Having a vegetable garden also means that you will need to be on top of the situation – when it comes to checking and ensuring that your vegetables are disease free. It is an ongoing process to keep the fruits of your labor free from potential threats. Here are a few tips you can use.

With any type of gardening, it all begins with good soil preparation and choosing the right seeds. Also try to select the healthiest looking plants when transplanting. Immediate removal of diseased plants will protect your other vegetables as well.

Proper watering practices will help as well. You should give the plants moisture early to allow them time to dry before the sun sets. Careful watering can benefit your plants in a number of ways. If a plant is diseased, and water splashes from it to another plant, it could spread that disease. Think about how a cold is spread from a sneezing person to someone else. Spacing your plants properly should help reduce this possibility.

Viruses can be spread from plant to plant in many ways. Some are spread by insects, so controlling them will aid you in disease control. Other animals, as well as humans can spread harmful diseases among your plants as well. An example of this is tobacco mosaic virus, which can be spread by a gardener’s gloves or possibly on the legs of animals that walk through your garden.

Maintaining a tight check on weeds will help to lower the chances of diseases. This improves the health, as well as the beauty of your garden. Many organisms can move to your vegetables from the weeds they are so fond of. They are also transferable via other medium such as air, water and living organisms like bugs.

Knowing which diseases to look for on certain plants will give you a head start.

Lettuce mold will show up as a rotted wet spot at the base when the edges are touching the ground. The white mold is called Sclerotinia, and the gray is Botrytis. Remove the affected areas, or if it’s too bad, take out the entire plant.

Lettuce is also prone to the spinach mosaic virus. It will start with mottled looking leaves that, later, turn yellow. It begins to look limp and will droop. Some varieties are more resistant to this disease than others, so keep that in mind.

Wilting or rotting of asparagus may be caused by something called Fusarium. The shoots will begin to turn yellow and the spears will be spindly. Discolored and rotted roots may also show up. Remove the affected plants as necessary. The Puccinia fungus will cause another problem with asparagus called rust. Red spots on the shoots and spears will indicate this problem. Excess watering is sometimes the cause of this.

Tomatoes are commonly susceptible to blight and leaf spots, as well as others. Especially in cool summers, these diseases will usually show up by mid August. Certain soil fungi are common to only tomatoes. The roots of walnut trees sometimes carry a toxin that is potentially dangerous to nearby tomatoes. Making sure the leaves are dry before nightfall will help reduce this.

Knowing what to look for and how to avoid it will help you produce large and healthy crops.

One of the easiest plants to grow and from which you can reap fast rewards is the ever popular tomato.

With just a little planning and not much hard work, you’ll find growing tomatoes will satisfy your sense of achievement. They can be grown almost anywhere, in containers, greenhouses, balconies or the garden bed.

You can start them from seed easily; the varieties and choices you have to suit your tastebuds are endless, and you can expect abundant harvests, with few guidelines to follow. Home-grown tomatoes taste a lot better than commercially grown ones because you can pick and eat them fresh from the plant. You can get a better quality, tasting tomato from the seed catalogues and they give you a much wider range of tomatoes than any supermarket could possibly offer. The descriptions will help you find tomatoes that are exceptional and suited to your taste and environment.

You can start from seed or seedlings, why not experiment with both if you’re a novice. If you are starting from seed then sow them indoors several weeks before you expect the last frost in your area and they will be ready to transplant outdoors when the soil warms up. Aim to give them a minimum six hours of sunshine. Prepare the soil, ensuring that it is well drained. To give a flying start to your season adding mushroom compost to the soil which works wonders for the seedlings.

When transplanting seedlings, bury all the seedling stem below the ground, leaving only the top leaves exposed. This encourages roots to grow the full length of the stem, which is below soil level, giving you a large root system. This in turn gives you larger healthier fruit and is a little trick my grandfather taught me; works fantastic too.

