Tomatoes

It seems like tomatoes are the home gardener's favorite crop. It's no wonder, either. Tomatoes can be expensive, especially organically grown ones. Store-bought tomatoes tend to be white inside and almost flavorless. Home-grown tomatoes are red all the way through, they're soft and juicy, and they taste better.

Tomatoes are usually easy to grow. One year my dad had over 70 tomato plants. He ate tomatoes; he gave them to us, his neighbors, and church members; he froze them; I canned them and one of his neighbors canned them. My father-in-law, who lives next door, grew some huge tomatoes one year. He and I both started our tomato plants from organic seeds. His did great - he had healthy plants that produced lots of fruit.

Mine, however, didn't fare so well. For some reason I have a hard time growing tomatoes. One year it was nematodes. This year it's a calcium deficiency induced by water stress. Yes, that means I didn't water them like I should have. (I take much better care of my kids - they're growing like weeds!) We have gotten some tomatoes from our vines this year and we have many more that will be ripening soon.

My husband found this website to help diagnose common tomato problems. Hopefully you won't need it, but if your tomatoes are anything like mine, you just might.