Garden Tomatoes

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.

You’ve struggled, you’ve toiled and, at last, you are satisfied with your garden. It just couldn’t be better. But what’s this? Pests! Now you’ve got to prevent the invasion of destructive bugs in your garden. Here’s the best kind of gardening advice you can find for that purpose: Try growing companion plants.
Companion plants are very useful to gardeners or farmers. They have natural substances in them that will repel or attract insects. In specific cases, they can even increase the growth rate of plants, even improve the flavors these plants produce. Not only that but they help to bring a balanced ecosystem to the landscape. Overall then, growing companion plants will result in much healthier and productive plants and better crop production.
There are many kinds of companion plants available. If this is the first you’ve heard of them, you’ll probably be very surprised by what you’ll find. These are some examples of companion plants:
- Tomatoes for cabbages. Some moths feed on cabbage leaves as well, producing the same problems caused by cabbageworms. Worse, moths give birth to larvae at such a rapid pace that a full blown infestation is almost always guaranteed.
Growing tomatoes alongside cabbage plants will help ward off moths. Tomato plant emit a particular odor that moths just can’t stand. It is loathsome to them. As such, moths will stay away from the garden and lay their larvae elsewhere. – Chives or garlic for roses. Roses are grown for their beautiful flowers. But pests can destroy these flowers and make a quarter of a year’s labor go to waste. Growing chives near roses will help repel the usual pests that feed on rose flowers.
Garlic is said to have the same effect of repelling such pests. Garlic actually collects sulfur, which is a natural fungicide, and can greatly increase disease prevention.
- Beans for corn. A pest infestation on corn crops can be very harmful, even dangerous for the entire farm or the surrounding area. Growing beans in the garden or backyard will help to attract beneficial insects that will prey on and help to eradicate the common pests that haunt corn fields. Armyworms, leaf beetles and leaf hoppers will all be but sad memories when bean plants accompany growing corns.
Sunflowers are also very good for corn. Just planting them around corn it is said will increase their yield. And if you’ve got aphid problems, you won’t for long. Your unknown friends, in the form of ants, will herd the aphids like cattle onto the sunflowers. It’s a curious thing. The sunflowers themselves are so tough that the aphids can do no more than very little damage at best.
- Nasturtiums for cucumbers. Cucumber attracts cucumber beetles. These are small insects which have strong jaws that are even able to cut right through the cucumbers themselves. Nasturtiums, on the other hand, drive off cucumber beetles and allow for the healthy development of cucumber plants.
These are only a few of the many types of companion plants that are available for you to use. Some of them are actually crop plants. Many can be found in varying types of vegetable gardens. Give yourself time to discover what these companion plants are. You may surprise yourself with the combinations you can create.

Bacterial Leaf Spot:  This is something that is common in some gardens and that many new organic gardeners will recognize immediately.  The leaves infected with this disease will have small, black or brown water-soaked spots.  The spots will eventually dry up; crack, and leave holes and the infected leaves will often drop off and die prematurely.  This disease is common with tomatoes, peppers, and members of the cabbage family.  The symptoms will often appear during wet weather and can be controlled by immediately removing infected leaves.  It can be hard to keep up with the disease during wet weather but it can be done.Late Blight:  This disease most often affects tomatoes and potato plants later in the growing season.  The disease will start out as wet grayish or greenish spots on the leaves and will progress into a white fungal growth that will form on the undersides of the leaves.  There are some varieties and tomatoes and potatoes that are resistant to the disease.  When these varieties are available select them regardless of the expense since you will benefit from a larger harvest.  If you are unable to find a resistant variety remove and dispose of any infect parts of a plant.  One way to help avoid this disease is to water plants early in the morning so that they have a chance to dry out completely during the day which will discourage fungus growth. Common Rust:  Rust will affect many vegetables so it must be watched for carefully.  The following vegetables are commonly affected by vegetables:AsparagusBeansCornOnionsThe primary symptom of common rust is a reddish brown spot that appears to be powdery.  These spots will usually appear on the leaves of the vegetables affected and will rub off when touch.  Hand picking infected leaves will help reduce the spread of infection.  Plants that are seriously infected should be completely removed and destroyed.  There are ways to avoid common rust completely.  One way is to make sure all plants have good air circulation so avoid planting your seeds to close together since this will lead to crowded conditions.  Also weed your garden often and prune plants to make sure plants continue to be well circulated.Anthracnose:  Organic vegetable growers in the United States will have to deal with anthracnose more often than organic vegetable growers in other countries.  This disease occurs in warm, wet climates and will affect the stems, leaves, and fruits of the plants.  Cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, and beans are the vegetables that are most often affected by the disease.It will begin as small spots on various parts of the affected vegetable.  Later pink spores will start to appear in the center of the spots.  Water with a bit of lime juice sprayed on the leaf buds will help reduce the chances of this disease starting or spreading.  Any seriously infected plants must be completely removed and destroyed.

Every tomato grower has a “secret recipe” for tomato growing success. An integral part of high tomato yield is proper plant nutrition. Plants need food, too! Giving a plant the right food at the right time will not only increase fruit yield, it will also help prevent damage from diseases and pests.

Plant Nutrients

Plants do not eat hamburgers and French fries, but they do still need “nutrients.” Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the three nutrients most commonly fed to plants. Most fertilizers are a combination of the three. When reading a fertilizer package, a three number series such as 3-0-3, or 15-10-5, presents the ratio of all three nutrients in the fertilizer. Other nutrients and minerals, in smaller amounts, help tomato plants grow robustly and healthily. Plants get nutrients from the soil in which they are planted, so soil preparation is integral to providing plant nutrients in proper amounts.

