tomato-patch did you know? introduced to europe in the sixteenth century, tomatoes were called love...
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Tomato-PatchDid You Know?
• Introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century, tomatoes were called “love apples.”
• While the Spanish and Italians ate them, Northern Europeans believed they were poisonous.
• An 1893 Supreme Court decision declared that, though botanically a fruit, the tomato is a vegetable.
‘ROMA VF’
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Best grown in cages. Determinate. 75 days to harvest from planting-out date.
Determinate: growth of a plant stem that is terminated early by the formation of a bud. Naturally self limited growth, resulting in a plant of a definite maximum size.
‘SUN GOLD’ HYBRID
Lycopersicon esculentumVar. cerasiforme
Transplanting and Harvesting
Trellis or sprawling.Indeterminate. 65 days to harvest from planting-out date.
Indeterminate: inexact in its limits or nature, no specific end size.
‘EARLY GIRL’ HYBRID
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Trellis or sprawling.Indeterminate. 54 days to harvest from planting-out date.
‘SUPERTASTY’ HYBRID
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Minimal support necessary.Semideterminate. 70 days to harvest from planting-out date.
‘BRANDYWINE’
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Either stake, cage, or trellis.Indeterminate. 88 days to harvest from planting-out date.
‘YELLOW PEAR’
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Plants do best on a trellis. Indeterminate. 75 days to harvest from planting-out date.
Starting Plants: Step 1
• Place one peat pellet in each pot.
• Pour a total of ½ cup of warm water over the pellets and allow them to expand (about five minutes).
• Fluff and mix the peat with a fork, then place the pots in the greenhouse.
Starting Plants: Step 2
• Gently press two or three tomato seeds into the top of each pellet.
• Plant each pot with a different variety.
• Mist lightly, close green-house, and place near a sunny window.
Starting Plants: Step 3
• Check daily to ensure that the soil stays moist and to allow air to circulate.
• Once seeds germinate, leave top of greenhouse open.
Starting Plants: Step 4
• When seedlings have two or three sets of leaves, transplant into 3” peat pots, and set in a sunny spot.
Starting Plants: Step 5
• Plants may be transplanted to your garden on week after the last frost. (no frost in Hawaii so this does not apply)
• Before transplanting, be sure to harden off seedlings by keeping them outdoors for increasingly longer periods of time.
• Start with an hour or two, and gradually move up to a full day.
• Avoid direct sunlight at first.
Don’t Forget to add Herbs to your Tomato Meal