Time to Fertilize those Tomatoes
Just a reminder if you live in the colder northern climates, that it’s time to give your tomatoes a little fertilizer to ensure that they remain productive until the end of the season. Tomatoes are heavy feeders so they appreciate a little fertilizer mid-season to keep them growing and producing heavily until frost. If you fertilize now, you give them a little boost so they set new blooms and will produce a last flush of tomatoes before the cold fall weather.
You want to make sure you use a fertilizer that’s rich in potassium and not too high in nitrogen, otherwise they will only produce lots of leaves. Fertilizing is vital if you’re growing your tomatoes in pots, as they use up the nutrients quickly in the limited amount of soil. They can benefit from some topdressing with compost and fertilizer each month.
I like to give mine a mid-season side dressing of bat guano, each plants gets a Tablespoon or two. Because of the make up of guano, it is very beneficial for fruiting plants and trees. I find that it helps my tomatoes green up nicely and set lots of new fruit this time of year. My bat guano comes courtesy of my dad, who harvests it from a local church belfry every couple years. You can also water every 3-4 weeks with a fish/seaweed emulsion as tomatoes really love that as well. Since I have very poor soil in the front garden, I use a very weak fish emulsion each month on those tomatoes, about 25% strength, my favorite is Neptune’s Harvest Organic Fish & Seaweed. Side dressing with comfrey leaves is also beneficial for tomatoes, you can add the chopped leaves at planting time and mid-season.
Do you fertilize tomatoes mid-season? Do you use anything special?
Share this:
First Official Ripe Tomato
Last Week on Friday I picked my first official ripe tomato of 2010, right before we left for vacation. Of course I picked a few earlier that were from a volunteer, but these are labeled “official” since they were from plants that I started from seed.
They were ‘Zapoted Pleated’ and ‘Constoluto Genovese’ tomatoes. If I remember correctly these two tomatoes were among the first I picked last year as well. I was thinking that my ‘Sub-Arctic’ would be the first. It’s loaded with tomatoes, but only one is starting to turn.
It looks like I have a ‘Goldman Italian American’ ripe on the vine now that I’m finally home from vacation. We made it home much later than expected after coming through some pretty serious storms in SE Ohio. Fortunately we were on a major highway when they hit, but when we got off on the back roads to head home we had to turn around five times to find another route after coming across power lines and trees blocking the roads.
We ended up on some back roads, that could barely be called roads that were also littered with fallen trees and branches, but not completely cut off. Finally we made it home, much later than expected, but that is one the drawbacks of living in a rural area!
Have you harvested your first official tomato yet? What variety was it?
Share this:
On the Road
Mr Chiots and I are still on the road, we’ll be arriving home later today. Those of you who guessed Monticello were right. I’ve always wanted to go and we finally made it on Monday. After driving up the Skyline Drive, and doing a few short hikes in the Shenandoah Mountains, we ended up in Cumberland, MA and enjoyed some in season soft shelled crab at a small restaurant near our hotel. I haven’t had time even to download all my photos, so I’ll be posting about it more in depth later this week or early next.
Today I’ll leave you with Thomas Jefferson’s 10 Rules to Live by:
1. Never put off tomorrow what you can do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have earned it.
4. Never buy what you don’t want because it is cheap.
5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We seldom repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain the evils have cost us that never happened.
9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak, if very angry, count to a hundred.
Have you ever been to Monticello or a past president’s home?
Share this:
Where Am I?
Mr Chiots and I are currently on our way home from a mini vacation. We had to travel for the business this weekend and were halfway to a place we’ve always wanted to visit. So we decided to take a few days off to relax and recharge for our busy fall season.
Can anyone guess where we went?
Share this:
Taking a Break
It’s been a busy busy weekend here at Chiot’s Run with travel for the business, so I’m taking the day off. Dexter is always good at making sure he takes some time to rest each and every day. In the afternoons he loves sleeping by this window.
Whenever I take an afternoon reading break I love sitting in the chair right beside this window, it’s bright and perfect for reading. Hope you’re able to take some time off this week!
Do you have a favorite spot for taking a break?