If your particular plant requires staking, put the stake in the hole first to save damage to the rooting system. Be sure to water your plants as soon as you have transplanted them, you can use a seaweed fertilizer at this point.

When growing tomatoes make sure the conditions remain constant throughout the growing season, that means maintain a moist soil and do not let them dry out as you risk them being exposed to the disease blossom end rot, or you may find that the fruit will crack. Check the soil regularly; cheap gauges are readily available for this purpose. On the other hand don’t over water as waterlogged soil causes fungal diseases.

When growing tomatoes keep a sharp eye out for the first flowers to appear, you can then use a liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks and a little potash can be added at this stage. Do not make the mistake of thinking the more fertilizer the better; this will only result in excess foliage growth and reduced fruit production.

When the weather warms up use organic mulch around your plants to save precious water; to encourage more root growth and a stronger plant you can build the level of the mulch right up to the level of the bottom leaves.

If you have no garden or limited space then all is not lost; you can grow tomatoes in pots or containers; there are many miniature and cherry varieties to choose from. A 16 – 20 inch pot is about right, just use a potting mixture instead of soil. Remember to check your pots regularly for water as they will dry out quickly, especially in summer. A self watering container makes the job easier and if you can install a tap on the balcony, it would save carrying water through your apartment. Don’t limit yourself to tomatoes, with a little thought you can grow lots of other things like herbs, lettuce, egg plants, etc. just by using containers.

Growing Tomatoes: Heirlooms vs. Hybrids

Tomatoes from the grocery store shelves taste like—NOTHING! Why? Most of the tomatoes purchased from grocery stores have been harvested days before they reach the grocery, treated to turn red, and bred to stay firm and not bruise on the shelves. Plant breeding for the last fifty years has concentrated on producing a tomato that can survive anything—except for a taste test.

Gardeners and tomato aficionados alike have given up on the produce aisle for anything other than garnish. Instead, they turn to seed and plant catalogues to find tasty varieties to grow. When viewing a plant catalogue of tomato seed sources, you will be confronted with hundreds of varieties. Huge and tiny, purple, red, yellow and orange tomatoes. Perfectly round, almost flat, and lemon-shaped tomatoes. Seed catalogues highlight another variable to understand regarding tomato growing: heirloom versus hybrid tomatoes.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Tasty and unique, heirloom varieties are endless. This category of plant is where you will find purple, orange and yellow tomatoes sharing catalogue space with red ones. Heirloom varieties are “open pollinated” plants, which means that if you harvest seeds from a plant, prepare them, save them, and plant them next year, you will grow the same plant. Heirloom varieties were developed over time, in isolated gardens and communities, thus developing unique characteristics.

Heirlooms require particular growing conditions, and each variety is different. The key to success with heirlooms is choosing a variety that is well suited to your growing conditions. Because heirloom tomatoes have not been bred for generations to promote vigor and disease resistance, these varieties need a little bit of extra care. They are, however, worth the extra work. Heirlooms will produce lush, flavorful tomatoes of every shape, size and hue, for every culinary taste or need.

Hybrid Tomatoes

These tomatoes are the result of two different tomato varieties being “crossed” or joined, and the seeds harvested from the resulting plants. Hybrid tomato seeds will produce the tomato with hybrid characteristics for only one plant generation. If you harvest your tomatoes from the hybrid plant and plant those seeds next year, you will not have the same plant.

Hybrid tomatoes have been bred for disease resistance, uniformity, and ability to withstand mechanical harvesting, packing and shipping. Little time has been spent in enhancing flavor in hybrid tomatoes. Much like hybrid tea roses, hybrid tomatoes may be nice to look at, but they have few other desirable attributes.

For large-scale commercial tomato growers, hybrid tomatoes are a great help. For consumers expecting bright red tomatoes in the middle of winter, hybrids are a way to consume. For home gardeners, Heirloom varieties produce yields as large, and much more flavorful. Home gardeners have enough time an attention to successfully grow heirloom tomatoes and bring out their best qualities.

