Records that keep you on track in the growing year, and that can be saved for reference from year to year afterwards, are valuable things for the tomato gardener. Here, we’ve created a simple, … [Read more...]
10 Things To Do With Unripe End of Season Tomatoes
The transition from summer to fall can often leave our tomato gardens in limbo. There are too many good fruits to let them go to waste. The days may even be warm enough for continued ripening and … [Read more...]
4 Eco-Friendly Organic Treatments for Common Tomato Problems
Tomatoes can be prone to illness, especially of the fungal-borne variety. Fungal diseases like wilt, mildew, and especially blight are common problems for tomatoes. Tomatoes can also fall victim … [Read more...]
How to Make Fried Green Tomatoes 2 Ways (+ Recipe)
Fried green tomatoes are a popular dish. Some people use them as a side. Some use them as a main event. Fried green tomatoes can also be used in other ways, such as a topping. Fried green … [Read more...]
Why Your Tomatoes Aren’t Ripening (+ What To Do About It)
If you have tomatoes that just won’t seem to turn ripe, you’re not alone. It’s not uncommon for tomatoes to be slow to ripen. In fact, depending on the weather and depending on the circumstances, … [Read more...]
How to Easily Save Seeds From Tomato Plants
Good news for all you tomato-growing enthusiasts -- saving seeds from your favorite and best-performing tomato plants is easy! And the results are pretty great, too! Tomatoes are one of the … [Read more...]
Prevent and Treat a Common Tomato Disease with This Baking Soda Recipe
The worst diseases that impact tomatoes are often fungal diseases. They can be difficult to treat and difficult to get a hold on; this is especially true if the disease has set in and is at an … [Read more...]
How to Dehydrate Tomatoes for Shelf Stable Storage
Do you know what is the easiest way to preserve tomatoes for shelf stable (not frozen or refrigerated) storage? It’s to dry them! And it’s actually really easy to do. Why Dehydrate … [Read more...]
How To Make Dried Tomato Powder + How to Use It
Dried tomato powder is an underrated pantry staple. It is easy to make, either from whole tomatoes or parts of tomatoes that would otherwise become compost or waste. You can even make it from … [Read more...]
How and When to Apply Epsom Salt to Tomatoes
Epsom salt is helpful for growing strong tomato plants and getting good yields. It is considered a micronutrient, though, so you don’t want to overdo it. When using Epsom salt, you don’t need as … [Read more...]
8 Things Epsom Salt Does for Tomatoes
Epsom salt is a popular garden aid. While it is true that the benefits of Epsom salt can be overstated, and not all gardens need or should have Epsom salt applied, there are several ways that Epsom … [Read more...]
Download Your FREE Printable Tomato Tracker Journal Here!
Here’s our gift to you -- a free download that you can print and use to track your tomato garden from year to year! This journal tomato tracker download will help you keep track of the different … [Read more...]
How Many Tomato Plants Should I Grow for My Household?
One of the more difficult things to decide when planting a tomato patch is how many tomato plants to grow. How many tomatoes you should grow will depend on a few factors, but primarily, it … [Read more...]
Planting Tomatoes: How to Fix Thin, Spindly Transplants
Did you know? You can fix thin, spindly, lanky, or leggy tomato plants when you plant them in the garden. Planting time presents the perfect opportunity to correct height and strength problems in … [Read more...]
How to Prepare Tomato Seedlings for Planting Outside
Before you plant your tomato transplants outside, whether in containers or in the ground, they need to be prepared to live outdoors. The way that you prepare them, is to harden them … [Read more...]
10+ Things Hardening Off Does to Help Tomato Transplants
Hardening off is an important step in getting your tomato seedlings ready for life in the great outdoors. It’s easy to want to skip this step and get straight to planting, but that would be a … [Read more...]
7 Ways (And Reasons) To Relocate Tomato Hornworms
Dealing with hornworms in tomatoes isn’t always a straightforward decision. There are reasons some people choose to move them and not kill them. Why? That’s what we’ll talk about. Along … [Read more...]
How and When to Fertilize Tomato Seedlings
Starting tomatoes from seed is the first step in growing strong garden transplants. Those seedlings will be living for a couple of months inside, so you should plan to fertilize them for optimal … [Read more...]
Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes: Calcium Isn’t the Problem!
It’s often repeated that blossom end rot is caused by calcium deficiency. This is true and false. Understanding this, and understanding how this can be, is key in dealing with blossom end rot, … [Read more...]
Watering Tomatoes Too Much or Too Little? Here’s How to Know!
Proper watering is important to all garden plants, but it takes on even more significance in the tomato garden. Getting enough water to your tomatoes, in the right way, and in the right amounts … [Read more...]
How to Stop Your Tomato Seedlings from Getting Leggy
Did you start your tomatoes from seed, and now they’re getting leggy? Or, have you grown tomatoes from seed in the past and had problems with the seedlings getting leggy? Need to know how to … [Read more...]
