Last year I grew tomatoes. I thought I knew what I was doing, but actually I was clueless! My vines reached gigantic proportions, which shocked me. But upon reflection I realised that previously I'd only grown a couple of tomatoes, in pots. Well, technically they were my son's tomato plants, given to him by a generous friend. When he neglected them, I gave them a little attention. Turns out, two tomatoes in pots does not a tomato expert make!

But, I did learn a lot last year! I planted 38 plants in January (late, but I planted them anyway because a friend gave them to me). Another friend, viewing my baby plants all prettily tied to far-too-short stakes innocently asked "So, are you going to pinch out the laterals?" Ummmmmm.......laterals?? A little reading later, yes, pinching out laterals is a good idea. So I did. Sort of. Haphazardly. Those things grow inches every time you turn your back! One day they're so tiny they're barely there - so you figure you'll wait until next week when they're big enough to actually pinch. Next week they're the size of a small tree.....

We ended up building a plastic-house over the top of the tomato patch (that midnight adventure described HERE), and I did end up with tomatoes - I was still picking them in July. I didn't really know how to train them, so they ended up with a complex array of tying-up attempts as I struggled to keep them tidy and off the floor.

So, this year, I'm going to grow lots of tomatoes. And I'm going to diligently train them, and make them follow all the rules of good tomato plants. My tomatoes are going to be terrific. And tidy. Because I said so! LOL <Insert manically grinning emoticon>

Ok, being more serious now. Ahem. <Clears throat and assumes school-marmish demeanor>

I'm sure by this far into this blog article you're all aware I'm totally an expert tomato grower, and therefore are waiting with baited breath for me to impart all the wisdom of the great tomato oracles so you can grow terrific tomatoes too.

Well, an expert I may not be, but truth is, doing things wrong is often a great way to learn - it tends to send one to the books and real experts so you can figure out what to do better, and having that practical experience under your belt (even the messy, untidy, of dubious success type experiences) makes you better prepared to understand what they're really saying and apply it next time! (Which is why my 2013 gardening motto is "Just do it!")

So, I shall lay out for you what tomatoes I'm growing this season, how and where. And what the "rules" are.

We eat a lot of tomatoes and tomato-based foods in our house. We like 'em fresh in season, and we like 'em any other way all year long. I have in the past bought a lot of tomato sauce, canned tomatoes etc, but have come to realise more and more that store-bought tomato sauces contain a lot of not-so-nice ingredients, plus they're packaged in plastic bottles. Plastic should not be in contact with food, especially acid food like tomatoes. And tin cans are lined with a plastic coating (because otherwise the food would react with the tin) which is high in BPA (one of the serious nasties of the plastic world - just look it up!). Unfortunately, non-BPA alternatives are not actually better for us. And acid foods like tomatoes cause BPA to leech into the food at a much higher rate. Fredrick Vom Saal, an expert endocrinologist at the University of Missouri, who studies the effects of BPA, will not personally eat canned tomatoes. Ever.

Besides, it's always much better, cheaper and tastier to grow your own! Despite my own ineptitude last year, I managed to harvest 35kg of tomatoes at a time of the year when they cost $10-$12/kg in the shops. Even after spending almost $300 to build the plastic house (which has since given me even more returns as a propagation house), I came out ahead. And they tasted soooooo good!

Call me boring, but I like my tomatoes red. Of course there are some gorgeous looking heirloom tomatoes of many colours out there, but I'm not quite ready to try them just yet. The varieties I'm growing this year are:

*Money-maker (8 plants) - a nice all-rounder, good in sandwiches etc

*Cocktail (10 plants) - small and tasty - great for the kids and salads

*Silvery Fir Tree - a Russian heirloom (4 plants) - I've had this pack of seeds in my seed box for a while so figured out I may as well give them a go. What are they like? Red. Beyond that, I'm pretty clueless.

*Roma (48 ish plants) - a good bottling tomato, and I plan to do lots of that!

