The beginning of August is tomato time for many local gardeners but only if you planted varieties that do well in our climate. The most dependable tomatoes to ripen by August are the small or patio tomatoes such as Sweet 100, the golden tomatoes with excellent flavor such as Sun Gold and also the full sized tomatoes such as Early Girl, Celebrity and Oregon Spring that have a track record for early ripening in our climate. A great tip to growing home garden tomatoes is to simply ask what varieties your successful friends and neighbors are growing. Each year local nurseries are offering many more tomato varieties and experienced gardeners in your area are the ones that can attest to how these newcomers perform in our climate.
Here are three tips for growing tomatoes in August:
Tip 1: Do not water the foliage or fruit
Getting the fruit wet while it is on the vine can cause cracking of the skin and then the oozing tomato juice attracts insects and disease. This most often happens during very hot weather when the plants have been allowed to dry out and then they suck up overhead moisture very quickly through the skin. They explode with delight and drink too much through their skin. Keeping your tomato plants well-watered and avoiding wet fruit is the answer to this problem.
Tip 2: Water deep and add calcium if needed to avoid blossom end rot.
If the flower end of the tomato starts to rot or turn black this is a sign that the plants need more consistent deep watering, and it might also indicate a calcium deficiency. Some gardeners claim that adding eggshells at planting time will insure adequate calcium but egg shells and banana peels take months to break down in the soil. An all-purpose plant food that contains calcium is better insurance against blossom end rot. If you water tomatoes deeply so that the top foot of soil is moist this forces the roots to reach down deep into the soil finding more nutrients including calcium on their own. Consistent deep watering is what tomatoes need.
How to water deeply?
Do not water every day. Shallow, frequent watering keeps the roots near the surface of the soil. Instead aim to soak the soil every three to four days during warm weather. To encourage the water to penetrate deeper, practice the water once, wait then water again method. Waiting ten to fifteen minutes between watering will help the moisture to penetrate deeper due to capillary action. This means the first watering fills up the air spaces in the soil then draws the second application of water deeper to the roots as moisture follows moisture. If your tomatoes are in pots, water until you see the drainage water spilling from the bottom of the pot.
Tip 3: Harvest “mostly ripe” tomatoes before a rain
Cracking fruit can be avoided by harvesting tomatoes that are mostly ripe and letting them fully ripen indoors or out of the weather. To harvest, grasp the fruit and twist a bit to remove the tomato with the calyx or green hat on top of the fruit still intact. You can also snip the tomato from the stem. The color of a ripe tomato depends on the variety but if the fruit is easy to remove it is close to ripening. If the fruit feels very hard and the skin looks dull wait a few more days.
How to keep fruit dry: In late summer many local gardeners will use an umbrella or even construct a tent over the plants as a temporary shelter if a rainstorm is predicted. You can duct tape an umbrella to the handle of a shovel to create shade and rain protection. Tomatoes love the sun but even in Western Washington they can suffer sun scald if temperature soar above 90 degrees.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For answers to gardening questions, visit plantersplace.com and click “As The Expert”. Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti. For more gardening information, she can be reached at her website, www.binettigarden.com.
