture for you to read about summer tomatoes for you now, CJ?! sorry!
      and the less-leaves, more light definitely holds true here in tassie, too. it also helps me see all my wonderful ripening fruit!

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  4. A fabulous post, Elizabeth and I have learned things from you, thank you... this year I planted tomatoes in pots and they were going great guns... staked, pinched out, fertilised, but then we had a cold snap and now they are in limbo. Swooning over your lovely crop.

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    1. i shall pass on your thanks t dad, lizzy - they are really his words of wisdom!
      i hope your tomatoes make it thru and recover from their cold snap - sending juicy red tomatoey good wishes :-).

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  5. That is fascinating and very informative reading. I'm guessing this detailed methodology has evolved from many years of tomato growing in tassie? I was thinking of copying the plastic covers you planted into early in the season and I like the four stake method. The black krims look gorgeous. Mine will be ripe in a week or so I'm thinking, and I cannot wait!

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    1. all dad's wisdom, bek - can;t take any credit for it except to share it!
      the plastic guarding is essential wind protection while the plants are too young and small to tie up, and i guess it acts like a little hothouse, trapping heat, which can be in short supply up until christmas, too. it works so i am not arguing with it at all!

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  6. Thank you for this fantastic blog post. I am planning to grow tomatoes in my allotment during our Queensland winter (my best growing season with less pests about). It must have taken you a long time to work on this post, and go into so much detail, but it is much appreciated. I'm looking forward to trying more of the heritage varieties.

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    1. thank you for your lovely words, jean - but again, all credit to tomato guru dad.
      i have to say, those are words you would never hear uttered in tassie: 'i'm growing tomatoes during the winter...' :-) let me know how you go! make me envious!

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  7. Oh golly you do have a wonderful variety. we have bacterial wilt in the soil and so cannot grow full sized tomatoes in the ground. I have tried them in pots but have not always been succesful. Luckily the cherry tomatoes are not affected by it so that is what I mostly grow.

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    1. oh, AA, i'm sorry you cannot grow a lot of tomatoes ... but i'm thinking of all the wonderful tropical goodies you grow - so maybe we are even!
      we are growing a green cherry tomato this year called green grape - so pretty (there is something unusual about a green tomato), and very juicy, and the right size to pop straight in one's mouth.

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  8. You have a great teacher in your father. You should also be equally proud of your newly acquired skill, impressive to say the least. I can’t get over the height and health of your tomatoes. It’s like looking at a tomato forest! An excellent post e and thank you so much for sharing as I and your fellow bloggers will learn so much from this. P.s. if you feel like sharing a little more and you have a tomato/zucchini to spare, I would be very grateful. Hey, I’ll even pay 
    D

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    1. At the moment I am enjoying my tomatoes too much to give away!
      Some of the tomato plants grow very tall - I am impressed most by the abruzzese. I had to training some of their branches horizontally, they were so 'long' (or tall?). I haven't tried eating these yet, but based on the sturdy good health of the plants, i shall be growing them again.

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  9. Really informative post-Thank you! I always grow heirlooms and have quite a few growing at the moment. I often don't even plant them, they just pop up in the garden from the previous season. Always a pleasant surprise!

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    1. hello Jem, and welcome to Dig In. a self-seeded tomato plant would be lovely - I tend to get potatoes and pumpkins, all of which end up taking over my small garden beds and I regret their intrusion!

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  10. I am in Cygnet and am pleased to have found your blog. I have never heard of taking off the extra leaves beyond the tomatoes so I will try that! I look forward to keeping in touch with your blog. Mine is called Vegetable Vagabond. Best wishes, Kate.

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    1. hello kate-in-cygnet and welcome to dig in! I shall pop over to yours - it's nice to meet a fellow local :-)
      tomatoes have such mysteries, don't they? I'm glad we are all learning new things!

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  11. Thanks for this easy to read, informative post. I have learnt a lot and have a few ideas now why my plants are looking a tad straggly and frugal with their tomato production. I planted late, did not pinch out the extra stems but will rectify next year !

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    1. hi ing, and welcome to dig in.
      i'm glad dad's advice was helpful - or will be, next year. I learnt a lot this season, and while I made some mistakes, I know i'll be an even better tomato grower next year too. there's hope for all of us!

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