Tag Archives: Tomatoes

Growing Tomatoes

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From the Jackson County (Oregon) Master Gardeners:

Some vocabulary to know:

Determinate: Spreads laterally with little or no staking required. Fruits ripen all at once, therefore good for canning.

Indeterminate: Grows vertically, produces until frost, best if staked or caged, fruit ripens until frost therefore good for fresh eating.

Semi-determinate: Semi-determinate tomatoes, especially beefsteak types, have a growth habit between that of indeterminate and determinate types. They produce vigorous lateral shoots that often terminate in a flowering truss (cluster). As a result, lateral shoots are not usually removed.

Parthenocarpic: Means “virgin fruit” flowers will form fruit without fertilization/pollination, tomato examples include: Oregon Spring, Siletz, Legend (able to set fruit earlier giving ripe seedless tomatoes 10-14 days earlier than other types)

Hardening off: Putting a plant outside for increasing amounts of time and sun exposure each day to get it accustomed to being out of the sheltered greenhouse. Start with a half hour in the shade, gradually working up to all day in full sun.

  1. Location: Tomatoes do best planted in full sun (at least 6-8 hrs./day of direct sunlight) and not in the same location as plants from the same family such as where  tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, potatoes, tobacco; have been planted during the last three years!
  2. Soil preparation: ESSENTIAL for good production. Adding a generous amount of compost and mixing well into the soil is crucial. DO NOT add additional nitrogen because it encourages leaf growth over root and Flower development; the results will be fewer tomatoes. Add water and let it soak in.  Some people like to put a mixture of ¼ cup bone meal, ¼ cup organic tomato-vegetable fertilizer, and 1 tsp. magnesium covered with 2-3″ of soil in the bottom of the hole.
  3. Transplanting and staking:
  4. Dig a deep hole, big enough to bury the whole plant except for the top two sets of leaves. Pinch off all but those top two sets of leaves.
  5. Roots will grow from all the little hairs along the stem, making the plant stronger more stable and the plant can absorb more nutrients. Put the stake in before filling the hole while you can still see the roots. Fill the hole and firm the soil around the roots.   In the garden, a     tomato cage can be used instead of, or with the stake. These supports are more important for both indeterminate and determinate tomatoes.
  6. Use a tomato tie to loosely tie the tomato to staking in a figure-8 formation.
  7. Water well. A good rule-of-thumb is to water when the top 1-inch of soil has dried.

This often averages to about l” of water a week in the heat of summer. Watering early in the day is considered a best practice, as the water won’t evaporate too quickly, and any splashs on the plants will dry off as the day warms. It’s better to soak the roots thoroughly once every several days than it is to water lightly every day, as soaking will encourage deeper root growth.

Note: If your plants are looking slightly wilted late in the heat of the day, that’s not necessarily a sign more water is needed. Check the soil first. However, if they are wilted in the morning, if they don’t have signs of a disease, they are in need of water.

  • Mulch to prevent drying and weeds, but keep mulch way from the stem.
  • Planting horizontally:
    • Soil is warmer at the surface and tomatoes need warm soil, so to take advantage of this, follow the directions above for transplanting except instead of digging a hole, dig a trench about 3″ deep and long enough to hold the tomato plant when laid on its ·side except for the  top two sets of leaves.  Bury the stem and roots in the trench, within 2-3 days, the top part of the plant that is not buried will become vertical.
  • Blossom-end Rot (BER) Is caused by a lack of calcium, but rarely due to a lack of calcium in the soil.  
    • Usually it’s not that the soil is deficient, but that the plant can’t take up enough calcium. If in · doubt, do a soil test.
    • Most common causes-
  • Drown and drought watering
  • Damaged roots
  • Planting tomatoes too early. The optimum soil temperature for planting tomatoes is 70° with nighttime air temperature over 50°.  Early varieties of tomatoes are less susceptible.
  • Not enough magnesium causing an inability of the plan to take up calcium.
  • BER can’t be cured, only prevented.