*Sweet 100 (1 plant) - because I got it cheap at a market

*Russian Red (1 plant) - because I got it cheap at the same market

*Tiny Tim (15 plants I think) - it sounded cute. And turns out it's a true dwarf, only growing about 30-40 cm high with lots of tiny wee tomatoes. Perfect to snack on in the garden or for the kids to help themselves to, so hopefully I can (mostly) keep them away from my main tomato crop.

Apart from the two market buys, all my tomatoes have been raised from seed in my plastic house. I wasn't too impressed with the silvery fir - the seedlings are a lot weaker, and I ended up discarding a number of them. All seeds were sown in accordance with the moon calendar.

My tomatoes are being grown outdoors this year, in the main garden beds of my vege garden. I have 3 beds I'm setting aside specifically for tomatoes, and one that will be half planted in tomatoes.

To stake or not to stake - the vital tomato growing question which engenders endless debate and opinions! I spend some time thinking about that this year. I liked the idea of tomato cages, but the cost is prohibitive. You don't HAVE to stake tomatoes - you can just let them sprawl, and they reputedly produce more tomatoes that way. But it's messy, difficult to harvest, and creates a bit of a harbour for slugs and snails, which are a big problem in my garden. Using a permanent fence or trellis system to train the vines along is another option, one which I'm seriously considering for the future, but not possible in my existing beds for this year.

The other thing one needs to know about tomatoes: they come in two sorts - determinate and indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes only grow to a certain height, and then more or less stop. Roma and Tiny Tim are both determinate types. Indeterminates (most modern tomatoes) are also called "vining tomatoes" - they send out long shoots and keep growing and growing. The determinates are the ones often not staked by growers, but after some thought and research I decided that I would stake my Romas. The Tiny Tims will be the only tomatoes I don't stake this year.

I have planted one bed of tomatoes so far - in setting it up for my Moneymaker, Cocktail and Silvery Fir tomatoes, I first set up a frame-work of metal re-bar stakes, pushed quite deeply into the ground, and tied to a horizontal frame 1.5-2m above the bed. This is a good, solid set up. But it's not without price. Of course, I can re-use those stakes for a number of years (and will) and rebar is useful for so many things in the garden! But I can't afford to set up 3 beds that way this year, so for my two beds of Romas I will be creating the top horizontal framing, and then using a system of growing them up strings instead of stakes. This should work well for the Romas, especially as they are not as heavy as some of the other varieties.

Growing up strings is done by waiting until the tomatoes are about 30cm high, then pinching off the bottom two leaves. A length of twine is tied with a reef knot where the leaves were removed, and the other end is tied to an overhead support. Some sag is left in the twine. As the plant grows, the twine is twisted around the stems for support. I'll be using natural jute twine - I think it looks better, plus it can be composted at the end of the season.

My two market-whim tomatoes are each staked at the end of the extra bed, and the Tiny Tims will be planted out between them next month. These are running down the length of one half of the bed - the rest of the bed is planted in parsley and silverbeet.

1. Thou shalt remove laterals. Most tomatoes do best when grown up a single main stem, which is staked or supported. A tomato plant will naturally send out many lateral shoots (one from each of the points were a leaf grows off the main stem). Pinching out the laterals keeps the plant tidier and more manageable, and keeps it's energy focussed where you want it - on forming flowers and then fruit. I won't be pinching laterals on my Tiny Tims, but will on all the others. My experience last year made me realise how essential it is to be diligent about this, so I plan to be attending to it once or twice a week without fail!

2. Thou shalt support the tomato plant. As discussed above, I'm using stakes and suspended twine to train my plants up. Regularly tying them to the stakes, or twisting the twine about them, is essential. I'll do this when I check for laterals.

3. Thou shalt remove lower leaves. Early in the process, I take off the lower leaves. You don't want any leaves drooping down and touching the ground as that can increase the chances of pests and disease. Also, keeping good airflow around the plants is important to reduce the likelihood of fungal disease. Later, as the fruits are maturing, it's also common practice to remove more leaves so that the sun reaches and ripens the tomatoes.

