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 Jump start the season by warming the soil for an
earlier start. Cover the planting space with a floating row cover,
clear plastic or a cloche. Once the soil is warm, you are ready to
plant your tomatoes. Use the row cover or cloche to protect your
plants when cold temperatures or frost is in the forecast. You will
get a two- to four-week jump start to the season.
Further shorten the time to harvest by planting an early ripening
tomato like Early Girl, Fourth of July, and Quick Pick. Check the
catalog description or plant tags for the number of days the tomato
variety needs to reach maturity. Growing these or others that
require fewer days between planting and harvesting means you’ll be
enjoying fresh tomatoes sooner.
Train at least one of your tomato plants onto a stake for an earlier
harvest. Loosely tie one or two stems to a tall stake. Continue
securing the stems throughout the season as the plant grows. Remove
the suckers, the small branches that form between the main stem and
leaf, as they appear. You’ll have fewer fruit, but they will be
ready to harvest sooner than those caged or grown sprawled on the
ground.
Staking also saves space and helps reduce the risk of disease. If
staking seems like too much effort, grow your tomatoes in cages. Use
tall, sturdy cages for larger indeterminate tomatoes that grow,
flower, and produce fruit until frost. Caging tomatoes also
increases airflow and light penetration for greater yields and fewer
pest problems.
Save even more space while bringing the harvest to your kitchen
door, balcony, or window box with compact tomato varieties, like
Patio Choice Yellow Sweet and Neat or Tumbling Tom. Plant one in a
10-inch pot or grow several in a larger container. You’ll have a
large crop of bite-sized tomatoes in about two months.
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To improve the quality of your harvest, choose
disease- and crack-resisting varieties. Cooks and canners will love
Early Resilience Roma-type tomato. It is resistant to late blight,
blossom end rot and several other common tomato diseases. This
determinate tomato plant only grows two feet tall, so will not need
staking. It is great for containers, small spaces, and traditional
vegetable gardens. Reducing the risk of disease means a bigger
harvest with less effort on your part.
Further reduce your workload and increase your success with mulch.
Spread a two-inch layer of shredded leaves, weed-free straw, or
evergreen needles over the soil surface around your plants. You will
conserve water, suppress weeds, and improve the soil as the mulch
decomposes.
With a little planning you will be ready to enjoy an early and
bountiful harvest of tasty tomatoes from this season’s garden.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including
Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow
Anything” DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden
Moment TV & radio program. Myers is also a columnist and
contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her website is
www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo credit: All-America Selections]
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