Tomato-PatchDid You Know?

• Introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century, tomatoes were called “love apples.”

• While the Spanish and Italians ate them, Northern Europeans believed they were poisonous.

• An 1893 Supreme Court decision declared that, though botanically a fruit, the tomato is a vegetable.

‘ROMA VF’

Lycopersicon esculentum

Transplanting and Harvesting

Best grown in cages. Determinate. 75 days to harvest from planting-out date.

Determinate: growth of a plant stem that is terminated early by the formation of a bud. Naturally self limited growth, resulting in a plant of a definite maximum size.

‘SUN GOLD’ HYBRID

Lycopersicon esculentumVar. cerasiforme

Transplanting and Harvesting

Trellis or sprawling.Indeterminate. 65 days to harvest from planting-out date.

Indeterminate: inexact in its limits or nature, no specific end size.

‘EARLY GIRL’ HYBRID

Lycopersicon esculentum

Transplanting and Harvesting

Trellis or sprawling.Indeterminate. 54 days to harvest from planting-out date.

‘SUPERTASTY’ HYBRID

Lycopersicon esculentum

Transplanting and Harvesting

Minimal support necessary.Semideterminate. 70 days to harvest from planting-out date.

‘BRANDYWINE’

Lycopersicon esculentum

Transplanting and Harvesting

Either stake, cage, or trellis.Indeterminate. 88 days to harvest from planting-out date.

‘YELLOW PEAR’

Lycopersicon esculentum

Transplanting and Harvesting

Plants do best on a trellis. Indeterminate. 75 days to harvest from planting-out date.

Starting Plants: Step 1

• Place one peat pellet in each pot.

• Pour a total of ½ cup of warm water over the pellets and allow them to expand (about five minutes).

• Fluff and mix the peat with a fork, then place the pots in the greenhouse.

Starting Plants: Step 2

• Gently press two or three tomato seeds into the top of each pellet.

• Plant each pot with a different variety.

• Mist lightly, close green-house, and place near a sunny window.

Starting Plants: Step 3

• Check daily to ensure that the soil stays moist and to allow air to circulate.

• Once seeds germinate, leave top of greenhouse open.

Starting Plants: Step 4

• When seedlings have two or three sets of leaves, transplant into 3” peat pots, and set in a sunny spot.

Starting Plants: Step 5

• Plants may be transplanted to your garden on week after the last frost. (no frost in Hawaii so this does not apply)

• Before transplanting, be sure to harden off seedlings by keeping them outdoors for increasingly longer periods of time.

• Start with an hour or two, and gradually move up to a full day.

• Avoid direct sunlight at first.

Don’t Forget to add Herbs to your Tomato Meal