Have you decided to embark on the adventure of harvesting tomatoes in your vegetable garden? You are absolutely right! In addition to the joy of growing beautiful things at home and no longer needing to spend money regularly to buy them in stores, you have the assurance of being able to eat REAL tomatoes with REAL taste (not just mouthful tomatoes). water and pesticides from the supermarket). And if your appetite for this fruit-vegetable is insatiable, you will be happy to learn that a simple gesture can make your harvest much better.
What you need:
- A good sharp knife or pruning shears
More tomatoes step by step:
1) Choose a day when it is rather warm and the ground is dry.
2) Identify the main stem(s). There can be between one and three and you should never cut them.
3) Simply cut the small lower branches of your plants without ever climbing up too much or cutting the branches above so that your tomatoes can benefit from the shade provided by the leaves. In addition to removing suckers, also pruning the lower leaves will promote air circulation and reduce the risk of fungal diseases when watering.
Why do it if you want more tomatoes?
First of all, they often receive a little water when watering and therefore easily catch diseases which then spread to the entire plant. Furthermore, these small branches are greedy for water even though they do not produce tomatoes! Removing them will therefore increase water circulation under the plants while making them stronger and improving their yield.
Removing the suckers from tomato plants allows you to focus the plant’s energy on fruit production rather than growing new branches. This also promotes more robust growth and better air circulation around the fruit, reducing the risk of fungal diseases. Casually, tomato plants can also receive better exposure to the sun, which promotes faster ripening and more abundant and better quality fruit production. This is not not an obligatory gesturebut it can give a boost to your harvest. Something to delight gardeners who love good salads and tomato dishes!
The cut leaves can be put in compost or a pot to scare away flies and you can apply cinnamon to the wound to avoid the risk of disease.
Other must-follow gardening tips to increase your tomato harvest
In addition to removing suckers to encourage greater yield, here are some other tips for getting more tomatoes in your garden! First of all, it is necessary provide good drainage and aeration. So make sure your tomato plantings are in well-drained, well-aerated soil to promote healthy root growth and better nutrient absorption. A regular fertilization is also to be expected . Enrich the soil with a balanced tomato fertilizer to provide plants with the nutrients they need to produce abundant fruit. And of course, ensure a regular and uniform wateringpour avoid water stress which can reduce yield.
To go further, do not hesitate to use organic mulch around plantstomatoes to maintain soil moisture, reduce weeds and regulate soil temperature. You can also test hand pollination. If you grow self-fertile flowering tomato varieties or in a greenhouse, you can actually encourage pollination by gently tapping the flowers or using a brush to transfer the pollen. Finally, practice crop rotation. Avoiding planting tomatoes in the same location every year reduces the risk of soil diseases and nutrient depletion.