Sweet Tomato Chutney

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2 LBS Ripe Tomatoes (1-LB tomatoes=2 cups )
2 Cups distilled white vinegar
2 Cups sugar
1 ¼ teaspoon salt, (or to taste)
10 cloves of garlic minced
½ teaspoon ginger (fresh or powdered), (or to taste)
2 Bay Leaves
¼ teaspoon ground fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon ground fenugreek seeds
¼ teaspoon garam masala
¼ tsp ground mace
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

To remove tomato skins:
Wash tomatoes set aside. Fill sink with cold water.
Set a large pan of water on stove to boil.
Once the water is boiling, quickly place as many tomatoes as will fit in the boiling water. After 15 -20 seconds remove tomatoes, and submerse in cold water. Skins will slip-off.
Cut tomatoes into 1-inch cubes.

To make Chutney:
Heat vinegar in a wide heavy stainless-steel or porcelain-lined pot on medium-low. Add sugar. Stir until sugar melts.
Add cubed tomatoes, and any accumulated juice to vinegar and sugar mix.

Grind fennel and fenugreek seeds in a coffee grinder, spice grinder, or mortar. Mince ginger, if needed.
Add all spices: ground fennel, ground fenugreek, minced garlic, ginger, bay leaves, mace, garam masala, and the salt (and the optional cayenne)

Bring mixture to boil, and then turn down to a med.-low heat enough to maintain a fairly rapid boil. Stir often!
Cook down for 65-80 minutes or until mixture thickens.
It shouldn’t look watery and it should have a nice sheen. Stir often to prevent scorching on the bottom. Remove bay leaf.

To Can:
Boil jars and lids to prepare them for hot packing. Start water in canner boiling. Enough water to cover tops of jars. Fill hot pints jars with hot Chutney to 1” of top. Place hot lid on jar and tighten canning ring. Place in boiling water-bath for recommended time.

Water-Bath Process Time at Altitudes of:

Style of Pack Jar Size 0 – 1,000 ft 1,001 -6,000 ft Above  6,000 ft
Hot Pints 15 min 20 25

Gardening Tips: Tomato Plants SAR

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How to use aspirin on tomato plants to prevent diseases:

“The concept is well researched and documented. The aspirin mimics a hormone in the tomato plant used to trigger tomato stress defenses. This is call the Systemic Acquire Resistance (SAR) response. Your beefsteak is fooled into beefing up its natural defenses before fungal leaf diseases arrive. This makes it harder for future diseases to establish on their leaves.”

Video by All America Selections

All-America Selections Flowers & Vegetables

Growing Tomatoes

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Jackson County (Oregon) Master Gardeners

Growing Tomatoes

  1. Location: Tomatoes do best planted in full sun (at least 6-8 hrs./day of direct sunlight) and not in the same location as plants from the same family such as where tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, potatoes, tobacco; have been planted during the last three years!
  2. Soil preparation: ESSENTIAL for good Adding a generous amount of compost and mixing well into the soil is crucial. DO NOT add additional nitrogen because it encourages leaf growth over root and Flower development; the results will be fewer tomatoes. Add water and let it soak in. Some people like to put a mixture of ¼ cup bone meal, ¼ cup organic tomato-vegetable fertilizer, and 1 tsp. magnesium covered with 2-3″ of soil in the bottom of the hole.
  3. Transplanting and staking:

a. Dig a deep hole, big enough to bury the whole plant except for the top two sets of leaves. Pinch off all but those top two sets of Roots will grow from all the little hairs along the stem, making the plant stronger more stable and the plant can absorb more nutrients.

b. Put the stake in before filling the hole while you can still see the roots. Fill the hole and firm the soil around the roots.  A tomato cage can be used instead of, or with the stake. These supports are more important for both indeterminate and determinate tomatoes.

c. Use a tomato tie to loosely tie the tomato to staking in a figure-8 formation

d. Water well. A good rule-of-thumb is to water when the top 1-inch of soil has dried. This often averages to about l” of water a week in the heat of summer. Watering early in the day is considered a best practice, as the water won’t evaporate too quickly, and any splashs on the plants will dry off as the day warms. It’s better to soak the roots thoroughly once every several days than it is to water lightly every day, as soaking will encourage deeper root growth.

