Tag Archives: growing tomatoes

Chicken

The Guardian

Well, I just came inside from ‘pruning’ my tomato plants.

I’m a chicken. I DID get rid of any stems and leaves touching the ground or looking less than stellar. I DID identify the main stem of each plant, noting the ‘sun leaves,’ ‘main stem,’ ‘a couple of flowers,’ or where it looked like they would come out.

My plants are still quite small. We’ve had a LOT of rain and wind, and relatively little sunshine since I planted them. The temperatures are supposed to warm up this weekend, particularly on Mother’s Day, but this will be the first real tomato weather we’ve had.

I’m chicken about pruning something I can’t be SURE is a ‘sucker.’

How do you identify a tomato sucker? (we ask)

Image result for tomato sucker
tomato sucker

“The short answer to this is a tomato sucker is a smallish shoot that grows out of the joint where a branch on the tomato plant meets a stem. These small shoots will grow into a full sized branch if left alone, which results in a bushier, more sprawling tomato plant.” – http://www.gardeningknowhow.com Jul 23, 2021

I will check them again next week with an eye to identifying suckers. If I can be SURE I have one, I’ll hold my breath and cut it. If not, I’ll continue to watch.

I may need to tie the sweet plants to their supports next week, too.

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Tomato Harvest

Since we fixed our irrigation system, our tomatoes are getting watered each day, and we are starting to get some larger tomatoes. I read that getting the smaller ones indicated stress in the plants. I’m hoping our plants are happy now.

This is the ‘nook’ planter – beside the screened back porch and on the back of the house. (Amber is helping me harvest).

 

This is the other brick planter we converted to be a square foot garden planting area, filling it with Mel’s Mix.

We are really enjoying fresh tomatoes with lunch and dinner!

 

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Filed under Gardening, Healthy Eating, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds