Time is running out to plant tomato seeds

There's still time to grow your own tomatoes from seed, as long as you start soon. It's fun to grow your own; plus you can grow rare varieties that you are unlikely to come across at your local nursery. Plant the seeds in containers that are at least 3 inches deep, with plenty of drainage holes in the bottom. Half-gallon milk cartons cut down to size work well. Buy seed-starter mix at your nursery and plant the seeds 1 inch apart in slightly moistened soil, 1/4 inch deep. Use a spray bottle to water the soil with a fine mist. Tomato seeds need warm roots to germinate, but prefer cool air between 60 and 70 degrees. Keep the container on a warm surface in a bright spot or 2 inches under a fluorescent light fixture. Keep misting the soil enough so it remains slightly moist. As soon as the second set of leaves appears, repot each seedling in a 4-inch pot. Fertilize with quarter-strength soluble house plant fertilizer every seven days, and gradually acclimate your baby tomato plants to the weather until you plant them out around Mother's Day.

Time To Choose Your Tomato Seeds

For everyone in the Northern Hemisphere who would like to grow tomatoes, now is the time to choose your tomato seeds. Here are a few of the great deals for tomato seeds available on eBay. Many different varieties are available, if you cannot see your preferred choice just click through to eBay and use the search box.

Grow Healthier Tomatoes with Super-Oxygenated Water

Studies show increased levels of vitamin A/beta carotene and trans-lycopene from plants watered with oxygenated water.

Minneapolis (PRWEB) March 13, 2008 -- We all know tomatoes are among the top food source for vitamin A and the powerful antioxidant lycopene. Now, studies have shown it's possible to grow tomatoes that provide even more of these beneficial nutrients by simply adding oxygen to the water you provide them.

In studies conducted by Dr. Albert H. (Bud) Markhart, a member of the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, super-oxygenated irrigation enhanced productivity, improved overall fruit size, and increased levels of vitamin A/beta carotene and the antioxidant lycopene in tomatoes.

The tomatoes tested were from two growing locations and analyzed at two independent laboratories. Plants at one location were greenhouse grown and hand watered. Plants at the second location were grown outdoors in a high tunnel and watered through drip irrigation. One set of plants at each location were watered with super-oxygenated water. The hand watered trial used water produced by the Enki™ Watering Device. The drip irrigation location used a flow-through Enki™ System. The control groups were watered from a municipal tap water source at the greenhouse location and from a rural well water source at the outdoor trial.

Fruit grown with super-oxygenated water at both locations analyzed by either laboratory had higher levels of vitamin A/beta carotene. Pooling all data, the super-oxygenated grown plants produced fruit with about a 25 percent greater concentration of vitamin A/beta carotene than plants irrigated with control water.

Lycopene was analyzed from fruit from the final harvest. Care was taken to select a minimum of three fruit of equal ripeness from both treatments. The tomato fruit from the super-oxygenated irrigated plants had 63 percent more trans-lycopene than fruit from the control plants.

Why is this important?

Tomatoes are an important source of vitamin A/beta carotene and lycopene in a balanced diet. In addition to the general anti-oxidant activity, vitamin A plans a vital role in eye health maintaining a clear cornea and sensitive retina. Low vitamin A results in night blindness. Severe deficiency is one of the principle causes of childhood blindness in developing countries. Vitamin A also plays important roles in the immune system.

Beta-carotene is important because it is a precursor to vitamin A. The body rapidly converts beta-carotene to vitamin A.

Lycopene is one of the most powerful anti-oxidants in our diet. In fact, some researchers believe lycopene may be valuable in preventing and slowing the growth of cancers of the prostate, lung and stomach. These scientists describe lycopene as a powerful antioxidant, a compound that blocks the action of activated oxygen molecules - known as free radicals - that can damage cells. The antioxidant activity of lycopene is at least twice as great as beta carotene, another carotenoid that is also thought to be an effective cancer-preventing nutrient.