Note: If your plants are looking slightly wilted late in the heat of the day, that’s not necessarily a sign more water is needed. Check the soil first. However, if they are wilted in the morning, if they don’t have signs of a disease, they are in need of water.

e. Mulch to prevent drying and weeds, but keep mulch way from the

5. Planting horizontally:  Soil is warmer at the surface and tomatoes need warm soil, so to take advantage of this, follow the directions above for transplanting except instead of digging a hole, dig a trench about 3″ deep and long enough to hold the tomato plant when laid on its side except for the top two sets of leaves.  Bury the stem and roots in the trench, within 2-3 days, the top part of the plant that is not buried will become vertical.

6.  Blossom-end Rot (BER) : Caused by the plant’s inability to take up enough enough calcium, but rarely due to a lack of calcium in the soil.  If in doubt, do a soil test.

a. Most common causes:

      • Drown and drought watering
      • Damaged roots
      • Planting tomatoes too early. The optimum soil temperature for planting tomatoes is 70° with nighttime air temperature over 50°. Early varieties of tomatoes are less susceptible.
      • Not enough magnesium causing an inability of the plan to take up calcium.
      • BER can’t be cured, only prevented.

Some vocabulary to know:

Determinate: Spreads laterally with little or no staking required. Fruits ripen all at once, therefore good for canning.

Indeterminate: Grows vertically, produces until frost, best if staked or caged, fruit ripens until frost therefore good for fresh eating.

Semi-determinate: Semi-determinate tomatoes, especially beefsteak types, have a growth habit between that of indeterminate and determinate types. They produce vigorous lateral shoots that often terminate in a flowering truss (cluster). As a result, lateral shoots are not usually removed.

Parthenocarpic: Means “virgin fruit” flowers will form fruit without fertilization/pollination, tomato examples include: Oregon Spring, Siletz, Legend (able to set fruit earlier giving ripe seedless tomatoes 10-14 days earlier than other types)

Hardening off: Putting a plant outside for increasing amounts of time and sun exposure each day to get it accustomed to being out of the sheltered greenhouse. Start with a half hour in the shade, gradually working up to all day in full sun.

Tomatoes!

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Yesterday, November 2nd,  the last tomatoes were harvested!  

IMG_20170923_150913_702Even with Ashland’s early summer heat wave in late June, two months of smoke filled skies from forest fires, and an early light frost on September 22nd,  this season was the longest and most robust tomato harvest ever experienced in the Lucas garden.  

What made the difference this year?  Was it the 60 lbs of rabbit manure worked into soil in mid-February, the rice straw mulching in mid-June, the removal of all the new growth and stem suckers in mid-September, or all the above?  It’s always difficult to determine why one growing season yields a better harvest than previous years, but gardeners are delighted when is all comes together and produces a bounty of tomatoes!   

Top producers 2017:

Better Boy: Large fruit, high yielding , disease resistant.* Indeterminate, Harvest in 70-75 days

Early Girl: Medium fruit,  early producer and longer season than most varieties. Indeterminate. Harvest in 57-63 days.  

San Marzano:  Medium fruit, elongated heirloom paste tomato. Somewhat longer season than other paste tomato varieties.  Seeds stay true from generation to generation.  Indeterminate.  Harvest in 85 days.

Jeweled Enchantment: Medium fruit, heirloom slicer, long season producer. Hard to find seeds! Indeterminate. Harvest 70-75 days.

*Indeterminate–  Plants continue to grow and  fruit throughout the growing season.  Determinate – Plant stops growing when fruit sets and all the fruit ripens at approximately the same time over a 1-2 week period.

 Tomato Bisque Soup

4 cups chopped fresh Tomatoes
½ cup onions, chopped
2-4 stalks of celery, chopped
½ cup butter ( or  ¼ butter &  ¼ olive oil)
¼ cup flour
1 qt. milk (or nut milk, either Almond or Cashew)
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried parsley
¼ tsp. baking soda

Phase I:   Cook Tomatoes in large sauce pan for 15 minutes.
Add & stir in baking soda to hot tomatoes just before combining the Phase II mixture.

Phase II:
Salute onion & celery in butter for 5 minutes
Add flour, cook 1 minute
Stir in milk, salt, & parsley; cook on low 15 – 20 minutes or until thickened.

Slowly pour tomatoes  and the onion- celery- gravy mix into a blender. Remember to vent the blender cap and start motor slowly for stream to escape.  Pulse  or Blend until desired soup consistency is achieved.   Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream.   YUM!

Article and photos by: Carlotta Lucas