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Tomatoes General.
All of our tomatoes are traditional Italian heirloom varieties. They have been selected over the years to perform specific
tasks in the Italian kitchen. San
Marzano 2, a plum, is used primarily for sauces.
It has few seeds and little juice. Principe
Borghese, a very small plum, can be used for sauce, fresh eating, but is
primarily used by Italians to make dried tomatoes.
In the event you are fortunate to have the right climate, you can dry
them outside on a screen; if you do not (like most of us), use a dehydrator or the
oven. Store them dry or pack in
olive oil. Cuor di bue, Costuluto
Fiorintino, Pantano, Marglobe and Marmande are beefsteak types. You can use them for sauces or canning, but they are best
enjoyed fresh or lightly cooked with other vegetables. Culture.
Tomatoes prefer a relatively fertile well drained soil with good
phosphorus content. Too much
nitrogen will cause excessive plant growth, but production of fruit will suffer.
For most areas of the US, you need to use transplants.
DO NOT START TRANSPLANTS TOO EARLY.
If you have limited growing space for transplants (e.g. you use standard
‘six pack’ containers), start your transplants about six or seven weeks before
anticipated setting out date. Set
out date should be after the last frost date and when night time temperatures
are consistently in the 50’s. Here
in New England, the traditional date to set out tomatoes is Memorial Day,
although you can often set out a week or so earlier;
more if you give protection with remay cloth.
If you have the room (such as a small greenhouse), you can start your
plants earlier and ‘pot them ‘ to bigger containers as they grow.
For example, at six weeks, remove them from the six pack cell and put
them in a five inch pot. 10-14 days
later, depending on the growth, put them in an 8” pot. Two weeks later, by which time they will probably be
flowering, put them in a ten inch pot. Set
them out at the normal time. Growing.
Give your plants plenty of room.
If you plan on training to a single stem, you can set them 12-16”
apart. If training to 2-3 stems,
set 18-24 inches apart. If using
cages, set 24 inches apart. If
letting them sprawl, give them at least 30 inches.
Make your rows at least four feet apart;
five feet is better, especially if you are using cages or allowing them
to sprawl. You can (and should)
remove some of the lower leaves when you set them in the ground.
Set them deeper than they were growing in your stems since the stems will
develop roots. If they are
very leggy (tall, but thin stems), remove most of the leaves, lay them in a
shallow trench, then carefully bend up the tip of the plant and tamp soil around
it. Pruning.
Pinch suckers (the new growth that begins between the leaf and the
stem) weekly. General rule is if
training to two stems, leave the
main stem (where the first flowers appear) and the first sucker below the first
set of flowers. If training to
three stems, also leave the first sucker above the first flower.
Remove all others. Most
people who use cages do not prune or only prune lightly. Unpruned plants will typically ripen the first fruit a week
or two later than pruned plants. Diseases and Pests.
There are not too many pests that bother tomatoes.
Some gardeners have horn worms (huge green caterpillars).
Usually they can easily be controlled by hand picking.
Look carefully. They are
hard to see, but usually can be found by following the line of defoliation.
If you have a serious infestation, you can control them with dipel.
Flea beetles are sometimes a problem.
You know you have flea beetles when you see lots of tiny holes in the
leaves. Flea beetles are not
usually a problem on mature plants; they
can severely damage young transplants. Safer
soap spray (or any soap/water spray) will usually control them. Rotenone is a relatively safe control also.
As for diseases, there are an incredible number of blights & other
diseases which attack tomatoes. Once
they take hold, they are difficult to control and by far the best strategy is
prevention. Many (but not all) diseases are soil born.
If you have the space, rotate your tomato growing areas.
Remove plant debris at the end of the growing season and burn it or take
it away. Do not put it on the compost pile. Do whatever you can to prevent your plants from having direct
contact with the soil. Remove lower
leaves up to @ eight inches;
spread a heavy layer of mulch around the plants (straw, hay, dried grass
clippings). Try to avoid using
overhead irrigation with a sprinkler; if
you must overhead irrigate, time your watering so that the foliage has a chance
to dry out before evening. Soaker
hoses are very effective and also will cut your use of water. Don’t fixate on
diseases. With the exception of late blight, most foliar diseases will not completely kill your crop of
tomatoes. They
will usually survive and give a crop, somewhat reduced, until the first
frost. Prevent blossom end rot by
making sure your soil has an adequate supply of calcium-if you use lime, use one
with calcium. You can also use crushed up eggshells. Adequate moisture also helps
prevent blossom end rot. Harvest/storage. You have two choices. You can pick your tomatoes when they are dead ripe and use them immediately. You can also pick them when they have turned color (say when they are mostly pink, but obviously not ready). When picked at this stage and left in a warm place out of the sun, they will finish ripening and the taste will be just as excellent as if they were ripened on the vine. The advantage to doing this is you are less likely to have fruit split, drop from the plant, crack at the stem end, etc. Never ever put your ripe tomatoes in the refrigerator. Taste declines significantly and the interior will taste mushy. Pick green unblemished fruit when you know there will be a frost. Wrap them individually in newspaper and store in a cool area in a box. Check frequently for rot. To ripen, take some and put them in a warm area. They won’t taste as good as a vine ripened tomato, but they will be better than the supermarket ones. Peppers and Eggplant General.
As with most of our varieties, almost all of our peppers and eggplants
are traditional heirloom varieties selected over the years by discriminating
Italian cooks for their fine taste. Culture.
Both prefer a well drained loose soil.
High nitrogen content encourages rampant growth but fewer fruit.
In most areas of the country you will need to use transplants.
Generally, 8-9 week transplants are best.
If you have any flowers or flower buds on peppers, remove them before
setting outside. Transplant only
after the soil has warmed up well, generally 2-3 weeks after the last frost
date. Set peppers sixteen inches apart in rows two feet apart;
eggplant should be at least 18” apart in rows 30-36 inches apart.
Plant them at or slightly deeper than they were in the pot. Peppers and especially eggplant are real
heat lovers and in zones 4-6 benefit from a black plastic mulch.
If you are only growing a dozen or so, you can make a mulch by cutting
apart some black plastic trash bags. They
also benefit from some support, especially producers of large fruit like corno
rossa, prosperosa or violetta lunga. You can drive a three foot stake between every plant (or
every other plant). Tie a string to
the end stake and go down the row, weaving the string between the plant and the
next stake; at the end of the row,
tie the string to the stake, turn around and weave back. Two ‘ties’ are usually sufficient. You can also use the small ‘tomato’ cages they sell in
hardware stores which are useless for tomatoes but perfect for eggplants or
large peppers. Keep well watered. Harvest/storage. You can pick peppers when immature (green) or fully ripe (usually red or yellow). Pick eggplants when fully ripe-that is when they have completely colored up. Harvest by cutting with a sharp knife or a heavy scissors. Don’t try to break the stem-you will usually damage the plant. Store peppers in the refrigerator crisper for longest useful life. Do not put eggplants n the refrigerator. Store at room temperature out of direct sunlight. Check the recipe section for cooking suggestions. |