Home Grown Tomatoes

Since we have been talking about tomatoes in the garden this week, I thought it would be appropriate to share this video with you. It is a fun and upbeat favorite song of mine. And this video is a nice little tribute to John Denver as well. There are several pictures of our country boy that aren’t seen all that often. A nice touch indeed. I hope you enjoy this video that I am sharing with you today.

What is your favorite thing to do with homegrown tomatoes? What is your favorite thing about them? Leave me a comment and share.

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Yesterday I shared five of the most common problems that you may have while growing your tomatoes. Today, I will share the other five problems and how to diagnose and treat them. Hopefully these tips will help you to troubleshoot what may be going wrong and make those tomatoes truly terrific!

Aphids

These soft bodied pests can cause stunted growth and reduced yields. They travel in colonies and suck the sap from your plants. It is important to control aphids early. An insecticidal soap is very effective in eradicating these pests from your garden. You may also want to introduce some of their natural enemies to your garden in order to control them naturally. Some of their natural enemies include ladybugs, lacewings and parasitic wasps. By avoiding chemical pesticides, these beneficial insects will be encouraged to frequent your garden. However, you will want to set traps for ants as they are friends of the aphid and will actually protect them and carry them to your plants.

Catfacing

You will notice this affliction by the deformed and misshapen fruits that are a result of it. While no one is entirely certain what causes catfacing, we do know that it is related to problems with flower formation. The blossom sticks to the side of the fruit which results in puckering. Also temperature is a factor as temperatures below 50˚F at flowering or fruit set seems to cause catfacing. Other factors include extreme heat, drought, excessive soil nitrogen and herbicides that contain growth hormone.

Fusarium Verticillium Wilt

Certain soil born fungi will cause vascular wilt diseases. These diseases turn the stems brown and prevent the leaves from receiving the nourishment they need. The leaves will turn yellow toward the bottom of the plant and work upward. This is often seen to occur on one side of the plant. The infected plant may die eventually. Destroy diseased plants properly and do not place them in your compost pile. Rotate your crops in your garden so that tomatoes and other related plants do not grow in the same area for 3 to 4 years.

Leaf Curl

Are the leaves of your tomato plants curling? Do they feel leathery to you? Leaf curl most often happens in hot weather, especially after a fluctuation in levels of moisture. The problem is also caused by heavy pruning. The good news is that leaf curl will not affect your tomato production.

Blossom Drop

Do the blossoms seem to be dropping off of your tomato plants? Tomatoes are really picky when it comes to temperatures and setting their fruit. If the weather is too warm or too cool, pollination will suffer and the blossoms will drop off. Too much nitrogen fertilizer can also cause the blossoms to drop off as well as dry winds or heavy rains.

Now that you know the biggest and most common problems in tomatoes, which ones have you found in your garden? Leave me a comment and share.

We all love the taste of a fresh, homegrown tomato.  But sometimes tomatoes can be tricky when you are growing them.  Some of the most common challenges include wilting leaves, foliage turning yellow and fruit that is cracking.  In order to keep your tomato plants looking their best, here are some helps for identifying, preventing and treating the most common problems in your tomatoes.  

Sunscald

Sunscald is most often found on green fruit that is overexposed to the sunlight.  It begins as a light spot.  As the tomato ripens, the spot then becomes larger and is a grayish white color.  Quite often these spots will be attacked by decay causing organisms.  In order to prevent sunscald from affecting your tomatoes, you should avoid overpruning your tomatoes.  The foliage of the plants helps to protect and shade your tomatoes.  If you have tomatoes that are exposed, then it would be a good idea to cover them with shade cloth.

Hornworms

These green worms are quite fierce looking and will grow to be up to 4 inches long and will have a horn on their rear end.  They will defoliate your plants and leave giant bit holes in your tomatoes.  You will notice these worms by the black droppings that they leave on the leaves of your plant.  To treat and control hornworms, you will want to pick them off of the tomato plants or use a natural insecticide containing Baccillus thuringiensis.  However, it is important to note that if you see worms covered in white sacs, you will want to leave them alone.  These white sacs are the cocoons of parasite wasps that will eventually kill the hornworm.

Early Blight

You will most often see this fungal disease during periods of frequent rain, high humidity and warm temperatures.  The bottoms of the leaves of the tomato plant are affected first.  You will see irregular dark brown spots and concentric dark rings that will look like a bull’s eye.  These spots are surrounded by leaf tissue that is yellow.  Eventually the leaves will all turn yellow and fall off of the plant, leaving the tomatoes exposed to sunscald.  Fruit that is older will develop sunken spots that are leathery with concentric markings.  Mulch your plants in order to prevent disease spores from splashing up during irrigation.  Avoid watering overhead, especially during the latter part of the day.  Remove any fallen leaves and parts that are diseased.  Do not plant tomatoes, peppers or eggplants in the same spot for at least 3 to 4 years.

Cracking

Are you finding that your tomatoes have radial or concentric cracks?  This most often happens when the fruit grows quickly during a period of rapidly changing weather conditions.  These conditions are most likely things such as high temperatures with drought followed by a rainy spell.  You should always maintain consistent irrigation during dry periods and mulch the plants to conserve moisture.  

Blossom-end Rot

This tomato affliction gets its name from a water-soaked spot at the bottom of the tomato or blossom end.  This spot eventually becomes a brown scar that is leathery.  It most often occurs when tomato plants receive moisture that is fluctuating.  When water levels are uneven, a calcium deficiency occurs in the developing fruit, even if the soil actually has enough calcium in it.  In order to treat and prevent this problem, you will want to maintain moisture levels which are consistent and avoid the use of fertilizers that are heavy in nitrogen.  You can also add a liquid calcium supplement that is mixed with water and given to the plants.

I have only addressed the first five problems that are the most common in tomatoes.  Tomorrow I will cover the other five problems.

Have you experienced any of these problems in your tomatoes?  Leave me a comment and share.

Photo provided by jeltovski

The other day I talked about the many weeds I currently have in my garden. I really let it get away from me as I have been spending my time remodeling my home. I started out using the tiller to get the weeds down between the rows of vegetables. However, that is some pretty hard work considering how tall the weeds have become. Today I am going to take my lawn mower and mow the weeds down between my squash and cucumber plants. Then I will roto-till the rest of the weeds that are there. Mowing them down first will be perhaps a little easier to till them under.

An old fashioned hoe will be what I use to get the weeds out from between the plants. What I really wish I had was what is used in the video I found for your enjoyment today. It would sure make it even easier to practice organic weed control!

What is your favorite method for getting rid of the weeds in your garden? Leave me a comment and share.

It is as beloved as it is cursed—the zucchini. Personally, I love this vegetable and I make sure that my garden has at least 2 zucchini plants and 2 of the yellow crookneck squash plants. We eat it most nights and my very favorite way is sliced and lightly steamed with a little butter. I could eat it that way every single day. But my family doesn’t like it as much as I do, so I have to be creative to get that squash into the meal.

I remember laughing a couple of years ago when my little brother proudly announced that they had planted two very long rows of zucchini. He didn’t understand what was so funny about that until the zucchini took off. He swore that those plants multiplied and reproduced every time he blinked. His neighbors locked their doors and their cars after about a week of free gifts from his garden.

It seems that you can never have enough recipes to use up that infamous zucchini from the garden. I have collected many recipes over the years and I definitely have some favorites. I am sure that you do too. So I am offering you a proposition, in order to share the love and create some wonderful masterpieces in the kitchen.

Leave me a comment below this post with your favorite zucchini recipe or recipes. Please include your name as you wish it to be published, so I can give proper credit where it is due. I will compile all of the submissions and create a free, downloadable recipe book for you filled with all of the zucchini masterpieces that are submitted. Now this will only work with your cooperation, so please participate! If this works like I am hoping, this will be the first of a series of recipe books that we create together, using the divine ingredients that we grow in our gardens.

Here is to many, many mouthwatering recipes for our zucchini recipe book. Since I need to have a deadline in order to compile and publish the book, let’s work on this until August 20, 2008. So submit away and let’s create something wonderful and delicious together!

Although I love gardening, there is one thing that I really despise and that is a bunch of obnoxious weeds. I absolutely hate them. So you can imagine my dismay at the current condition of my vegetable garden…weeds, weeds and more weeds. It is beginning to become difficult to find my precious plants for the weeds. I have in essence a rather large, healthy weed patch.

Now, if you think that I have been slacking off and not doing my share of the work at home, you might want to visit my current entry over at Her Home Blog. I am blog-sitting for awhile and you can find out the latest, although not greatest, info on my home. I have been very busy with the renovation of it so that someday, hopefully soon, our family can move in.

So, anyway, back to my lovely, or not so lovely, depending on your viewpoint, weed patch. I decided that something just must be done about it and I can’t put it off any longer. So Friday night, I was found with a small tiller, trying to turn under some weeds between the rows of beans. I was tilling in the moonlight as it was much too hot to do it earlier. The two rows that I completed actually look pretty good today.

Monday will find me tilling more weeds under and then I will tackle the weeds between the plants. I suppose that the beauty of having your garden look so trashed, is that when you actually do something about the weeds, then whatever you do, becomes very noticeable. Your efforts can be appreciated by many.

Although I love having an old fashioned garden, I am surmising that perhaps my dad’s garden plan may be the way to go. He has raised beds and as such, has very few weeds that grow amongst his healthy garden plants. I may have to do something like that next year. Of course next year, I won’t be renovating a home too, so maybe I can keep up with the weeds.

What is your least favorite part about gardening? Leave me a comment and share.

Photo provided by Irish_Eyes