About the Enki™ Super-oxygenating Watering Device
This astonishing watering device delivers super-oxygenated water to plant roots - naturally. The patented water-electrolysis technology supplies up to 50 percent more oxygen than rainwater in just 30 minutes. More oxygen means healthier roots, resulting in improved plant strength and health, as well as an increase in the number of flowers and the yield of your fruit and vegetables. The Enki is available at independent garden centers nationwide or at www.MyEnki.com.

About Ovation Science
The Enki is developed by Chanhassen, Minn.-based Ovation Science, Inc. (www.ovationscience.com), which seeks to provide innovative, green-focused gardening solutions worldwide. The Enki™ watering device is the company's first consumer product offering, but its patented super-oxygenating technology will be the basis of a variety of other consumer, commercial and industrial gardening products in the months and years to come.

For more information contact:
Suzanne Duecker
Ovation Science
608-216-6324
suzanne.duecker @ ovationscience.com

Home Grown Tomatoes

Having an abundance of seasonal, fresh vegetables changes the way you use them. Their seductive flavour frequently means they become a far more important part of a meal.

Growing them can be hugely satisfying and there is one vegetable you can never have too many of: home grown tomatoes. They are bursting with goodness, sunshine and anti-ageing properties.

Choose your varieties now, ready for sowing in a couple of weeks (for indoor tomatoes) to get a bumper crop.

How do you train and "stop" the plants, and why?

The simplest method to train the taller varieties is to suspend one vertical piece of string from the ceiling per plant and tie it loosely just below the lowest leaves.

Then, as it grows, twist the top of the plant around the string. I use an individual cane per plant outdoors but you could use a system of vertical posts and horizontal wires.

Remove the side shoots with your fingertips as soon as they appear so that all the energy goes into producing fruit from the truss. And when three to eight trusses have set fruit, "stop" the plant by pinching out the main shoot two leaves above the top flowering.

Exactly at which point you stop (or perhaps in sunny warm places do not stop at all) depends on whether the plants are indoors or outside. Trials have been carried out using both methods and it was discovered that the non-stopped plants produced many more fruit but very few of them ripened, whereas the stopped plants bore more ripe fruit. In a good summer, outside, you can ripen four to five trusses.

Joy Larkcom, a vegetable expert and author, lets some of her indoor plants grow unstopped and she is still picking a few now. Some years she picks her last ones as she sows her next crop. In sunny Japan, a gardener grew one tomato plant as a specimen (giving it near perfect conditions).

He merely supported it without stopping and it grew to over 12ft by 12ft and produced 16,054 tomatoes!

Are grow bags effective?

If you grow three plants in a grow bag, you can end up watering three times a day. If you do use them, two plants are a better bet. Just cut out a small patch in the top for the plant as opposed to making a wide slit.

Blossom end rot (where the base of the fruit goes brown or black) is a common problem caused by under- or over-watering, which adversely affects the plant's calcium supply. It is often exacerbated by the cramped conditions in a grow bag. If you cannot grow in the soil or are short of time, larger individual pots (a minimum size is 9in or 23cm) are better in my experience.

Which are the best varieties?

Garden Organic have a great range of heritage tomatoes, and they recommend Peace Vine, which is a small, wild type producing masses of 2-3cm tomatoes with a sweet, tangy flavour. Gardeners' Delight is prolific, easy and very tasty, but my favourites are the Japanese varieties, Momotaro, which translates as "Tough Boy" (a large tomato), and "Aiko" a cherry tomato.

In Japan, nearly all supermarket tomatoes are labelled by variety and I have never eaten a flavourless one. Blight resistant varieties will be big this year too: Ferline, Fantasio and Legend.

Is it worth growing grafted ones?

Sutton Seeds are selling grafted plants this year. They have selected vigorous disease-resistant rootstocks and have grafted tasty varieties on top, which, on their trial grounds last year, were resilient enough to grow through the blight.