Choosing the Right Variety

Whether Heirlooms or Hybrids are your tomato of choice, you much choose tomato varieties that are well suited to your growing environment. Climates with high heat and humidity will help certain varieties flourish, while colder climates with shorter growing seasons require cultivation of plants that set fruit and mature faster.

For a comprehensive resource on tomato varieties, both heirloom and hybrid, consult How To Grow Juicy Tasty Tomatoes available from www.bestjuicytomatoes.com

Tomatoes are arguably the most popular homegrown crop in the United States.  What makes them so popular?  Most tomato lovers would agree that the best-tasting tomatoes in the world are those that are homegrown in a backyard garden.  Furthermore, tomatoes are an easy crop to grow, yielding fruit in almost any soil type, provided they get 5-6 hours of sunlight a day.  Even if you don’t have a dedicated garden, per say, most homeowners can find at least a few square feet of their landscaping where they can put a tomato plant.

If you are interested in putting a few tomato plants in your garden this year, we’ve got some great tips to help you grow your best tomatoes ever!

The first decision in homegrown tomatoes is whether you want to start them yourself from seed, or if you’ll purchase young plants from a nursery.  For the less-serious home gardener, who just wants a few of your average homegrown tomatoes to eat, the usual varieties found in a nursery will do just fine, plus you’ll save the time and trouble of growing them from seed.  However, if you are planting on a large scale, starting from seed can be much more economical than buying young plants.  Furthermore, if you want to grow any specific varieties of tomatoes besides your average beefsteak, Better Boy, or Early Girl, you may be forced to start the plants from seed.  Pear tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes and others are varieties that nurseries don’t typically sell as young plants.

Proper fertilization techniques are vital for growing your best tomatoes.  If starting indoors from seed, you should fertilize when the first set of leaves appear on the seedlings.  In the early stages, you’ll want to use a fertilizer that’s high in nitrogen, because this will help the plants to grow strong.  However, when the plants get large enough that they begin forming blossoms, it is recommended to switch over to a fertilizer that’s higher in phosphorus and potassium.  Too much nitrogen during the fruiting stages will result in plenty of vine and very little fruit.

If you do grow your tomatoes indoors from seed, it’s important to harden them off before moving them outdoors.  There are many ways to accomplish this.  You could set up a small fan to blow gently on the plants indoors.  When the daytime temperatures are warm enough, you could also begin setting the plants outdoors for several hours a day, gradually increasing their time outdoors and length of time in the sun, day by day.  Eventually the plants will be ready to set outside.

When planting tomatoes, it is important to plant deeply.  When planting, you should bury at least half to three quarters of the plant, so that only the top few branches are sticking out.  New roots will eventually form all along the stem that you submerge in the soil, making the plant stronger.

Among tomato growers, there is wide debate about whether to pick or not to pick suckers.  Suckers are secondary stems that form on all tomato plant, and they grow from the joint of the main stem and the primary branches.  There are two fields of thought about this.  If you allow suckers to grow, they will sap much of the energy from the plant’s main stem.  Allowing suckers to grow on an indeterminate plant will result in an enormous, sprawling tomato plant that, by season’s end, can be difficult to manage.  On the other hand, if you remove all the suckers from your tomato plant, the plant will become very spindly, without very many leaves.  When you have a tomato plant that isn’t bushy enough, the fruits themselves will be more susceptible to discoloration and sunspots because they don’t get adequate shading from the plant itself.  In general, for more home gardeners, it is recommended to allow some of your suckers to grow in the beginning, but by mid-season, to begin removing suckers and continue doing so until the plants are finished in the fall.

Lastly, be sure to keep a close eye out for any diseased plants.  While many varieties of tomatoes have been hybridized to be disease resistant, there are still some plants that will be susceptible to common tomato problems such as fusarium wilt and verticillium wilt.  If you notice a plant that looks unhealthy, you should attempt to diagnose the problem as quickly as possible, and potentially remove the plant all together.  Many diseases affecting tomatoes will spread rapidly from one plant to another, and it’s always better to sacrifice one plant than to risk your entire crop of tomatoes.

