SAN DIEGO -- Once you’ve eaten home grown tomatoes, you’ll probably want to grow them every summer. Here’s a few of my favorite tips for producing a perfect crop. At planting time add calcium to the soil to avoid blossom end rot (black bottoms on mature fruit). The easiest way to add calcium is by spreading gypsum on your garden soil before planting. Till it in to the soil along with your fertilizers. I’m using liquid blood and bone by Dr. Earth to feed the garden and so far I’m very pleased with the color of my young plants and the number of blossoms. Be certain to water you plants deeply since tomatoes have the deepest roots of all your veggies and need regular deep watering to take in the calcium.

Tomato horn worms are one of the creepiest pests in your vegetable garden. They are big (4”) green caterpillars with a spike at the tail end. If hand picking is something that does not turn your stomach do that and either squish them or feed them to the chickens (I know, most of us don’t have chickens, but if you do ya da ya da etc.)

Letting nature do its magic is always a good solution in my garden. Try nailing an empty tuna can on the end of a stake, and then stick the stake in the ground right next to your tomatoes. In the can place raw peanuts in the shell and a bunch of meal worms. The peanuts should allow the meal worms a place to hide from the sun. As birds arrive to eat the worms and peanuts, they’ll see caterpillars on you tomatoes and eat them too.

My favorite method comes from Biologist Bill Toone, who plants Passion Flower vines near his tomatoes. The passion vines attract Gulf Fritillary butterflies who lay their eggs on the vine. Thousand of caterpillars will emerge feed on the vines only (host specific) and then turn into hundreds or thousands of adult butterflies. The benefit is visual of course, but the large numbers of caterpillars will also attract predator insects and birds who will feed on the butterfly larva and on the horn worms too.

Finally you are ready to harvest (some time has passed) There is no need to wait until the fruit is completely ripe. Once a tomato starts to turn from green to red/orange/yellow etc, it can be picked and placed in a window for ripening. This practice foils other pests which like ripe tomatoes. One last thought…if the local birds are pecking your tomatoes, try putting a bird bath in the veggie garden. They are looking for water, and would prefer the real thing, and maybe they’ll eat some pest while they’re there.

Enjoy the garden and remember dirty hands are a good thing.

Loren Nancarrow