They are offering three varieties: Conchita, a large cherry; Dasher, a tasty mini plum; and Elegance, a standard tomato with great flavour. The vigour of the rootstock means you produce fruit earlier (by two to three weeks) and for longer and they are more resistant to disease. I am growing all three this year, both indoors and outside in a sheltered spot.

Joy Larkcom believes it is worth using grafted plants in certain situations. She points out that, especially when you grow plants in the same soil, you can often suffer from unnoticed soil sickness. When she moved house (and greenhouse), she was stunned at the bumper crops which grew in the fresh soil.

The more vigorous rootstocks would be extremely useful if grown in a greenhouse, where it is more difficult to change the soil frequently.

What can be done about the dreaded blight?

Some gardeners declared that they would give up growing outdoor tomatoes after last year's blight. I love the outdoor varieties and strangely did not get blighted, perhaps because I grew them against a dry, sunny hedge (which is normally frowned upon).

Bob Sherman, from Garden Organic, recommends picking off affected leaves, which helps slow the disease. This, in conjunction with using grafted tomatoes in a sheltered place, should mean you can produce copious tasty tomatoes outside.

What about whitefly?

Yellow sticky strips are useful in the early stages, then bring in French Marigolds which, when they are in flower, deter the pests. Keep dead heading the marigolds to maintain flowering.

Any other useful tips?

High potassium feeds promote fruiting, but don't overdo it as too much will make for tough tomato skins. Avoid over-watering your plants too, as it dilutes the flavour. Keep them on the dry side in the early stages to help early fruiting. To ripen off your end-of-season outdoor plants, remove the support and carefully lay them on plastic on the ground and then cover them with a cloche.

Alternatively, lift up by the roots and hang them in the greenhouse or indoors.

Do not sow your seeds too late: for indoor tomatoes the end of February to mid-March is good, and for outdoor ones, sow indoors no later than the first week of April.

Technorati Tags: how to grow tomatoes, tomato growing, growing tomatoes, growing tomato plants

What Tomatoes Will You Grow This Year? by David J Murray

As I write this in February (2008) it's the time of year for those of us in the northern hemisphere to be thinking about sowing seeds for a new season. Are you planning to grow tomatoes this year? If so, have you thought of the many varieties you could be growing to give a wonderful range of shapes, sizes, colours and flavours on your table?

Tomatoes can be as small as cherries or they can be several inches across. They may be bright red, or golden yellow, or dark purple almost to the point of being black, They may be spherical, cylindrical or plum-shaped. They can be sharp in flavour or lusciously sweet; firm-fleshed with liquid juice or soft and pasty, ideal for making purees.

Maybe you've done so in the past but if not, why not try growing some of the large "beefsteak" varieties this year? They're so good for slicing onto sandwiches. 'Brandywine' is a long-proven variety of this kind. Or how about the Italian 'Pomodoro Costoluto Genovese'?

Among the medium-sized varieties I've had good results with 'Ailsa Craig'. I'm not quite sure why but I've never grown 'Moneymaker', although it's been popular with generations of gardeners and is a firm recommendation from many growers.

Among the cherry tomatoes my favourite is toward the larger end of the group, 'Gardener's Delight'. My only hesitancy is that in our area we've had very bad blight for several years now and it does appear to be highly susceptible to that scourge of tomato growers. We'll return to the subject of tomato blight later, but I'm probably going to grow just a few this year, and under the protection of the greenhouse. A highly promising new cherry variety this year is 'Suncherry Premium F1 Hybrid'. For plum-shaped fruits why not try 'Olivade F1 Hybrid' or another Italian variety 'Pomodora Roma Nano'.

