Tomatoes - Easy to Grow.

Tomatoes –it’s the easiest plant to grow, but hard for me to remember Solanum lycopersicum(botanical name )

I have tried my hands on the tomatoes last April and the outcome was juicy tomatoes. Got some saplings from the Nursery and placed it on the window shelf with some sunlight.

It’s one of the plants that could be grown thou you have some less space. Frankly speaking didn’t take care much, just watered it and put some coffee /Tea leftovers. Mother Nature was kind enough to give me a couple of them.  Had to go on a vacation and it died.

April 2012 - Harvest

H thinking its a ball ! 

Tomatoes are commonly classified as determinate or indeterminate.

Determinate, or bush, types bear a full crop all at once and top off at a specific height; they are often good choices for container growing. Determinate types are preferred who wish to harvest at one time, or interested in canning. 

Indeterminate varieties develop into vines that never top off and continue producing until killed. They are preferred by who want ripe fruit throughout the season, but in Qatar need to give it a try during real hot season. 

As an intermediate form, there are plants sometimes known as vigorous determinate or semi determinate; these top off like determinates, but produce a second crop after the initial crop. The majority of heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate, although some determinate heirlooms exist.

Once I moved to the new house– I sowed some seeds in the container again, and it was fighting for space when it popped up, but I was lazy to transplant it to another Pot and let it die without watering, feel guilty it was a healthy plant. 

It was interesting to see that it still survived for almost 10 days without watering in this hot season. Believe me it was still green; just a little work could have saved this one. I dumped it in the compost later.

Another day where I just put the left over tomatoes from my kitchen in a pot with some soil, it grew there also, but it was very leggy, so had to pull it off.

Now I’m back again with a new set of seeds from Carrefour, purchased it last shopping, sowed it in the seed tray last night. They say we need to keep the seed tray under a cool place first, and when it germinates we transplant .But I’m trying it just under a normal Netted place with some sunlight. Just watering it twice a day.

 To help avoid fungal problems later once it grows, avoid getting the leaves wet when you’re watering the soil. O yeah and the brand that I have purchased is Marglobe , which is supposed to be a determinate variety , if it’s a real one which is expected to grow 4-5`, but some sources do say its indeterminate , There are lots of attributes hmm..  I just wish it tasted better and fun to grow with zero pest.

Also have googled to see, companion planting for Tomatoes, to make it sweeter and distract the insects, its basil.I have a couple of them going to see later if it makes any difference.

Further I also sowed some spear mint or pudina in the seed tray, I'll write a separate post on it later , this seems to be a lengthy one , :)  hope you liked it and happy planting , share your tomato experience !