Kevin from New Jersey wrote the Tomato Therapist asking for advice on patio varieties for his New Jersey home. He says:
"This will be me second attempt at growing patio tomatoes (I was not very successful a few years ago). Do you have any particular variety recommendations? My wife and I prefer larger tomatoes (for salad, especially tomato/mozzarella salad) and for sandwiches. I am based in NJ, so the climate is usually considered good for summer tomatoes. I am looking to purchase two plants and would like to try tomatoes that would be fairly easy to grow and provide some variety."
For this situation I recommend Patio Red , and its cousin Patio Orange. These plants stay compact for container growing and yield sweet round fruit about 3-4 ounces in size. Great for salads and slicing and quick to mature in the summertime.
If you want to go a bit bigger, I would try Czech's Bush. Also great in containers, this fruit gets up to 6oz and is great for sandwiches.
When growing tomatoes in containers it is important to remember three things. First, make sure your pot is deep enough and has proper drainage. Tomatoes have a serious root system that if smothered, will prevent the plant from producing. A good tomato container we recommend is our 18" Countryside Tub Planter.
Secondly, it is important to make sure your plants always have enough water, containers have a tendency to dry out faster than garden soil, meaning some monitoring may be necessary in the beginning to determine how often you will need to water.
Lastly, remember to keep up a consistent feeding schedule throughout the growing season. Regular potting soil is not enough to produce big juicy fruit. A great fertilizer Dr. Tomato swears by is Dr. Earth Organic Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer. Safe for pets and people, this is one of the first and still, in my humble professional opinion, the best on the market.
Alright growers, tomato season is almost upon us, keep those questions coming!
Fondly,
Dr. Tomato
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tomato Pollination
An industrious tomato grower from Texas writes:
"I have several different kinds of tomatoes-Celebrity, Viva Italia, Jeune Flame, Mexico, etc. Right now I have little "hoods" of the breathable row cover type fabric on each cage to guard against violent winds, hail and cold. Will the flowers pollinate to become fruit inside this hood? Should I remove the covers or will they pollinate themselves?"
Great job protecting your tomato plants from the elements! Fortunately tomatoes can pollinate just by wind/motion, so removing the hoods is not necessary. All you need to do is reach in and gently shake the plants every once and a while, as this will do the same thing as the wind and pollinate the flowers.
Happy Growing!
"I have several different kinds of tomatoes-Celebrity, Viva Italia, Jeune Flame, Mexico, etc. Right now I have little "hoods" of the breathable row cover type fabric on each cage to guard against violent winds, hail and cold. Will the flowers pollinate to become fruit inside this hood? Should I remove the covers or will they pollinate themselves?"
Great job protecting your tomato plants from the elements! Fortunately tomatoes can pollinate just by wind/motion, so removing the hoods is not necessary. All you need to do is reach in and gently shake the plants every once and a while, as this will do the same thing as the wind and pollinate the flowers.
Happy Growing!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Soil Amendment
A fellow tomatophile from Natchez, Mississippi wrote to ask about soil amendment, which brings up a key gardening issue: it's all about the soil!
Rich, loamy earth is every gardeners delight. You know the stuff: it's dark as a devil's food cupcake; it drains like a dream; it holds it shape without being sticky; seeds love it, worms love it, your neighbors try to steal it...
Loamy soil gets this way by having just the right balance of sand, silt and clay. Its texture is ideal as it holds nutrients for young plants without suffocating their tender roots. If you’ve been blessed with this type of soil in your backyard, my advice to you would be to hold onto that plot of land, love it, nourish it, and then pass it on to your grandkids. It’s a goldmine you’re sitting on.
Sadly for many of us, (myself included!) the soil in our gardens bares little resemblance to this fantasy of cultivation. More often our soil is hard, dry, stiff, clayey, soggy, sandy, or shallow. So what do we do?
We amend it!
The best way to go about this is to mix in copious amounts of organic material into your garden beds to correct the problem. That means if your soil is hard and compact, you’ll need to loosen it up with a good tilling, then keep it loose by mixing in compost or leaf mold and, if it’s very clay-like, some sand to even out the texture and help with drainage. If your soil is very sandy, drainage is not a problem, but loss of nutrients will be. Add lots of compost to the mix to give your plants the boost they need.
Of course another solution altogether is to skip the soil amendments and head straight to the (nearly) fail-proof method of container gardening. Growing your precious tomatoes in the controlled environment of a container means as long as you choose a good potting mix and a deep enough pot, you need never worry about trivialities like texture and nutrient content. Just keep your potting soil evenly watered, add a little organic fertilizer now and again, and you’re on your way.
Rich, loamy earth is every gardeners delight. You know the stuff: it's dark as a devil's food cupcake; it drains like a dream; it holds it shape without being sticky; seeds love it, worms love it, your neighbors try to steal it...
Loamy soil gets this way by having just the right balance of sand, silt and clay. Its texture is ideal as it holds nutrients for young plants without suffocating their tender roots. If you’ve been blessed with this type of soil in your backyard, my advice to you would be to hold onto that plot of land, love it, nourish it, and then pass it on to your grandkids. It’s a goldmine you’re sitting on.
Sadly for many of us, (myself included!) the soil in our gardens bares little resemblance to this fantasy of cultivation. More often our soil is hard, dry, stiff, clayey, soggy, sandy, or shallow. So what do we do?
We amend it!
The best way to go about this is to mix in copious amounts of organic material into your garden beds to correct the problem. That means if your soil is hard and compact, you’ll need to loosen it up with a good tilling, then keep it loose by mixing in compost or leaf mold and, if it’s very clay-like, some sand to even out the texture and help with drainage. If your soil is very sandy, drainage is not a problem, but loss of nutrients will be. Add lots of compost to the mix to give your plants the boost they need.
Of course another solution altogether is to skip the soil amendments and head straight to the (nearly) fail-proof method of container gardening. Growing your precious tomatoes in the controlled environment of a container means as long as you choose a good potting mix and a deep enough pot, you need never worry about trivialities like texture and nutrient content. Just keep your potting soil evenly watered, add a little organic fertilizer now and again, and you’re on your way.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to The Tomato Therapist blog! Dr. Tomato is my name, and I've been sent by Windowbox.com to help guide you through the ups, downs, and occasional miracles of raising heirloom tomato seedlings.
Send in your questions, your favorite recipes, your most impressive tomato photos, and connect with a community of backyard tomatophiles as we attempt, together, to grow the perfect tomato.
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