Tomatoes are a rewarding crop, but they require attention. An experienced gardener shared basic and important rules that will help you grow strong bushes and avoid common mistakes, even if you are just starting your journey in gardening.
To protect tomatoes from aphids and whiteflies, garlic infusions or soap-ash solutions work great. They are safe and reliably repel insects. But late blight is not something to joke about: it attacks in wet weather and affects the leaves. For prevention, spray the bushes with whey with the addition of a couple of drops of iodine every 10–14 days.
Tomatoes do not tolerate excess moisture and sudden changes. Irregular watering leads to cracking of the fruits, so moisten the beds steadily, but moderately. It is best to direct the stream strictly at the root, and plant the bushes themselves in holes with good drainage so that the water does not stagnate at the base of the stem.
It is also important to maintain a balance with fertilizing. At the beginning of the growing season, light nitrogen support is acceptable, but its excess will cause the bushes to fatten to the detriment of the harvest. During flowering and fruiting, switch to potassium and phosphorus (for example, wood ash). To make tomatoes turn red faster and sweeter, spray them with a weak iodine solution. This product accelerates ripening and protects against fungi. To prepare, take 10 drops of pharmaceutical iodine per 10 liters of water and treat the plants twice a season, choosing cloudy weather or evening time.
For a high-quality harvest, pinching is necessary. Regularly remove side shoots and lower leaves up to the first flower cluster so that the bush is well ventilated and receives maximum sun. The more quickly you remove the reddened fruits, the more actively the plant will devote energy to ripening the next wave of the harvest.
Water the plants exclusively with warm, settled water, avoiding dripping on the foliage. After moistening, carefully mulch the beds with straw or lightly loosen the top layer to prevent the formation of a dry crust. And don’t forget that tomatoes are children of the sun, so choose the most open and warm areas for them.
If you follow these simple recommendations, you can collect several buckets of selected, aromatic tomatoes per season from one strong bush.
