Tomatoes

Well it is time to start thinking about tomatoes.  If you love tomatoes like I do, it is time to think about the kinds of tomatoes that you want to plant and what you may want to do with them at harvest time.

I like the Romas, they are a great hearty little ball of yumminess, for almost anything.  They work great on pizzas, salsa, sauces and the list goes on.

But then I like the other ones as well, I enjoy the Beef stakes, Early Girls, Better Boys, etc, as they make some wonderful juices.

As with all my vegetables and flowers I start them in the greenhouse.  I planted my second round of flats this weekend.  They grow really well and by Spring Break they are taking over the greenhouse. 

Good rule of thumb is to cut them back, as the goal while in the greenhouse is to build up their root base, I always think what is growing on top, is what is growing under the soil.  Kind of like grass, along time ago, in a land far away, an experienced Gardner told me, not to cut my grass so short as it will eventually kill it.  Of course, at the time I was a very novice gardener so I was thinking, the shorter I take the grass the less times I will have to mow, well that is true as eventually I will not have grass.  The Master Gardener told me that if I let the grass a bit longer the roots are longer under the soils, which allows them to bring in more water and nutrients the grass needs to survive in the hottest of temperatures in the summer.  Well the MG was correct.

Anyway back to the tomatoes and cutting them back, if they go out to the garden with a strong root system, it will flourish into a nice tomato tree.

Have you ever bought tomatoes from your local nursery or grocery store and you plant them and they seem to kind of kill over?  Well the roots are not established and hearty, they will eventually take off and start to grow, but it may take a couple weeks, which if you have a short growing season you okay I don't have that couple of weeks to waste.

I will have to say that after caring for the tomatoes and they look so big and beautiful, I have to have my husband come in and cut them back, it makes my cry to see them with such a short haircut.  They do grow back and we have to do it again.

Here are a couple of pictures of the tomatoes before their haircut, this was last year.