Earlier I mentioned the broad spectrum of colours available to tomato growers and thence to the cook and the salad bowl. Among the yellows 'Golden Sunrise' is a lasting favourite, and you could try 'Golden Sweet F1 Hybrid'. To give some dark contrast to the mix you can't get much better than 'Black Cherry'. Among the older, often labelled "Heritage" or "Heirloom", varieties are two Russians which produce beautifullly flavoured and large fruits: 'Purple Russian' and 'Black
Russian'. I first came across 'Black Russian' last year in a lonely-looking pot on a plant stall, bought it, and was won over. In future I must grow some from seed.

It is, of course, not necessary to have large amounts of space to grow tomatoes, even indoors or in the greenhouse. As well as the six to ten feet tall cordon plants there are also the small bushy varieties. 'Balconi Red' produces lusciously flavoured fruits, althogh I find it rather an ugly looking plant and prefer 'Gartenperle' for its combination of fruit and nicer appearance.

Some varieties are especially suited for particular uses or for growing under specific conditions. You can hunt around the seed catalogues for these, but here are a few. Two Italian varieties, 'Pomodoro Rio Grande' and 'Il San Marzano Lungo', are said to be especially good for making
tomato pastes. And if you live in a cold area where Winter turns to Summer only slowly then you may want to try 'Sub Arctic Plenty' which I understand was original bred for growing by army personnel stationed in Greenland.

I promised something about blight. It's not so many years since the gardening experts were telling us, "There's no such thing as a blight-resistant tomato", and of course they were correct. More recently bred varieties, though, have included some with greatly enhanced resistance to this disease. 'Ferline' and 'Legend' are two which I'm trying this year for the first time, having given up on growing my favourite 'Gardeners' Delight' out of doors in this area.

So then, that's a quick run down on the great range of tomatoes that you could be growing this year. Get out the seed trays, and on with the germination. I wish you success.

About the Author

David Murray has been an adviser on managerial and ethical issues to companies, governments and voluntary agencies for almost thirty years, but now as he enters semi-retirement is taking more time to enjoy his garden in the English Midlands, and to write material for several family-owned gardening and bookselling web sites.

Technorati Tags: tomato, tomatoes, growing tomatoes, tomato growing, growing tomato plants

So Many Tomatoes, So Little Time

Those fresh garden tomatoes so longed for in the dead of winter may now present a challenge in producing more than you can use. Secretly many may be happy to see fall come and the tomato vines dry up. There are just so many tomatoes you want to can and so much salsa you want to make. But there are other alternatives for those extra tomatoes.

Many recipes today call for sun-dried tomatoes. This is one way to preserve many tomatoes in a little space. Tomatoes can be dried outside in the sun, in a very slow oven (at 200 degrees), or in a food dehydrator. Drying outside in the sun will take several days and has problems with bugs and animals. It will take at least six hours to dry tomatoes in a food dehydrator, a gadget that many do not own. They will dry overnight (12 hours) in a 200 degree oven — and most everyone has an oven.

Small tomatoes such as cherry, grape or the meaty romas dry best, however, you can use whatever kind of tomatoes you have in excess in the garden. The town house dweller who has a cherry tomato plant on the balcony can dry the extra tomatoes in the oven. Once dried they make great little tomato cups to stuff with cheese, or use as a scoop for dip, use as a chip snack, or drizzle with cheese spread and heat for crispy tomato nachos.

Drying Tomatoes

Preparation for drying: Wash tomatoes well and dry. It’s optional to remove skins; most leave the skins on. Cut tomatoes in half (quarters if tomatoes are large). Remove seeds and the white part, but leave red pulp. A quarter teaspoon measuring spoon works well to remove seeds.

