"Cushion the painful effects of hard blows by keeping the enthusiasm going strong, even if doing so requires struggle." By: Norman Vincent Peale
One of the hobbies that I really love is maintaining a vegetable garden. To me it is not only relaxing but also very challenging. To not only get the vegetables to grow, but have them be healthy and produce a product that tastes good.
I am not a farmer or pro at it, but I have done enough research on the subject to know what works and what doesn't. In my experience I have been able to “weed” out any tips that just haven't worked for me.
Most of my knowledge and enthusiasm on gardening comes from my father. He grew up on a farm in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and as a son of a coal miner, having very little money, they spent many hours farming their land for various veggies. It helped saved them a few bucks. My grandmother became good at canning them so they could have them all year round until the next growing season came along.
In the news as of late has been the recent scare of salmonella poison in our tomato crop. Whether you are experienced at gardening or new to it, the best way to avoid that and still get tomatoes is to grow your own.
Below are some tips that I use and others that I know have tried and it worked for them.
Start Inside
I grow my tomatoes from seeds as opposed to buying tomato plants that are already grown. It gives me a greater sense of accomplishment. One way is not necessarily better than the other. If you start with seeds, begin growing them inside. Tomatoes like the warmth and direct sunlight so start your growing inside where it is warm and keep them on a window ledge that gets a good 12 to 14 hours of sunlight (if possible).
Support Your Tomatoes
What I mean by this is before you plant your tomatoes in your garden, place a stake, trellis or whatever you choose that you can attach or tie your tomato plants to. This prevents the tomatoes from touching the ground. When tomatoes touch the ground the rate of rot accelerates.
Don't Overplant
Grape, plum and cherry tomatoes all grow in large quantities on a single plant. Therefore only grow what you know you will consume or be able to give to friends, relatives or neighbors. I learned this the hard way. Thinking they grew the same way as beefsteak tomatoes I planted 6, yes that's right, 6 cherry tomato plants. Needless to say I was picking about 300 to 400 per day. Not by myself of course, my wife, my neighbors, you name it were all in my garden picking because it became too much for one person to handle. Even with all that help I lost literally hundreds that fell off the plants because I just could not get to them in time. I learned my lesson and now only plant what I feel I can handle.
Give growing your own tomatoes a try. You never know, you might just enjoy it enough to grow many other vegetables as well. As for my grandmother's canning technique, that'll have to wait for another article.