4. Thou shalt limit the number of trusses on each plant. A truss is a cluster of fruit (tomatoes) that grows where the set of flowers was. Many experts advise that if you limit the plant to 4 or 5 trusses, it will produce better, bigger tomatoes. If you allow it to keep setting trusses after that, they will diminish in quality and size.

5. Thou shalt pinch out the top of the plant. When the plant has set 4-5 good trusses, I will remove the top shoot to stop it growing further. That way the plant can concentrate it's energy on developing those trusses. Plus it means I'm not going to be tangled in endless lengthy vines I would need a huge scaffolding to continue training  up!

6. Thou shalt feed the plants. Tomatoes are very hungry plants, and need lots of good sustenance if they are to remain healthy and produce good fruit. Feeding begins by good soil preparation, incorporating lots of compost or aged manure. Then at planting time, I place a mixture of dolomite, gypsum, blood and bone, Neem and sheep pellets under each plant. Last year I used fish heads, chopped bananas and crushed egg shells. Tomatoes need lots of calcium - so not only did I put dolomite under the roots, I've also sprinkled crushed eggshells around the plants on top of the soil. Side dressings during the growing season of such things as blood and bone, tomato food, compost, manure teas and sulphate of potash help to keep plants strong and healthy.

7. Thou shalt supply plenty of water. Tomatoes need a lot of water, and a plant that wilts due to lack of water becomes weaker and more prone to problems. If rainfall is low, water regularly, as well as doing all you can to conserve moisture in the soil.

8. Thou shalt protect the soil. Bare soil is bad! It loses moisture and nutrients and leads to all sorts of problems. This year I'm under-planting my tomatoes to create a "living mulch" - the bed planted so far is under-planted with dwarf beans. Being a legume, they will also fix nitrogen into the soil, feeding the tomatoes. Look up tomato companion plants and select something low-growing and suitable, preferably something you can also eat as a bonus crop. I will be trying summer savory in another bed. Mulching with straw or similar is also a good way to protect the soil. One of the beds that is being prepared for my tomatoes is currently sown in buckwheat as a cover crop - shortly I will pull the buckwheat and lay it on the soil where it will serve as a mulch and soil improver. And the perfect mulch? An inch or two of good compost!

9. Thou shalt be diligent to prevent or deal with pests and diseases. I grow everything organically, so don't use any chemical sprays etc. But there are plenty of organic ways to protect your tomato crop. I'm growing marigolds around the outside of the beds, as they deter many pests. Feeding your plants and keeping good airflow helps to keep them healthy - a healthy plant is naturally disease resistant. Removing and destroying any diseased plants or plant leaves is sound practice. Encouraging beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps and ladybirds is a very good idea - providing plenty of suitable flowers and habitat in your garden is the way to do that. They will control a variety of pests such as aphids. Home-made sprays can be used. Spraying with a "compost tea" can be extremely beneficial. (For excellent info on the making and using of compost, read Mike McGrath's Book of Compost). Some growers swear by Liquid Copper painted on when laterals are removed to prevent disease. Others insert a piece of copper wire through the stem of the plant to provide protection. I shall try one or the other, or both. Last year I had a huge problem with leaf-roller caterpillars. Regularly checking for and squashing any caterpillars helps. Neem sprays are useful for this and a variety of pests (as is neem granules in the soil). Encouraging natural predators is helpful too. Slugs and snails love tomato plants - removing their habitats (hiding places) is a main weapon against them. Night-time slug/snail hunts are very helpful. I do occasionally resort to the use of a less-harmful (to pets) snail pellet such as Quash. And lastly, covering the crop with bird netting to keep the birds from eating all your hard-earned fruit is a must in my book!

