Now is the time to be thinking about the tomatoes you will plant this spring. Here are some tips you may want to consider based on our experience of last year:
Containers
Due to lack of space we now grow our tomatoes in containers. The minimum size container you should consider is 15 gallons. Anything lest than that will result in a small crop of small fruit. Obviously, we would all like to have a large crop of large fruit. So stay with the large container size. Half whisky barrels make excellent containers. We fill all the pots with Miracle Gro potting soil mixed with sand. Four parts soil and one part sand.
Type plants
Cherry tomatoes. For years we used the variety called Sweet 100. Last year on the advice of Gary at Laguna Nursery we switched to Sungold. The result was an excellent choice. The little tomatoes were more prolific and much, much sweeter. Absolutely delicious. You must try these.
Old standbys. Celebrity, Better Boy, and Early Girl.
New varieties recommended by Steve Goto at a tomato seminar held at Laguna Nursery. All the following were excellent producers and had wonderful taste. Momotaro, Noire Charbonnuses and Stupice.
Tomatoes to avoid. Any tomato that promises to produce oversize fruit. Examples. Beef Master, Big Boy and Big Beef. For some reason these varieties do not do well in our climate.
Fertilizer. As discussed in past tips, we recommend Osmocote. The 14-14-14 blend. It is a controlled release fertilizer and one application will easily last six weeks.