Tomatoes are not a difficult plant to grow.  Even the gardener with the blackest of thumbs can usually produce a decent crop of tomatoes with very little effort.  However, if you do provide them with a little extra care and nurturing, you’ll be rewarded with your best tomatoes ever!

Growing tomatoes isn’t too difficult but they can be prone to disease. Don’t despair though, as there are plenty of disease resistant varieties available but that in itself leads to another problem which is how to identify them.
Each variety is coded; e.g. “VF”, “VFFA”, “VFNT” but how on earth are we supposed to know what these acronyms mean? How do we tell which variety is resistant to which disease? That is where the coding comes in, which is fine if you know what each code means.
Below are the common designations, which should help you choose which variety of tomato plant is the one for you.
“A” means that the plant has resistance to the Alternaria alternata fungus which is a cause of Alternaria stem canker. The stems, leaves and fruit of the tomato are badly affected by cankers that vary in colour from dark brown to black. If the cankers are on the stem, there are often brownish streaks as well. Stem cankers can cause the death of a tomato plant before you can harvest the fruit.
“F” or “FF” indicates that the plants are resistant to the Fusarium oxysporum fungi which induce Fusarium wilt. This is a critical disease which causes the drooping and yellowing of the leaves beginning at the bottom of the tomato plant. Without treatment, Fusarium wilt can kill tomato plants well before the fruit can be picked. Some Fusarium fungi have become resistant themselves to the “F” resistance tomatoes, in which case, you need to choose plants with the “FF” coding.
“N” signifies that the plants are resistant to parasitic round worms, which often lie inactive in the earth. Effects of round worm infestation are root galls that are up to an inch in diameter. Afflicted plants are weak, do not react to fertilizer, and are inclined to droop when the weather is hot.
“St” specified tomatoes are not susceptible to grey leaf spot (Stemphylium). Affected tomatoes build up brown to black spots on older leaves. As the disease goes on, the spots become larger and the centres turn grey. The grey middles ultimately fall out, leaving behind small holes.
“T” indicates that the plants are resistant to the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. This results in a blotchy look to the leaves and smaller fruit and crop. Occasionally immature tomatoes will go brown.
“TSWV” points to resistance to the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. Signs of infection differ considerably dependent upon the variety of tomato, but consist of yellow and brown rings and brown streaks on tomato stems, leaves which have dead spots and tips, and seriously inferior growth. The tomatoes themselves may have red and orange discolorations when they are fully grown.
“V” means the tomato is not susceptible to the fungi which cause Verticillium wilt, Verticillium dahliae and V. albo-atrum. Signs of Verticillium wilt disease do not ordinarily become apparent until the plant is fruiting or it is not watered sufficiently. Signs include V-shaped gashes on the leaves.
Don’t forget that disease resistant tomatoes are not necessarily immune to disease but if they do become infected, they are less likely to sustain as much damage as those varieties which are not disease resistant.
As well as choosing the right variety of disease resistant tomatoes, remember that changing where you plant your tomatoes can help prevent disease but be sure to rotate them with other plants which are not susceptible to the disease you are trying to eradicate.
Make sure that your tomato plants are well watered, are in well drained soil and are mulched to retain moisture. Spray with systemic insecticide or fungicide if you detect symptoms of disease (as long as you’re not growing organic crops) and generally keep your tomato plants in as good a condition as possible.
Before planting your tomatoes, try to identify whether your garden already is home to any pests or diseases. Check the foliage and/or fruit of other plants in your garden and if you detect disease, take a sample to an expert to identify the cause. You will then be in a position to choose the right disease resistant tomatoes to plant.
By following sensible gardening practices, you will soon be able to eradicate the pests and diseases and end up with a bumper crop of tomatoes.