How to Grow Tomatoes in Your Victory Garden

Planning a Victory Garden has become a very popular topic during 2009. I am happy to see this “green” awareness growing for several reasons. For one, it provides low income families with fresh, healthy, virtually free vegetables. Planting a backyard garden also keeps families healthy if you go with an organic approach, most of the veggies you purchase from grocery stores are filled with toxins and some are even infused with animal DNA! Planting a garden can be a daunting task for a novice but if you start small and educate yourself, it can be a relaxing and worthwhile endeavor! I will begin by showing you how to plant tomatoes. Tomatoes are the most popular plant included in Victory Gardens!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. WHERE SHOULD I PLANT MY TOMATOES?
   
   First you will need to either dig a bed in your yard or buy a nice big pot. Either way you’ll need to improve the soil where your tomatoes are planted. This is crucial for a good crop. Tomatoes need loose soil so their roots can spread; they have very shallow roots so be careful when weeding them. Wherever you decide to plant your tomatoes, make sure they have full sun exposure. Tomatoes absolutely love heat and will not thrive unless they have plenty of it!

2. HOW DO I MAKE MY TOMATOES THRIVE?
   
   The whole point of your healthy garden is to keep it healthy, so keep it organic! Don’t use fertilizers or your garden will not be “organic”. Use compost and bagged manure or chicken droppings if you are lucky enough to live on a farm. Tomatoes do best in neutral or low acid soil (pH 6.5 – 7.0) so do a pH test on the soil, you can purchase a kit anywhere that sells garden stuff, like Wal-Mart or your nursery. You can buy lime to add to the soil if it needs adjusting.

3. NOW WHAT?
   
   Once your plants are thriving and the air and ground is warm, you can mulch around the stems of the plants and prune anything away that is not producing fruit. This will just take energy away from the plant so get rid of it. You can even pluck out smaller fruit so the tomatoes you choose to keep will be even larger! Your plants will produce enough fruit for a large family, even if you only plant one tomato plant! You will want at least two in case one succumbs to the critters. You can never have too many tomatoes; you can set up a roadside stand and sell them, you can give them to neighbors, or you can can them!

[michaelmulvania]

on 9/19/2009 Great idea for an article.