Annual Crop Requires Full Sun (6+ hours)
Container Friendly : min 7 gallon per plant

Watering

Never water over head, set up a drip system or hand water at the base of each plant. Mulch at the base will help retain moister and keep weeds away

Varieties

Determinate: Bush, fruit ripens all at once, excellent for containers Indeterminate: Vine, will continue producing until frost, requires trellising - Beefsteak: Large, Irregularly shaped, dense flesh Slicer: Consistanly round, prefered for sauce and eating fresh Cherry: Small, cherry sized fruits for eating fresh or drying Grape: Small, oval shaped, firmer than cherry and thicker skinned Saucing/Pasta: Many shapes and sizes, low gel content makes for good paste (ie: roma) Tumbling: Small fruits like cherry, will trail out of hanging baskets: look for "Tumbling Tom"

Collecting Seeds

Tomato seeds are very easy to locate and collect. Remove seeds from inside of the fruit, rinse the gel coating off and lay out to dry. When they are completely dried out, collect them into a seed envelope, label and save the next season.

Canning/Preserving/Storing

Tomatoes will not keep through the winter without preservation measures. Being one of the most used items in your pantry, you will quickly find many reasons to can, dry or freeze your crop. Be sure the pick all of the green tomatoes on the vine at the end of the season, before the last frost. Bring them in to ripen. Use or process them as they become ripe in the house.

Common Pests

Flea Beetles: feed on the foilage early in the season. To avoid, start your tomato indoors and transplant when the plant is sturdy. If absolutely necessary, spray with pyrethrum. Hornworms: controlled by handpicking them off of the plant. Use a black light to find them after dark, check your plants often. Snails and Slugs: Will eat fruits that are near the ground, trellis the plants to avoid the pests.

Soil Type

slightly acidic well draining soil rich in phosphours and calcium. PH of 6.2-6.8 is best. Add a handful of bone meal, oyster shells or egg shells into the roots when planting. Add calcium and lime through the growing season. AVOID high nitrogen fertilizers

Companions

Asparagus, parsley, celery, carrots, onions, peppers. Flavor enhanced by mint, basil, and bee balm. Foes: corn, kohlrabi, dill, potatoes

In my garden

Bolivian Rainbow -75 Days to Harvest
Garden Peach - 90 Days
Golden Jubilee - 75 Days
Vintage Wine - 75-100 Days
White Beefsteak - 85-90 Days
Roma - 76 Days
Early Treat - 49 Days
Tomatillo - 80 Days
Purple Tomatillo 75 Days

My favorite sources

Bountiful Seed Pantry -www.bountifulseedpantry.com
Sherwood's Seeds - www.sherwoodseeds.com
Seeds to Cherish - www.seedstocherish.com
Seed Geeks - www.seedgeeks.com

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