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A GOOD TOMATO CROP calls for sturdy stakes or cages; the best gardeners make their own cages from wire mesh,

available at hardware- and builders'-supply stores. It's sturdy, and six-foot lengths of it can simply be formed into cylinders

that support the plants without restricting their growth.

Concrete reinforcing wire is one good choice; the six-inch mesh is large enough to allow your hand to reach through for picking.

The experts agree that cone-shaped wire tomato cages sold at garden shops often don't do the job; they're small and flimsy.

     When starting tomato seeds, don't fill the seed pots full of potting mix, but fill them only halfway. When the seedlings are three inches tall, then fill the pots to the top. New roots will develop along the newly buried stem, and you will have young plants with stronger root systems.

  Don't plant tomatoes too close together. Set plants six to eight feet apart; that way, grasshoppers and other pests can't jump from one plant to the next.

  Rotating the crop -- planting it in a different part of the garden each year -- will lessen the threat of soil borne diseases. As an extra precaution in areas that have heavy rains and high humidity, mulch well all around the tomatoes once the plants mature, to keep the soil from splashing up onto the leaves during a downpour- grass clippings work well.

      To help tomatoes through periods of drought, find a flat rock (about the size of a sheet of notebook paper) and place it next to each tomato plant. The rock pulls up water from under the ground and keeps it from evaporating into the atmosphere.

      If cool weather and high humidity have spelled disaster for your tomato crop in the past, consider cherry tomatoes. Foolproof in any climate, they bear abundant fruit in high orlow temperatures and in rain or drought.

Be careful with manures, since they can burn your plants if not well composted
Four most important nutrients: (N) nitrogen, (P) phosphorus, (K) potassium and calcium

Nitrogen: leaf and stem growth (not too much or big beautiful leaves & not many fruits)
Sources: fish emulsion, blood meal, compost, manure (well rotted)
Symptoms: stunted growth and yellowing leaves

Phosphorous: strong roots, formation of flowers and fruits, and disease resistance
Sources: bone meal, chicken manure (well rotted)
Symptoms: stunted growth , thin stems and a purplish cast in underside of leaves

Potassium: plant growth, disease resistance, health and vigor
Sources: granite meal, greens, wood ashes
Symptoms: stunted growth, poor yields, yellow splotched foliage

Calcium: leaf and cell wall growth. Plants need adequate moisture to utilize calcium
Sources: bone meal, wood aches, ground limestone, crushed eggshells
Symptoms: blossom end rot

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TOMATO GROWING PROBLEMS
Although tomatoes are easy to grow, you can still run into problems.

V-F-N-T-A-St are letters that you like to see in the tomatoes description.

They refer to the diseases that they are resistant to.

Verticulum wilt
Fusarium wilt
Nematodes
Tobacco Mosaic
Alternaria Stem Canker
Stemphylium Gray Leaf Spot

Verticulum and fusarium wilt, leaves, curl up, turn yellow and drop off
Nematodes: tiny wormlike creatures that attack a plant’s root system, stunting growth and lowering disease resistance
Tobacco Mosaic, curling stunted leaves don’t smoke or touch plants without washing hands
Early Blight: very common, lower leaves affect first, brown spot surrounded by yellowing, mulch to prevent splashing of spores from ground
Too hot, blossoms fall off or die (extended temps over 90)
Blossom End Rot, black, scabby looking bottom, caused by inconsistent watering and a lack of calcium
Cat Facing, gnarled, abnormal formation of fruit, caused by cold temps, still edible, just ugly
Damping off, a fungal disease that causes the stems to rot at the soil line. Use sterile soil and pots, a dusting of sphagnum moss or vermiculite on the surface, good light and circulation
Pests aphids and hornworms

It is important that you don’t put the infected plants in the compost pile. Bag them and toss into garbage.

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Beginner Gardening 101 -Deciding How Big (farmers almanac)

A good-size beginner vegetable garden is 10x16 feet and features crops that are easy to grow. A plot this size, planted as suggested below, can feed a family of four for one summer, with a little extra for canning and freezing (or giving away).

Vegetables that may yield more than one crop per season are beans, beets, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips. For the plan below, your rows should run north and south to take full advantage of the sun.

Make your garden 11 rows of 10 feet each of the following veggies:

• Tomatoes — 5 plants staked
• Zucchini squash — 4 plants
• Peppers — 6 plants
• Cabbage
• Bush beans
• Lettuce, leaf and/or Bibb
• Beets
• Carrots
• Chard
• Radish
• Marigolds to discourage rabbits!

Leave 2 feet between bush beans, 1/2 foot between bush beans and lettuce, and 1 foot between all of the rest.

(Note: If this garden is too large for your needs, you do not have to plant all 11 rows, and you can also make the rows shorter. You can choose the veggies that you'd like to grow!)

If you're interested in planting potatoes, just remember that tomatoes and potatoes are not ideal companions and need "distance." _____________________________________________________________________________

GARDEN WATER SHORTAGE --- no problem......Use CARDBOARD and cover your wet composted garden. Wet down the cardboard (completely) once & cover with organic straw/ hay or grass clippings.  Water will be held in the soil by the cardboard and will keep your valuable cucumbers, peppers, mellons, tomatoes......the benefit is

NO WEEKLY WATERING .....only 1 to 3 times a Summer WATERING under the cardboard. You could also lay a drip hose under before you start and make your garden and even less fussy one.  THE OTHER BENEFIT- NO WEEDS. If one springs up....cover the area with.....you guessed it-CARDBOARD!