To determine which nutrients your garden soil needs to promote healthy plant growth, prepare a soil sample and send it to your local cooperative extension office for analysis. The soil sample will allow you to properly prepare the garden soil and add just enough of each lacking nutrient to grow healthy plants. Another important test is the soil pH. Soil pH affects the way plants are able to take in nutrients. If your soil is too high or too low, you will want to amend the pH by adding mulch (to increase acidity) or lime (to increase alkalinity.)

When to Add Nutrients

Tomato plants need nutrients at differing amounts at various stages of growth. After receiving soil test results and before planting tomatoes, work a general fertilizer into the soil. Ratios of 5-10-10 or 8-16-16 are good to start. The soil test results will tell you if you are seriously lacking one nutrient or another.

Once the plant begins growing, different ratios of nutrients promote best growth. Once the plant starts flowering, it needs a higher ratio of potassium.

Soil Composition for Plant Nutrition

Adding fertilizer is only one step to providing plants with proper nutrients and increasing crop yield. Soil composition and structure directly affects tomato plant health. Tomato plants thrive by growing roots deep into the soil. Hard clay soils must be broken and amended with compost to promote healthy root growth. Overly sandy soils need addition of organic matter in order to hold water and nutrients.

Compost for High Fruit Yield

Organic matter is an essential component of soil. Adding proper organic matter will greatly improve soil health, while adding improper organic matter is detrimental to soil. Organic matter can be added by top dressing or double digging. Top dressing with organic works exactly as it sounds-you add organic matter to the top of the soil, almost like a mulch. Double-digging requires digging and removing soil, mixing the organic matter into the soil, and replacing the newly combined soil.

Great organic matters are already composted, or broken down. As wood chips, leaves and other compost breaks down, it uses nitrogen. It is important to add composted organic matter rather than fresh, as fresh matter will remove essential nutrients from the soil. If fresh organic matter is all that is available, be sure to add nitrogen along with the organic matter.

Soil composition is one key to tomato growing success. Structure, pH, and nutrient availability all contribute to plant health. For more detailed information on soil health and how to manage nutrition (including diagnosing nutrient deficiencies), consult a comprehensive tomato growing reference such as How to Grow Tasty Juicy Tomatoes.

      We are all looking for ways to save money through any avenue possible. With the rising cost of daily living due to outrageous gas prices. We all feel the same cruel pinch in the pocketbook. It effects everything from groceries to the price we pay to clothe our children. I want to share with you some ideas and thoughts that might help you save some cash in the “feeding the family” department! My friend it is time to tap into the “Inner Farmer” that is hiding inside the deep recesses of your being!

    So what is that you say? You don’t have room for a lavish vegetable garden? I beg to differ. Anyone can have a garden. Yes that even includes those who live in tiny apartments tucked so far into the corners that no one but them knows it is there. I will share with you a few ways to maximize your space and your resources no matter where you live.

    If you have a small amount of land that you can use then have no fear there is hope. You would be surprised at how much you can harvest out of even the smallest garden patch if you manage your space correctly. You can use a small garden tiller and turn up a small patch of ground with maybe about 8 rows or more. You can plant things such as green beans and cucumbers that grow on vines. You can train these types of vegetables to run up instead of out thus maximizing your space. You can drive stakes about 3 ft long on each end of the row. You can then run twine from one end to the other weaving it back and forth and up and down to look like a fish net. You can simply train the vines to run up your make shift net. This type of growing vegetables on a vine makes the vegetable larger and reduces the risk of rot due to not being on the ground. While you are at it plant a row or two of corn. Corn is a vegetable that is easy to grow and since it grows up instead of out you can make better use of yours space. Also I would suggest that you plant some hardy tomatoes. You can place tomato baskets around the plants to keep the heavy fruit baring plants neat and standing tall. The list is endless as to what you can plant. Just use your imagination and the sky is the limit.

     You can also build raised plant beds. You can build these handy boxes normally about 6 ft long and at least 3 ft wide and about 2 ft deep. You can use any type of wood to construct these handy boxes. You can fill these boxes with growing mix of your choice. Plants thrive in raised beds. This way of growing makes weeding your garden almost obsolete. You can also use the creative trick I mentioned above to grow vine type plants. Just train the vines to climb up a guide. This makes good use of your space since things are growing up instead of out. You can plant any type of plants in raised beds that you can grown in a traditional garden.

     For those who are in apartments or those who just do not have any space at all. You can try container gardening. Just simply plant your garden in flower pots. Yes you heard me, FLOWER POTS. They can be moved around easily. If you have a patio or a terrace this idea is a wonderful way to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Tomato, bell pepper, eggplant, okra, squash and such grow great in containers. You can even plant root type veggies in deeper containers. These veggies would be things like radishes, potatoes, carrot, turnips. The key to any of these types of gardening is to know how to fertilize and water your plants. One very important thing is to make sure they get the proper amount of sunlight. You can even use all three types of gardening in conjunction with each other.

    With a little elbow grease and dirt under the Ole nails you will be reaping the rewards of your harvest well into the fall. The pay back of doing the hard work yourself is more money in your wallet. It is hard in some areas of the US to buy fresh vegetables without taking out a 2nd mortgage on your home. In my next article I will touch base on the money saving options of preserving your bountiful harvest via canning, freezing & drying.