Growing great tomatoes
As the spring days bring warmer weather, start thinking about getting the ground ready for the long-season crops like peppers, zucchinis and tomatoes.
Tomatoes are members of the Solanum family, like potatoes and peppers, and originate from South America. There are so many choices of size, shape, colour, flavour, yield, growing habit and disease resistance that it makes them a versatile crop to grow.
Here are some tips for growing great tomatoes:
Tall types grow 1- 1.8m high and need to be spaced 50 to 60cm apart. They require staking or string lines attached to a frame. Tip side shoots (delateral them) as they develop, to encourage main stem growth.
Bush types grow 30 to 45cm high. Space them 30cm apart. They are better suited to outdoor growing. Fruit ripens at the same time, so they’re great for making sauces, etc. Best to have the soil mulched to prevent pests and diseases getting to the plants and fruit.
All tomatoes like a warm situation with temperatures between 21 and 24°C. They need frost protection if planted outside.
Plant into free-draining soil with plenty of compost or well-rotted manure.
They like a slightly acid soil with pH between 6.0 and 6.5.
Best to use mineral fertilisers with good amounts of phosphorous and potassium (both important for fruit production). Check out Fertilizer NZ general garden fertiliser available from the GB Garden Shop, or add a handful of blood and bone or fishmeal to the planting hole.
NB. Don’t add too much nitrogen to the mix as the plant will get leggy and more disease-prone.
Supplement seedlings with comfrey liquid fertiliser and/or liquid seaweed/fish brew.
Mulch with seaweed/seagrass (adds trace elements), straw, pine needles (helps keep it acidic), black plastic/weed mat (helps with soil warming) and grass clippings.
It’s best to stress seedlings out by not watering before planting. Remove lower leaves and plant deep. This will encourage early fruiting.
Avoid watering overhead and too much. Drippers or leaky hoses work well.
Plant lots of basil and zinnias as companion plants.
Fruit care
Plant passionfruits in a warm spot with free-draining soil.
Sow beneficial understorey annuals now into bare soil around fruit trees (Kings Seeds has mixes).
Plant comfrey and other beneficial herbs around the orchard.
Plant strawberries into well-prepared beds if you didn’t in autumn. Start liquid fertilising with comfrey.
Spray stonefruit and pipfruit with cutonic copper (copper oxychloride) vs bacterial diseases before and after bud burst, or use liquid seaweed as a tonic.
Also use all-purpose oil or lime sulphur for scale insect on citrus.
Prune citrus as you harvest. Best to do heavy pruning now.
Apply fertilisers to fruits before spring growth, eg rock phosphate, lime, boron and wood ash.
Herb Care:
Build a herb spiral.
Plant parsley and perennial herbs.
Weed.
Vegetable Care
Start sowing main crops (eg, pumpkins, cucumbers) in a propagation house or cold frame.
Dig in green manures/crops or cut and mulch with black plastic for late spring plantings.
Prepare ground for potatoes and other spring crops.
Chit potatoes and yams (oca) by putting them in the light to encourage strong shoots.
Remove heavy mulches or weeds from ground where you want to sow or plant early crops to improve soil warming.
Lightly till bare ground to create a clean seedbed ready for sowing root crops.
Cloche for frost protection and soil warming. Plastic bottles work for individual seedlings too.
Liquid fertilise in the morning once a week, especially nitrogenous brews like diluted liquid manures and urine.
Weed beds, especially around alliums.
Mulch with seaweed or seagrass around brassicas, garlic, broad beans and greens.
Stake broad beans and peas.
Stay observant for pests and diseases, especially slugs and snails. Use coffee grounds as a deterrent.
Plant Jerusalem artichokes, rhubarb and asparagus into well-prepared beds.
Hothouse
Prick out ready seedlings into pots or trays.
Prepare and plant early hothouse crops like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
For transplanting: Sow all seeds 2nd October. Leafy greens (summer spinach, silverbeet/chard, lettuce, endive, cabbages), sweet corn, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Flowers, eg French marigolds.
Sow direct: Sow all seeds 2nd October. Mesclun salad, radish, spring onions, carrot, beetroot (cover), parsnip, kohlrabi, peas, French beans (under cloche). Flowers, eg nemesia and zinnia.
Plant: 26th Sept –8th Oct. Salad greens, spinach, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, onions and early potatoes. Flowers, eg delphiniums.
General garden care
Collect seaweed.
Complete planting of trees and shrubs.
Make compost.
Mulch citrus with grass clippings.
Start a garden diary.
Sol Morgan, GroWise Consultancy
