It’s the end of summer, but questions about tomatoes keep
coming! Remember, you may e-mail me questions at:
ga*******@*ps.net. Or you can mail garden questions in care of this
newspaper (see note at the end of this column for the address).
It’s the end of summer, but questions about tomatoes keep coming! Remember, you may e-mail me questions at: ga*******@*ps.net. Or you can mail garden questions in care of this newspaper (see note at the end of this column for the address). For a faster, personal response, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your question.
Q: I enjoy your gardening column and have been wanting to ask you about a problem I’m having with my tomato plants. They are huge, almost six feet, with lots of blossoms and quite a few green tomatoes coming. But I think there are too many leaves and not enough tomatoes. Is this because of overwatering? They have been watered every three or four days (by sprinkler) along with the other plants in the bed.
– J.M., Morgan Hill
via e-mail
A: By the time you read this, I believe your problem will be over. We’ve had an unusually cool summer by South County standards. Except for a heat wave early on, we really didn’t start getting our heat until just recently. With the heat, will come ripened tomatoes. And yes, you probably are watering a little too often. Tomatoes like to be deep watered or soaked around once a week. Automatic sprinkler systems just don’t do the job. You might try soaker hoses next year. They do a great job soaking the roots, encouraging deeper, healthier root systems in your tomato plants.
Q: I’ve also been having problems with a pelargonium in my front garden bed. The plant is very green and bushy, but no flowers at all. Everything else in that bed blooms like crazy. Do you have any suggestions?
– J.M., Morgan Hill
via e-mail
A: First of all, is that bed where your pelargonium is growing in full sun? Pelargoniums and geraniums (actually they’re the same family) do best in full sun and with not a heck of a lot of water. Also, pelargoniums, geraniums and petunias get hit hard in our particular area by tobacco bud worm. Plants will usually bloom well early in the season, but by August they quit blooming. If you get down on your knees and look closely, you might be able to see tiny green worms – tobacco bud worms – on the plants. These bud worms are real pests, eating the buds and flowers. They can be eliminated by spraying Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which is a non-chemical spray that works to get rid of caterpillars and similar pests.
Q: I would like to know some facts about fertilization and tomatoes for my science project. Would you tell me some information about fertilizing cherry tomato plants and what I should do to prevent diseases and pests?
– H.B., Gilroy
via e-mail
A: You’re in luck because cherry tomatoes are among the easiest of all vegetables to grow. Plus, you can grow them in containers, which lets you avoid some of the biggest problems with many home-grown vegetables: namely damage from snails and slugs. I would grow cherry tomatoes in containers at least 16 inches in diameter. Use a packaged sterilized soil, and mix in a couple tablespoons of any granular vegetable or all-purpose fertilizer when planting. Water your cherry tomatoes deeply about once a week. Stake or cage your plant if it starts to fall over, laden with too many tomatoes! You can augment your fertilizer schedule with Miracle-Gro or a little more dry fertilizer about once every few weeks.