Drying in the oven: Place the tomatoes skin-side down on a cooling rack placed over a baking pan to catch any drips. Sprinkle lightly with salt and dried Italian herbs. Place in 200-degree oven. Check on tomatoes the first hour to assure everything is going well. (After three hours, some cooks like to take enough tomatoes out for supper. Slow-baked tomatoes sprinkled with shredded mozzarella are a real treat.) Check again in 10 hours. It will probably take 12 hours to dry completely. Avoid over drying. Even at 200 degrees the tomatoes can burn if left in the oven too long. At this stage, I like to allow the oven to cool, return the tomatoes to the oven on a baking sheet, turn the oven light on for just a minimum of heat, close the oven door and let the tomatoes have one final hour of drying before storing them.

Storing the dried tomatoes: Place the tomatoes in an air-tight container such as a jar with tight-fitting lid or a plastic bag, being sure to push out all the air. Freezing the dried tomatoes is an option. This seems to preserve the deep red colour. A short 24 hour stay in the freezer is recommended to eliminate bug infestation that so commonly develops in dried foods.

Some recipes call for adding fresh herbs, fresh garlic and oil when storing the dried tomatoes. The FDA has advised that storing fresh herbs and fresh garlic in oil is a dangerous practice. They have advised commercial packers to treat fresh herbs and fresh garlic with vinegar (acid) and to note on the container that the oil should be refrigerated after opening. The same precautions should be taken at home when adding fresh herbs and fresh garlic to oil.

Storing home dried tomatoes in oil is not recommended. Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in this atmosphere where no air is present. The bacteria can come into your kitchen on fresh herbs and fresh garlic. Heating to high temperatures cannot assure that the botulinum spores nor the toxin they give off are destroyed. It is a better practice to add oil and herbs to the tomatoes at the time they are to be used. Even with this method, the tomatoes must be refrigerated and should be used within two to three days.

Once you have dried tomatoes in your pantry, here are some ways you can use them. Most often the tomatoes are rehydrated before using in recipes. This can be done by covering the dried tomatoes with warm water and soaking for 30 minutes. Broth or wine are also suitable for rehydrating the tomatoes. Drain and pat dry before adding to a recipe. Chop and add the rehydrated tomatoes to cornbread batter, meat loaf, beef stew, soup (especially vegetable and tomato), dried beans, chili, quiche, macaroni and cheese, Welsh rarebit and stir fry.

Sometimes the crunch of the dried tomato is desirable in dips when soaking them is neither necessary nor desirable. The first taste of your first batch of dried tomatoes will suggest that herb seasoned dried tomatoes make crunchy chip snacks. They also lend themselves well to a quick hors d’oeuvre by stuffing them with a small piece of feta cheese, topped with a large caper or a slice of olive.

Drying tomatoes is easy and can be part of your multi-tasking as you go about your evening routine. Take a few extra tomatoes, put them in the cooling oven (200 degrees) when the supper casserole has come out, take a look at them when you go to bed, and take them out in the morning. It will be a good feeling to find there are a few less tomatoes sitting on the kitchen counter when you come home in the evening. You will enjoy those tomatoes so much more in the first pot of vegetable soup you make this fall.

By Dorothy Rowe

Where there’s muck: a guide to composting

Turning your waste into compost is easy, and your plants will thank you for it

If you have not discovered the joys of making compost, now is the time to try – not least to avoid unpleasant smells emanating from your wheelie bin in hot weather, especially if the council is cutting back refuse collections to once a fortnight. Not only will you be taking a significant eco-friendly measure, you will be doing your garden a great favour. Compost isn’t called “gardener’s gold” for nothing: digging it in improves the texture of the soil, while adding a layer on top and using it as a mulch (aim for a couple of inches) helps fend off weeds. It also boosts the level of friendly bacteria, making for healthier plants.

Do not be put off by earlier composting failures. If they resulted in a slimy, foul-smelling mess, you were probably using one of the Dalek-shaped plastic compost bins that local councils offer for less than a tenner. Lured into buying them by the promise of “no turning necessary”, novices fill them with grass cuttings and kitchen waste, but the result is often a sticky sludge with a pong.

