Top Tips for Tasty Tomatoes
Whilst tomatoes are such a widely grown crop there is, never the less much to learn about them. Let us try and help you out with some timely tips.
Water and feed can greatly influence the taste of a tomato; the flavour of neighbouring plants can vary, even if they are the same variety, if they have been treated differently. The key is give them just enough, and not to kill the flavour with kindness. When feeding, follow the instructions to the latter and don’t apply too much as this can really have a big effect, but too little feed will reduce yields and vigour. Water your plants when they need it, the soil can go slightly dry between watering and it certainly doesn’t want to be waterlogged. Keep an eye out for splitting fruit; a tell tale sign of inconsistent watering.
Always allow the fruit to ripen on the plant (or on the vine) rather than pick them too early. Vine ripened tomatoes give a much superior flavour to those ripened off the plant.
Greenhouse tomatoes can be prone to attack from whitefly and red spider mite. Damping down the floor with water each morning and again during hot periods of the day improves humidity and deters these troublesome pests.
Potato blight can play havoc with your tomatoes in a wet summer if the two plants are grown near one another. The greenhouse naturally provides much protection, but tomatoes grown near spuds outside can be screened.
As tomatoes are a sub-tropical fruit and dislike the cold, they should be stored at room temperature. Storing them in the fridge impairs natural ripening and flavour. Over-ripe tomatoes will go soft even more quickly in the refrigerator. To ripen home-grown tomatoes, place them in a paper bag with a ripe tomato and keep at room temperature. Use under-ripe, green tomatoes for making chutney.
To experience the very best flavour from your tomatoes, don’t forget natures very own herbal accompaniments. Basil is the most obvious, but mint, parsley and oregano should not be forgotten.