Go Green in Your Tomato Patch

This year why not plant “green” tomatoes in your veggie garden?  Thanks to Bonnie™ Plants “Going Greener for You” initiative you can choose plants packaged in earth friendly containers.  Bonnie’s exclusive Biodegrable Peat Pots and Jumbo Fiber Pots are biodegradable and made from natural and recycled materials.

The neat thing about them is you can plant the pots with the tomato.  This reduces transplant shock and there are no nursery containers to throw away.  Using biodegradable peat pots will help eliminate some of the 320 million pounds of plastic that gardeners will send to landfills this year.  They’ve already dramatically reduced energy and petroleum required in the manufacture of plastic pots.

 

How Does Your Tomato Grow?
Determinate, or Bush varieties of tomatoes, reach a certain plant height and then stop growing. The majority of their fruit matures within a month or two and appears at the ends of the branches. Most determinate varieties need a little staking, but there are some very stocky ones such as Better Bush that don't need much, if any, support. Container varieties are usually determinate. Little or no pruning is needed.

Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and produce tomatoes all along the stems throughout the growing season. Indeterminate plants need extra-tall supports of at least 5 feet. Some gardeners grow both types, determinate for large harvests for canning and freezing and indeterminate to get fruit throughout the growing season. Because indeterminate varieties throw out so many shoots, gardeners often prune them for optimum-sized fruit or train them on a very tall trellis. However, if you don't prune, no harm done! You may have seen photos of 10- or 15-foot tomato vines. These are definitely indeterminate types.