It’s not too late to get involved in the Great Tomato Race! Ah,
come on, it’ll be fun. After all, the winner gets the neighborhood
bragging rights.
It’s not too late to get involved in the Great Tomato Race! Ah, come on, it’ll be fun. After all, the winner gets the neighborhood bragging rights.
But winning won’t be easy. Tomatoes are the most popular home-grown vegetable in America.
They are grown by 94 percent of the country’s 50 million gardening households. You’ll rarely find a summer vegetable garden without at least one tomato plant in it.
Don’t worry if you think you’re getting off to a late start. Even if your earlybird gardening friend is bragging that they had their tomatoes planted for a month already, don’t fret. You see, tomato plants don’t really start to grow until the soil has warmed. We’re not just talking about warm outdoor weather. Even with warm weather, your garden soil still hasn’t warmed to normal summertime temperatures. Earlybird tomato plants sitting in cold soil aren’t doing much of anything, so you still have plenty of time to join the race!
Joining the Great Tomato Race is easy. Simply throw a store-bought tomato plant in the ground and watch it grow. Suffice to say, any variety of home-grown, vine-ripened tomato is going to beat out a supermarket tomato for taste. But past experience tells me that you really can’t go wrong with any of the tried-and-true varieties that can be found at most garden centers as already-growing transplants. These veteran tomato varieties are: Ace, Early Girl, Sun Gold and Beefmaster.
Both Ace and Early Girl are your standard tomato varieties that have been around for years. Both offer early fruit that are of classic color and size. Beefmaster (also known as Beefsteak) is your larger tomato with solid flesh up to one pound or heavier. Sungold is an orange-yellow cherry tomato type that is so sweet tasting, you can pop ’em like candy.
In fact, Master Gardeners in Santa Clara Valley turned out last fall for a tomato tasting in San Jose. Sun Gold was deemed the top vote-getter as judged by those participants who filled out a rating sheet. Other popular varieties, in order, were: Big Rainbow (bi-color beefsteak); White Queen (striking creamy yellow fruit); Black Sea Man (striking color both inside and out); Hillbilly (bi-color, orange-yellow beefsteak); Alicante (sweet, red and round).
Here are a few tips that will keep you competitive in The Great Tomato Race:
– Soil preparation – A soil rich in compost or other organic matter should be worked into the ground before planting. A handful of all-purpose fertilizer may also be used. Steer or chicken manure, as well as mushroom compost, are the most readily available and least expensive forms of organic matter. Redwood soil conditioner, peat moss or gypsum can also be used to break up hard-pan soil.
– Plant deep – When planting, always sink seedling deep. Pick off the lower branches and bury the plants up to its upper-most branches. This will force additional roots to form along the buried stem.
– Space plants apart – Probably the most common error by novice home gardeners is planting too many tomato plants too close together. Most tomato plants are vast spreaders and need at least six feet to do their thing. If space is a problem, plants can be staked to keep them under control. Stakes or already-made tomato cages are readily available.
– Watering – Tomato plants like to be kept fairly dry, especially once plants begin to flower and set fruit.
