“Because I’m an old Southern woman and we’re supposed to wear funny looking hats and ugly clothes and grow vegetables in the dirt. Don’t ask me those questions. I don’t know why, I don’t make the rules!”
-Ouiser Boudreaux, Steel Magnolias
Well, with that being said, Lets talk about growing tomatoes. The tomato is probably the most popular grown vegetable in the garden. My daddy grew the best crop of tomatoes I’ve ever seen. He planted about a hundred plants, mostly the better boy variety, and shared them all over the community. He had that green thumb for them. My brother got that same skill from him. I enjoy the vegetables and tomatoes he brings me every year.
Tomatoes are classified as determent or indeterminate. Determent means a bush type that require support but only get 3 or 4 foot tall. They produce heavy yields. Don’t prune too much. Some varieties are Celebrity, Roma, Rutgers, and Black Prince. Indeterminate means that it is a vine type that will grow tall and continue to produce until frost. Some indeterminate varieties include Better Boy, Creole, Big Beef, Pineapple, and Cherokee Purple.
When you plant tomatoes, place them deeper than they were in the pots they came in. Plant tall tomatoes on their sides 4 inches deep rather than holes. Roots will develop better. Stake them when they start getting taller and tie them with soft ties. Some use a cage instead of a stake. Fertilize weekly with a complete fertilizer, 8-8-8 or 13-13-13, you also use a product that is water soluble like Miracle Gro. Another important product to incorporate in the soil is calcium nitrate. This is to help prevent blossom end rot which is a very common disease.
Pest that hit the tomatoes with are Aphids, whiteflies, and stinkbugs. Cynaria is a new insecticide that is good for these bugs on tomatoes and other garden plants. Worms and caterpillars can be treated with BT, bacillus, and spinsosad(also a new chemical)
One of the go to varieties of tomatoes is the Pineapple tomato. It is indeterminate. A sweet flavor and a bright red peel with blush stripping. It is a slicing tomato and a gourmet heirloom variety. Also beefsteak is good tomato, its beefy and big, a deep rose color with excellent flavor.
Whichever variety you plant, I’m sure you will enjoy between the bacon and lettuce. So put on your ugly hat and work in the dirt. It’s what we are supposed to do.
(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)