Home ยป Casual Connoisseur
Casual Connoisseur
You Say Tomato
By Staff Writer
Growing tomatoes is fun and can be a lucrative home gardening business. Besides being extremely nutritious, tomatoes are real fresh fruits that one can easily grow in their personal garden with other plants. To produce tomatoes in the best possible way without using chemicals, it is essential to be completely involved in the growing process. It is possible to minimize the occurrence of pests and attack from diseases if one plants tomatoes with other vegetables. The prevention could limit attacks to none at all. The other plants will protect the tomatoes when paired together. This is called "companion cropping" or multiple cropping and is very effective in quality maintenance of one's garden.
Tomato cultivation is simple, fun, and inexpensive for almost any green thumb. The steps to grow tomatoes are few and lightly laborious. For starters, go out and purchase a seed box or germinating tray for sowing seeds from a local nursery or large-scale home improvement center like Lowe's or Home Depot. If seeking thorough guidance, many nurseries and local home improvement center generally have botany experts on hand to aid in any customer query. Valley Scene magazine hopes that this thoroughly detailed how-to guide will make the growing process for tomatoes as stress free as possible. However, if further information is required, besides local experts at nurseries, there are numerous expert websites that go in to even more detail than this article. After purchasing some tomato seeds, just sow the seeds 12 mm or .5 inch deep in the seed trays or germinating tray and be thorough to separate the seeds enough apart from each other so they will not grow into each other. Very lightly cover the seeds completely with thin soil, but evenly so that there is not more or less soil on certain seeds over others. This also helps with an even growth between the fruit. After that, cover the seed trays or germinating trays with newspaper or polyethylene plastic like saran wrap. Something transparent is a good way to maintain a visual on the development of the plants.
Germination will take about 7-10 days from sowing. After the seeds have germinated, remove the cover. Gradually expose the growing seedlings to the morning sunlight to harden them. Overexposure to the sun will destroy any hope of growth very quickly. Therefore, it is vital to maintain a good schedule for exposure. Morning and early evening sunlight is good because there are less ultraviolet rays within the light at this time. Correct exposure can guarantee larger fruits with a beautiful luster. Prepare a separate seed trays or germinating trays the same manner as when sowing seedlings. Fill with the growing medium and level at least 12 mm or .5 inch below the rim. Use a dibber to form holes about 36 mm or .5 inch apart, the outer ones 12 mm or .5 inch from the sides.
As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick or transfer them to the individual holes in the prepared seedling or germinating trays. This is to provide the seedlings a wider space to avoid over-crowding while in the seedling or germinating trays. Now set the individual seedlings into growing bags or pots. After that, support the plants with sticks tied with wires or strings to hold in place. It is very important to feed the growing plants every ten days from planting up to the time when the first truss (bunch fruit) in formed. Remove all shoots growing in the angles of the leaves-snap them sideways. Also, gradually remove the lower leaves to induce ripening of the fruits.
Harvest the fresh tomatoes when they are ripe. Give or sell any surplus harvest to neighbors, friends, and family. If you follow these directions correctly, everyone should be grateful. It is very easy to grow chemically free tomatoes for personal needs right in the garden. Now, try planting your own homemade tomatoes.