Gardening Monday-Tomatoes!!!!

Tomatoes can be grown pretty much anywhere.
They are a versatile plant and who doesn't love fresh tomatoes? (actually I know a couple people but I won't mention names) Have you tasted a fresh, just picked from the vine, warm in the sun tomato? They are Amazing! I was never a big tomato fan until I grew my own and then I was converted to the tomato Lovers of America!

This year I was all ambitious and I grew tomato plants from seeds. It's really not that hard but you have to start early. Next year I'll start in January so they will be ready for spring.

I used heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joes. I bought a small variety pack and saved some after I ate most of them :) then I squished out the seeds onto paper towels, labeled them with a description and stuck them in envelopes. Now you can't do that with any tomato because many tomatoes are hybrids and they won't reproduce. You have to get Heirloom Tomatoes.


Growing
The more sun you give your tomatoes, the better they will do. My tomatoes only get sun in the afternoon so they don't produce tomatoes until July. My friend's tomatoes get sun all day so she gets tomatoes in June.
All you do is plant them in some good dirt, whether in a pot, a planter, upside down, or in the ground it doesn't matter, water, and fertilize once a month. I recommend you put a tomato cage around them so your plant doesn't fall over when it gets big.

One thing. Keep an eye out for green horn caterpillars. They come from white moths, so if you see a white moth in your garden shoo it away. Also if you see white stuff on the stem of your plant, rub it off, that is the moth eggs. Those caterpillars will strip a branch bare in a day. If you find one, just pull him off and throw him in your neighbor's yard :) that's what I do. Because if you just stick them somewhere else they will find their way back.

If you think you have a caterpillar here are a couple things to find the little bugger.

1. check underneath the branches. They are tricky, they eat from the bottom so you don't see them from the top.

2. Spray water on the plant, the little guys will start wiggling around like crazy.

3. When you find one, be sure to get a good grip on them, if it is a big one he'll almost scare you in how hard he holds onto that branch.

Have fun growing your tomatoes, try a couple different varieties. Here in Las Vegas the yellow pear and the cherry tomatoes do wonderfully and I like them because they produce a lot and you can just pop them in your mouth for a snack.

Have you tried planting tomatoes? Did you have any problems? I'd love to hear from everybody so drop me a note. Thanks!! and happy Gardening.