By Vanessa Richins

Last year was a sad year in the tomato world, wasn’t it?

It felt like every other word I read on gardening sites mentioned “blight.”

Rain, an influx of new gardeners (which meant a larger chance for spreading), infected plants sold at retail chains and other conditions meant many tomato plants fell prey to late blight.

Next year can be better, though, if we all take steps to manage the disease.

The fungus needs a host that is living, so it will die on tomato plants left over the winter. It’s best to clean them all out, though, to help prevent any of the other diseases.

When you’re ready to plant again in the spring, I would suggest Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

You don’t have to stop thinking about tomatoes just because winter is coming and the days are getting cold.

Here are some activities to keep you in the tomato frame of mind.

Save those seeds.

If you’ve still got some tomatoes on your plants, you can save some of the seeds for next year. This is true even with plants affected with late blight, since the seeds won’t pass it on. They will be viable for about 4-10 years on average.

Make Christmas decorations with tomato cages.

Tomato cages aren’t just good at providing support for tomato plants. They can also be transformed into a variety of Christmas trees and other holiday decorations.

Cook up tomatoes for the holidays.

The holiday season means lots of parties, which usually involve food. Bring one of these tomato dishes to your next shindig.

Order Tomato Catalogs.

I LOVE Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

As I was paging through Google News today, I learned that a 4 pound 9 ounce tomato grown by Harold Politano had recently won the Great Long Island Tomato Challenge.

My mind boggled for a minute as I tried to imagine holding such a beauty.

Jessica Damiano from Newsday.com interviewed Politano and found out how he produced his hefty prize-winning tomato. “His secret? “You have to concentrate on getting all the juice into that one big flower that comes out,” he divulged. “Everything else is sacrificed: You cut off all the other flowers and keep only one stem, cutting away all the smaller stems.”

I have heard of other Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Many people are looking for natural ways that they can boost the production and nutrition of their plants.

In Finland, scientists have been studying the effects of using human urine on tomato plants.

Before you worry too much right off the bat about the possibility of diseases, I learned years ago in my microbiology studies that urine itself is naturally sterile, and no microorganisms are usually growing there unless fecal matter has been introduced.

Another benefit is that urine comes complete with the ingredients that are the basis of your standard fertilizers - N (Nitrogen), P (Phosphorus) and K (Potassium).

When they tested three different groups - a control with no fertilizer, one with standard fertilizer, and one with a mixture of urine and wood ash - they found that both methods of fertilizing made the plants produce 4.2 times as well as the tomatoes grown with no fertilizer.

As Popular Science explains, Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

As many of you know, this year has been a struggle for tomato gardeners in the Northeast and beyond.

After unusually long bouts of cool weather, rain and humidity, many tomato plants have fallen prey to the same disease that caused the great Irish potato famines - late blight.

In an Op-Ed in the New York Times, Dan Barber explains some of the conditions that made it a perfect situation for late blight to ravage tomato plants. He includes heirloom tomatoes and the explosion of interest in home gardening as a large part of the problem.

I can agree somewhat with what he is saying. As far as home gardeners go, he explains that the problems began when some of the large chain stores sold infected plants. This caused the plants to be grown in many home yards, which usually aren’t as closely watched for diseases as farms may be.

There have also been Read the rest of this entry »

By Vaness Richins

Did you always have Heinz Tomato Ketchup in your home growing up?

Was a family picnic incomplete unless the ketchup was there?

Heinz is looking for your stories of wholesome memories involving Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

They were having a contest for the best memories, but it ended August 7th. They are still looking for memory submissions, though. If you’re interested in participating, write up a memory of 150 words or less describing your memory. You can also attach a photo - use the JPEG format and make sure that it is less than 5 MB.

Actress and author Josie Bissett shared a statement on the submission page that included : “Heinz® Ketchup was a part of Read the rest of this entry »