Nothing tastes like summertime quite like fresh tomatoes ripe from the garden.
Here are a few tips to make sure your tomato plants grow strong and healthy every summer.
Plant in the sun.
Tomatoes are sun-worshippers.
Young seedlings need strong direct light most of the day.
Give each seedling space.
Move your seedlings as soon as they start to show their first real leaves; transplant them to pots that allow at least 10 inches of space approximately two weeks after.
Plant where the wind blows.
Your tomato plants will grow strong stems if they move in the breeze as seedlings.
If you're planting them outside, put them in a place with good air circulation.
Trim carefully.
To prevent your lowest leaves for providing a stepping stone for disease to enter your plants, remove them once the plants are over seven centimeters tall.
The buds that grow in the crotch area between two branches generally will not produce fruit, and will take resources away from the rest of the buds on the plant.
Remove them by pinching them between thumb and forefinger.
Give plenty of water.
Tomato plants need regular deep watering while they're growing.
If you skip a week, you leave your plants vulnerable to problems such as blossom end rot.
Once your tomatoes start to grow, reduce your watering a bit-this will encourage the plants to concentrate sugars, giving your tomatoes a more intense taste.
Home-grown tomatoes are delicious and fun to grow, and tomato plants can be prolific-if you take care of them the right way.
Follow these tips, and you should be able to produce plenty of delicious tomatoes every season.