10. Thou shalt encourage pollination. Good pollination means a nice full truss of tomatoes. Poor pollination means much fewer tomatoes. Tomatoes are self-fertile; they are able to pollinate themselves in the right conditions. The flowers face downwards, and pollination occurs when the pollen falls upon the stamen. Wind is what generally causes pollination in the open field, though bees are helpful. In fact, apparently the buzz of a passing bumblebee's wings is just the right frequency to cause pollen to drop and pollinate the flower. In a greenhouse situation, where there are no wind or bees, it is common practice to use an electric toothbrush to stimulate pollination. The toothbrush apparently vibrates at just the right frequency too - the vibrating shaft (brush head removed) touched to the stems of the plant on or near the flower sets does the job. I did this last year in my greenhouse, and saw an obvious increase in pollination. But in the outdoors, your main focus will be on ensuring good air flow and encouraging bees to buzz around - again, providing plenty of flowers will do the trick. If you are noticing poor pollination (eg only one or two tomatoes setting in a truss) it might be time to pull out an old electric toothbrush!

So, that's the theory. As with most food growing, time will tell! I'll keep you posted on my (hopefully) terrific tomatoes! Of course, no matter how diligent or expert one is as a gardener, some things are simply beyond our control. As any gardener knows, some years certain plants just don't do well. So in the end, all I can do is do my best, and leave the rest in the hands of God. God willing, I hope to grow terrific tomatoes this year!

As Spring has sprung, and we are now entering the busiest time of year in the garden, I have decided to post a weekly summary of what has been going on over the past week, starting with this one.

Last Tuesday (17th) was the last day for sowing or planting above-ground crops for the month, according to the moon calendar. So early in the week I was busy sowing lots of seeds in trays and pots in the greenhouse. While in the past I have tended to focus on only plants for human food, the more I read and learn the more I realise how important it is to plant things that benefit bees and other beneficial insects as well. This month so far I have planted:
Fruit & Vegetables: I have sown seeds of heading lettuce, gherkins, cucumber, spinach, watermelon, green zucchini, crown pumpkin, freckle lettuce, leeks, silverbeet (green and coloured), tomatoes (three varieties) and I also planted four feijoa bushes, and set up a bin full of potting mix and compost in which I planted some extra raspberry canes, and dug up the black currants that have been growing in a corner from cuttings I was given last year, and moved them to pot until I have a permanent place for them.
Flowers & Herbs: I have sown bee balm, borage, thyme, dill, chives, marigold, nasturtium, zinnia, Mexican sunflowers, alyssum, snapdragon, phacelia and cosmos. Many flower and herbs are both edible or medicinal for us, as well as providing food or shelter for bees and helpful insects, such as ladybirds, hover flies etc.

On Wednesday morning I awoke to a very frosty morning, with the outside taps frozen, ice on the troughs and all over the plants. This is why tender warm season crops need to be nurtured under cover at this time of year!

This week, my strawberries are flowering well (the photo above was taken on Wednesday morning, and they are all frosted but strawberries are pretty hardy plants and it doesn't bother them). My dwarf peach tree is in bloom too. The raspberries have all burst into leaf, and are showing signs of developing flowers, and the boysenberries are just starting to leaf up. The first of the buds have burst on the grapevine. Mmmmmm can almost taste the summer fruits to come!

I finally got around to going to say hello to a guy up the street who grows and sells herbs and veges, and we had a nice chat about his garden. He told me that last year he had a bed full of gorgeous cabbages in the middle of summer, when everyone else around here has all their brassicas decimated by white butterfly. At first he couldn't understand why, and then finally realised that prior to the cabbages, the bed had been full of garlic! So guess what I'm going to plant this summer after I harvest my garlic bed?? Normally I don't even both with brassicas over the summer, but maybe........

Speaking of garlic, I have a bed planted in garlic, in two halves. Traditionally, one is supposed to plant garlic around the shortest day of the year, and harvest it on the longest. This year, June 21st was the shortest day. I planted the first half of the bed on June 7th with cloves from garlic I bought from the supermarket (not knowing anywhere else to get it). I planted about 48 cloves. Four or 5 sprouted a while later, but I nearly gave up on the rest until I read they can take up to 6 weeks to show, so I decided to be patient. I planted the second half on August 25th (about the last chance for the year) with cloves from garlic purchased at a local market garden. Those are now just about all showing through the soil, and more of the first half have come through, but in disappointing numbers. I'll give the first half a little longer before just planting something else in the gaps. I've never grown garlic before, but I've read they can take ages to show above the soil, but meanwhile are developing strong root systems underneath. We'll see. I've had to cover the bed in netting to keep the cats off - when it's no longer needed there, I'll move it over to the strawberry bed.

My Frugal Fortnight concluded successfully - I did manage to stay away from the store and not spend any more money on food, and we certainly ate just fine! I saved some $500 over the two weeks that way. On Thursday, I did a regular fortnightly shop, but am thinking of making it last a month, as we still have some things I'd like to use up in the pantry. Meanwhile, I have more recipes to post over the next few days.

By Thursday, the weather had turned bleak, with lots and lots and lots of rain over the last few days. Today (Sept 22nd) is the Equinox (day and night of equal length) and one expects unsettled weather at that time. Earlier in the month it was gales, now it's heavy rain. A lady I know who has grown a lot of food for years not far from here tells me gales are the norm for late November too (when tall plants are vulnerable if not staked). Local knowledge of what to expect is invaluable to gardeners - always talk to those around you who are experienced, and make note of what they can share, as well as keeping a diary of your own to record weather conditions so you will begin to see patterns.

When the weather is too nasty to work outside, it's a good time to work in the kitchen! I finally found time to begin harvesting and bottling my beetroot. I got half the bed done on Friday, before running out of time and energy. I will post my Pickled Beetroot recipe separately.

I've been keeping a record of how many eggs are being laid by which group of chickens over the past fortnight. As of yesterday, we've gotten 206 eggs over the last 13 days! That's a lot of eggs! I'm going to try out some methods of preserving them this week, but then I also need to start selling the on-going surplus, which will help to pay for the chicken feed. Free-range eggs anyone?

And lastly, I've begun planning a gardening talk I'll be giving at the local library on October 12th. If you're local, I hope you will come along!

Yesterday I sowed seeds of: hearting lettuce, gherkins, bee balm, borage, thyme, dill, chives, zinnia, cucumber, spinach, watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin and freckle lettuce in my greenhouse, and I have more seeds to sow, both undercover and directly into the garden.

So, how do you know what to sow, when and where? It is very helpful to have a local gardening guide, and here in New Zealand, www.gardengrow.co.nz is very, very useful. This website lets your choose your gardening region, then shows you what to plant this month and next, with details of how best to plant it, plus all plant names are linked to a page with more detailed growing and harvesting information. You can also subscribe to the email list, and get a weekly or monthly list of what to plant directly into your inbox. I find this an excellent tool.

On top of that, it pays to use local knowledge, as each area has it's own microclimate. So talk to your neighbours and those in your area who garden, and ask them when they plant specific things. In time, you will build up your own local seasonal knowledge. Keeping a gardening diary is an invaluable tool in achieving this - I'll post another article soon about my own gardening diary, what is in it, and why.

One more consideration - gardening by the moon calendars can be very useful too. Many people are certain the moon makes a big difference to plant growth, and my own experiments this year have shown that to be true. If nothing else, it is helpful to have a plan as to when in the month to concentrate on planting above-ground crops, when to plant root-crops, and when to concentrate on prepping, pruning and harvesting. All these things need timely attention, and something that helps you plan a monthly cycle can be a useful tool. I like NZ Gardener Magazine's downloadable moon-calendar. This is reusable one because each month you just turn the disc to line up with the new moon date for the month, and it tells you everything else. I keep a copy in the front of my gardening diary. You can find it here: http://nzgardener.co.nz/moon-calendar/