Hi Fellow Vegetable Gardeners,

By this time, your tomato seedlings have been planted, so perhaps a few pointers on their continued care:

• Tomatoes need water. Don’t let them dry out.
• Most tomatoes are vines and need support to keep the fruit off the ground. Put stakes on the windward side of each plant and tie loosely using strips of old panty hose or T-shirts and a figure eight knot.
• Pinch off suckers, the small shoots between the main stem and the branches.
• When green tomatoes appear, add a little fertilizer (5-10-5). Too little is better than too much.
• Inspect every few days for caterpillars or beetles and pick them off the plants. If the insect infestation is heavy, you can spray with Sevin.
• If signs of blight appear on the leaves — brown spots with yellow halos — spray with a fungicide approved for vegetables.

Thus far, the spring and summer weather has been awful, but hang in there. Good luck and have a good crop! In the future, more info on tomatoes –selecting varieties, starting from seed, and how to plant.

Paul Ellner