THE ANNUAL RITUAL BEGINS: At tax time in the Northeast, we start our tomato seeds indoors, though many of you may be putting your seedlings out in the garden already or otherwise way ahead of me. Whatever part of the delicious but sometimes confounding tomato-growing cycle you’re in, we’ve got it covered:
tomatoes
America's favorite "vegetable" (really a fruit!), the tomato, and how to grow it from seed to harvest, including disease prevention, heirlooms versus hybrid tomato varieties, and even growing grafted tomatoes, ripening half-red ones, and making sauce.
tomato 101: sowing, transplanting, caring
April 16, 2012 at 10:13 am
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giveaway: vegetable-garden tips from c.r. lawn
February 1, 2012 at 8:31 am
CRAZY, BUT TRUE: I ALWAYS THOUGHT the quirky “voice” of the Fedco Seeds catalog, named C.R. Lawn—get it? Lawn?—was a fictitious character, the made-up but pervasive green spirit of the longtime seed cooperative’s brand. But he’s not make-believe. He’s the Maine-based Fedco’s founder, and an organic gardener, market grower and seedsman with more than 30 years’ experience, and he took the time to answer some of my questions on what to grow and how to grow it better. The result is a vegetable-gardening Q&A (from peas to potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, mineral dusts and more), with the very real C.R. Lawn—and the chance to win three $20 Fedco gift certificates I bought to share with you, and say thanks to him. Let’s jump right in: [read more…]
recap: stashing the harvest, a bounty of tips
September 26, 2011 at 2:40 pm
ARE YOU RUNNING MADLY AROUND like a squirrel, caching your foodstuffs before you-know-what arrives? Me, too. Red squirrels, in particular, know you have to store the stuff right, so they pile up green conifer cones while fresh, but first cure treasures like fungi and apples—putting them up in the crotch of a tree to dry a bit before adding them to the larder. From potatoes to tomatoes, peppers and herbs and more, a fast review of how we humans can store it for later. [read more…]
what color is your tomato? how to ripen them
August 10, 2011 at 7:37 am
IS YOUR TOMATO FRUIT simply a stubborn Green (self-explanatory) or is it Breakers (a break in the color from green is starting to be evident), or are you already at Turning (10 to 30 percent red showing) or Pink (30-60) or Light Red (60-90) or Red (more than 90 percent)? Are they hanging on tight, safe and sound, all the way to vine-ripened, or are hungry (devious?) animals playing havoc, or crazy weather threatening the crop? It’s a good time for a reminder on how to ripen a tomato–because there’s more than one way (none of which includes letting my local chipmunks pick them first). It’s all in the refresher course.
first ‘ripe’ tomatoes: uh-oh, green shoulders!
July 28, 2011 at 8:22 pm
AND THE WINNER IS…GREEN SHOULDERS. I feel as if every year the first tomatoes to ripen here put me to a little test. As if I hadn’t waited long enough, they almost make it to the finish line, but then don’t, exactly. Last year my first fruits had blossom end rot, which like the green shoulders of this year’s issue (above), is not a disease but a physiological problem usually attributed to stress from weather, particularly in susceptible varieties. [read more…]
study up! the basics of growing great tomatoes
May 28, 2011 at 7:29 am
IT’S TOMATO TIME HERE: time to plant out the seedlings, and therefore a perfect moment to review the particulars of growing this favorite crop: Are bigger seedlings really better? Determinate or indeterminate; hybrid or heirloom? How deep do you plant them in the garden? When and what to feed? All this and more, in my Tomato-Growing FAQ (and if you’re farther along, and seeing issues like spotted or yellowing leaves, review this Tomato-Troubles FAQ page, too). So study up: We’ll be having a quiz later. (Kidding. Happy holiday weekend, and may juicy tomatoes be in all our futures.)
of taxes and tomatoes: time to pay, time to sow
April 15, 2011 at 9:46 am
EVER SINCE MY FRIEND ANDREW instilled it in my head years ago, I’ve taken the sting off tax time as he does by making April 15 tomato time, too. In much of the north, where tomatoes can go outside after Memorial Day or early June, as frosts subside, mid-April makes a perfect time to sow tomato seeds indoors. A roundup of tips and how-to’s, like these: [read more…]
when to start what: vegetable-seed calculators
March 25, 2011 at 6:27 am
WONDER WHAT TO SOW WHEN to get homegrown transplants ready for the vegetable garden? I’ve gathered links to some foolproof online seed-starting calculators and charts, and also summarized my very simple “lumping” method, where I group all my seeds into three groups rather than try to remember every last detail of what happens when. The scoop: [read more…]
grafted tomato plants: a juicy followup
January 16, 2011 at 11:14 am
WHEN MY FRIEND ANDREW AND I TRIED GRAFTING tomato plants last spring in his greenhouse, the conversation went like this: “I wonder when we’ll see them ‘readymade’ in the garden centers,” he said. “Soon, I bet,” I replied. “Yes,” he agreed, “soon.” The garden center’s still closed up this way, but I can tell you this: At least one prominent mail-order catalog is selling grafted tomato seedlings. [read more…]
