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How to Harvest and Store Tomatoes
Harvest tomatoes when the skin is slightly firm, shiny, and uniformly colored for best flavor. As a tomato ripens it will turn from a vibrant medium-green to a lighter shade, with faint pink or yellow stripes or flushing. Later the skin will mature to a uniform red or pink or yellow or white or green—depending […] More
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Paste Tomatoes for Home Gardens
Paste tomatoes have a meaty texture and concentrated flavor. They are also known as “sauce,” “pear,” “plum,” “saladette,” “Roma,” and “Italian.” Use paste tomatoes for cooking sauces, juicing, drying, or eating fresh sliced in salads or on the side. Paste tomatoes come in a variety sizes—from an inch or two long to large 2-pound fruits. […] More
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Tomato Flavor Explained
Tomato flavor is a balance of acid and sugar recognized by the tongue and the effect of volatile compounds within the fruit that cause aroma recognized by the nose. Simply put, the human perception of tomato flavor involves the integration of taste and smell. Tomato flavor is commonly described as sweet, tart, tangy or balanced. […] More
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Companion Planting and Tomatoes
Want to enhance the flavor or your tomatoes? Grow leaf lettuce, chives, or marigolds nearby. The notion behind companion planting is that some plants naturally grow better together, that they form natural alliances. How such alliances work is not completely clear; companion planting is based widely on reported observation. Tomato companion plants—said to ward off […] More
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in Gardening Tips, Tips, Tomatoes
Self-Pollinating Vegetables
Some vegetables are self-pollinating meaning they do not need the assistance of bees or other insects or the wind for pollination and the production of fruit. Self-pollinating vegetables include tomatoes, green peppers, and chili peppers, eggplants, green beans, lima beans, sweet peas, and peanuts. Pollen is required for a flower to produce fruit. Self-pollinating vegetables […] More
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Tomato Planting Tips
Set out tomato seedlings in midafternoon after the air and soil have warmed for the day. Seedlings set out on cold mornings are more susceptible to chilling injury—their metabolic reserves have been depleted overnight. Don’t let tomato seedlings grow-on in small pots too long; they will become rootbound and stunted. Pot up if you can’t […] More
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Grow Tomatoes This Spring
No tomato tastes better than the one you’ve grown yourself. Whether you are growing tomatoes for slicing on sandwiches, salads, snacking, cooking, or canning, there is a tomato or two that will grow easily where you live. Here’s a collection of tips to help you start growing the tastiest, juiciest tomatoes ever in your home […] More
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Tomato Ripening Tips for Season End
Pick ripe tomatoes as soon as they ripen so that the plant continues to produce new fruit. This is very important at the end of the season when you want the plant to concentrate on swelling and ripening the remaining fruits. Remove yellowing leaves from plants towards the end of the season to allow more […] More
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Planting Tomatoes for Fall Harvest
Plant tomatoes for fall harvest in mid- to late-summer in regions where frost does not come until very late autumn or early winter. Use suckers cut from spring-planted tomatoes to start new plants. A sucker is 4 to 5 inches of new growth usually taken from wherever two stems come together to form a V-shape. […] More
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in Preserve
How to Home Can Tomatoes for Beginners
Canning is the best way to enjoy fresh, flavorful garden-grown tomatoes long after harvest time. Canned tomatoes are ideal for use in soups, stews, and casseroles. You will need 22 pounds of fresh tomatoes for a canner load of 7 quarts and 14 pounds of fresh tomatoes for a canner load of 9 pints. That’s […] More
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Fertilizer for Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants
Summer fruiting crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants will benefit from a side-dressing of organic fertilizer when they first set fruit and every 4 to 6 weeks thereafter. An alternative is to water in a dilute solution of fish emulsion, seaweed extract, or kelp meal every 10 days. Feed fruiting crops that have flowered […] More
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in Prepare
Orange and Yellow Low Acid Tomatoes for Breakfast
Most orange tomatoes are sweeter and fruitier flavored than red tomatoes. Most yellow tomatoes are less tangy than red tomatoes. Because they have less bite orange and yellow tomatoes are good served at breakfast and in fresh mixed vegetable salads. Many but not all orange and yellow tomatoes are lower in acid content than red […] More
Steve Albert