20+ Tips to Prevent Damping Off Disease in Tomato Seedlings
Damping off disease is a soil-borne fungal disease that is common among seedlings that are started inside. Damping off is a problem for plants grown outdoors, too, if the conditions are right to … [Read more...]
How Long Are Tomato Seeds Good For?
Are you starting your tomato transplants from seed? Good for you! It’s the best way to control what you grow. It’s the best way to access all the different varieties of tomatoes, too, so you’re … [Read more...]
When to Start Tomatoes from Seed
Tomatoes do quite well when started from seed indoors. Of the different annual vegetables that you can start for your garden transplants, tomatoes are one of the more manageable ones. Why grow … [Read more...]
10 Reasons to Start Tomatoes From Seed
When it comes time to plant your tomatoes in the garden, you can buy transplants that are already started from a garden center or even by shipping/mail order. Or, you can plan ahead and start … [Read more...]
8 Signs That You Have Tomato Hornworms
Tomato hornworms are one of the most common pests in the tomato garden. They’re rather creepy pests but harmless to you. Hornworms will, however, do big damage to your tomato garden if left … [Read more...]
16 Best Heirloom Tomato Varieties
The best-tasting tomatoes by far come from heirloom varieties. Heirloom tomato varieties will give you the widest range of colors and flavors. There is evidence to suggest they are higher in important … [Read more...]
How to Fight and Prevent Tomato Blight And Wilt Diseases Using Mulch
It’s Mulch! Do you know the how and the why of it? Read on! Where Blight is Borne Blight diseases – both early and late blight – are borne in soil. More specifically, they are born from … [Read more...]
Sideways And Deep Planting Tomatoes – Benefits + How To
You may or may not have heard about this gardening “trend” where people are planting their tomato transplants on their sides or sinking them deep in the ground with several inches of the stem … [Read more...]
How to Grow Tomatoes Indoors in Winter (Or Year Round)
For tomato lovers, winter can be a very difficult time of year. It’s that time of year when there are no local tomatoes in most growing zones, and the only options are pale colored, cardboard tasting … [Read more...]
8 Best Tomato Varieties to Grow Indoors
If you love garden fresh tomatoes, then you hate store bought. One of the hardest parts about growing your own tomatoes is that you learn what good quality tomatoes should taste like. And it’s … [Read more...]
When To Start Indoor Tomato Plants for Winter Growing
Growing tomatoes indoors is a great way to overcome the winter tomato blues. What are the winter tomato blues? The blues you get because you love fresh tomatoes and you grow your own in the … [Read more...]
The EASIEST Roasted Tomato Sauce You Can Make
Homemade tomato sauce is one of the most rewarding things you can do with your homegrown tomatoes. (That’s saying a lot because there are so many wonderful things to do with the tomatoes you … [Read more...]
All About Tomato Hornworms + 10 Tips For Dealing With Them
Tomato hornworms are one of the more common pests that attack tomato plants. They can be a serious problem in the home tomato garden that damages plants and sometimes the fruit, too. If you grow … [Read more...]
9+ Organic Solutions for Tomato Hornworms
Imagine a caterpillar so big you can literally hear it eating your tomato plants. That is the tomato hornworm by the time it reaches its pupating phase. A common and almost guaranteed tomato … [Read more...]
9 Tips To Prevent Blight in Tomato Plants
Blight –both early and late blight – are common diseases of tomatoes. Blight is extremely frustrating, because it is a disease that affects your plants later in their lives. As in, just when you … [Read more...]
6 Good Ways to Support Tomato Plants (Stakes, Trellises and More)
With the exception of dwarf plants, most tomato plants need to be supported. Where there used to be only a couple of options for doing this, we now have several good ways to support tomatoes. The … [Read more...]
How To Plant Tomatoes: A Quick Start Guide
Tomatoes are easy to plant and not too difficult to grow (though there are some pests and diseases you may need to deal with – a topic for another day later in the season!). If you’re new to … [Read more...]
How To Harden Off Tomato Plants Before Planting (+ Why!)
It’s important to harden off your tomato plants before you plant them outside. You do not want to skip this step, or your tomato plants might suffer. What is Hardening Off? Hardening off is … [Read more...]
12 Best Green Tomato Varieties (Green When Ripe!)
When we think about green tomatoes, most of us think about picking unripe tomatoes early, while they are still green. Unripe green tomatoes are used in several ways. The most popular is in making … [Read more...]
20 Best-Looking Colored Tomato Varieties (Other Than Red)
When it comes to the top colored tomato varieties, heirlooms are the way to go. These are tried and true favorites that offer much more than beauty that only runs skin deep. The tomato varieties … [Read more...]
12 Largest Tomato Varieties (Giant Tomatoes)
Do you love growing big tomatoes? Or maybe the bragging rights that go along with them? This is the list for you! We’ve picked 12 of the biggest and best of the large tomato varieties. … [Read more...]