Making compost isn’t difficult, however, if you understand some of the science involved in its creation. Most of what we are likely to throw into a compost heap – peelings from fruit and vegetables, grass clippings and weeds – is “green” waste, which has a high water content and is rich in nitrogen. Used alone, particularly in one of those Dalek containers, it sticks together and doesn’t allow air, which is crucial for decomposition, to enter the pile.

To stop a heap from putrefying, you must layer the “green” material with dryer “brown” material, which is high in carbon. “Browns” include dried leaves, egg boxes, scrunched-up newspaper and the cardboard core of loo rolls. Think of the compost heap as a cake and alternate layers of green and brown, each between 2in and 4in thick. Fill your Dalek composter like this and it will work fine.

Admittedly, vermin, including rats, and even wasps, will be drawn to a compost pile – but, given the benefits, this is no reason not to have one. Make it less attractive to pests by turning and tending the pile regularly, and by keeping it covered and hot so they won’t be able to nest in it. And never add meat scraps.

The low-maintenance pile: if you are happy to make compost slowly, in return for not bothering too much with it, sit the container directly on the earth, so earthworms can rise and break down the pile of waste. Start with some twiggy material at the bottom, which will aerate it, then add alternate layers of “brown” and “green” material, building them up as you go along. Sprinkle soil over the layers (two or three handfuls is enough) to introduce extra bacteria and help the matter to decompose. Or, if you have a friend with an existing pile, ask them to donate a bucket of compost to start you off.

A good alternative is to get a garden-centre bag of manure and throw a few handfuls on every so often. If the pile is dry, sprinkle it with water when you’ve finished adding a layer. Some people like to use a compost accelerator such as Garotta (available from garden centres); others keep a box of lime handy, to stop the pile from becoming too acidic and smelly. But neither is strictly necessary. A pile like this can be made in a plastic compost bin, covered and left to do its own thing. The rate of decomposition will vary, but you should end up with usable compost within a year.

The fast stuff: if you generate lots of kitchen and garden waste, or want to make compost quickly, then you will need two compost bins. Build up a pile in one as explained above, let it settle for a week or two, then turn it into the second bin. Turning the pile regularly and introducing more air causes matter to heat up and break down more quickly, decomposing in four months or less. (Don’t regard turning compost as a chore, either; it can be surprisingly therapeutic and add a bit of calm to your life.) Warmth is as important as air to the process, so keep the pile covered.

Wormeries: this is a good solution for a small household that doesn’t generate much waste. With your wormery comes a set of live worms and bedding for them to start out in. Place small amounts of cut-up, uncooked kitchen waste on top of this – the amount of food is increased as the colony grows. The worms eat their way up through the first layer of food and into the next, leaving the compost behind. The amount created is small, but it produces a rich liquid called leachate, which can be tapped off at the bottom, then diluted and used as a plant food.

Bokashi buckets: bokashi is the Japanese word for fermented organic matter, and this system is unusual because it involves both cooked and uncooked kitchen waste. Read the instructions carefully to see what you can and can’t add. It requires two buckets made with a special plastic impregnated with effective micro-organisms – friendly bacteria, essentially. These start the breakdown process and work to eliminate odour.

Put a layer of food a couple of inches thick in the bucket, then sprinkle on a layer of special bran, again impregnated with those micro-organisms, followed by another layer of food. Continue alternating the layers until the bucket is full, then leave it for 10-14 days while you start a new one. The first bucket can be drained periodically of liquid, which is used to neutralise bacteria in drains or as a plant food.

Once the bokashi has been made, it can be added to your standard compost heap. You can also bury it in the garden and plant over it; it is ideal for hungry crops such as runner beans or even dahlias. The kit isn’t cheap (about £80 for two 18-litre buckets, the biggest available), but the system is extremely useful for reducing the smelly element of a kitchen bin. Larger families may need to buy another bucket to take all the waste generated.

What's the Ultimate Health Giving Secret of Plant Feeding?

Make the World's Best Compost!