Who doesn’t love home grown tomatoes? I am sure you will agree, that they just taste b the best right off the vine! The best part, is that growing tomatoes is easy even for the most inexperienced gardener.

Before you rush off to your nearest garden center or nursery, there are a some things you need to consider before planting. Do you want just a few tomatoes and avoid having to stake or prune your tomato plants? Then the Determinate tomato plant might be the best choice for you. Determinate Tomatos blossoms grow at the ends of shoots, eliminating the need for pruning or staking, and bloom and produce their fruit all at once. If you prefer to have tomatoes all summer and don’t mind the upkeep such as pruning , and staking, then indeterminate tomato plants would be your best best. Indeterminate tomato plants grow and produce fruit the entire summer, with blossoms and fruits growing along the vines, and stopped only by cold weather.

Next decide what your going to use your tomatoes for. If you want a tomato to compliment a burger, or eat it alone with a pinch of salt or sugar, the Beefsteak tomato is the one for you. These tomatoes are quite large, often weighing over 2 lbs each. If you prefer tomatoes for a salad or include them in your shish-ka-bobs, then cherry tomatoes would be a good choice. Because these tomato plants produce a lot of fruit, you may find that one plant is sufficient. Finally, if you want to make your own tomato sauce, the Pasta tomato plant is the preferred choice. Pasta tomatoes are pear shaped, and often less juicy than other types that you are accustomed to.

Planting and Caring For Your Tomato Plants

Because tomatoes do not grow in cool to cold temperatures and highly susceptible to damage caused by frost, make sure that you plant only after the danger of frost has passed.

Prior to planting your tomato plants, it’s important that you pick and area that will provide good drainage and in an area that gets at least 7 hours of full sun. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to work the soil several weeks prior to planting your tomatoes, breaking up large clumps of dirt, removing debris and adding some peat moss. It won’t hurt to add a little organic fertilizer before you plant your tomatoes, but don’t add an excessive amount until the plant is well established, otherwise you will end up with lots of foliage and very little fruit.

When shopping for tomato plants, look for plants that have sturdy stems, are between 8 and 10 inches in height, are green in color, check the leaves to be certain that the plant is free of insects and has not yet bloomed.

When planting, remember to plant deep. It won’t hurt your plant to dig a hole deep enough to cover 75% of the plant, covering some of the lower leaves. Also, many have found great success planting their tomato plants on their sides. This will allow the plant to develop an extensive root network and solid foundation, they will grow upright in a few days. Because tomato plants double their size every 12 to 15 days, remember to space the plants 2 to 4 feet apart. Consider staking your tomato plants, to reduce the amount of space they take up and keep the vines and fruit off the ground.

After planting water them, being careful not to over water as root decay may occur. In order to prevent over watering but conserving the moisture in the soil, it’s a good idea to spread mulch around the plants.

Tomato plants are annuals, which means you will have to replant every year. It is recommended to change the location of your tomato plants every year in order to avoid disease.

As Fall goes into full swing and winter approaches, home and garden enthusiasts will want to extend their growing season with a Green House Kit from GreenGardenTools. Don’t forget to take advantage of the free shipping on all greenhouse kits. And don’t forget about the eco friendly leaf blowers, trimmers and tillers.

The ever growing interest in organic gardening starts with a premise — you are what you eat. Gardeners have developed a plethora of methods for planting, growing and nurturing their crops, all without using chemicals (fertilizers or pesticides). The results are a garden of fresh fruits and vegatables chock full of nutrients taken directly from the soil, organic gardeners say.

While the health benefits of organic gardening are the subject of debate with both non-organic growers and within the industry itself, there is no denying that tender care given to each crop produces a vine-ripened tasty product. But just shunning the use of chemicals is far from all that is required to become a Read the rest of this entry »

Gardening can be a fun and fascinating hobby and a great pastime, and there are a number of things that can make just about any gardener more successful with the plants in their care. For those who have the space and can afford the expense, a greenhouse can be a wonderful addition to the landscape, and a great way to make those plants thrive, no matter what the weather conditions outside.

A greenhouse is the perfect place to start those seeds and nurture those tender seedlings until they are strong enough to survive the rigors of the outdoors. The type of Read the rest of this entry »

Eliminating harmful insects has always been a priority of gardeners and major food crop organizations alike and it has been no easy task. The search for solutions while keeping plants safe to consume in the process is an ongoing and unrelenting pursuit to say the least. Pesticides are big business and rake in the billions of dollars every year in their effort to aide the small and commercial farmers and even everyday individuals trying to nurture their plants on a much smaller scale every growing season.

The preferable method to get rid of insects in a garden of course would be using natural means. Read the rest of this entry »

The approching summer months bring a plethora of life to gardens as the sun drenches lawns, and plants appear to take on a wonderful ethereal glow. But the beauty that unfolds along with the season of summer also brings plenty of work to be done behind the scenes.

The watering chores will seem to grow exponentially during the long, hot, dry spells. It is essential that the plant life gets what they need to sustain themselves under the summer sun. Sun-loving flowers are especially vulnerable as they will face the most exposure. The lawn, container plants, hanging baskets, vegetables, flowers and plants all need their drinks, but be careful not to overdo it.

Newly planted trees and shrubs are vulnerable and need a close eye kept on them when it comes to watering. Lawns should be cut a little higher than they usually are, as this will help them withstand the drier weather.

Weeding needs to be kept up throughout the summer months, catching them early, before they can seed further. Always remember to look under leaves of plants to catch the less obvious weeds. You can take solace that the weeds will not grow with such abandon during mid-summer if you do a good weeding early on. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring has always been just about my favourite season of the year, with the rebirth of plants along with all the tasks necessary to accommodate them. But one of my least favourite things about this time of year is getting all the gas-powered tools out of the garage and getting them to run.

So far this year Read the rest of this entry »

Studies show that traditional gas-powered mowers to be major contributers to pollution, up to thirty times worse than cars per gallon of gas used. Electric rotary mowers are much more earth friendly.

Electric mowers also are much quieter, meaning less noise pollution for your neighborhood. Sparkplugs and air filters never need replacing, and electric engines don’t need tuneups.

Other advantages include easier starting and less weight to push around.

The Neuton Electric Mower is a state of the art electric rotary mower that can run from 45 to 60 minutes on a single charge. Why not check one out today?

For anyone who cooks, they know there is nothing like fresh herbs. Fresh herbs taste so much better than dried herbs any day. So why not create a summer herb garden to have readily access to the herbs you use all the time.

Making an herb garden is simple. It does not require a lot of room. A garden is cost efficient and has many benefits too. Think of the fresh garden salad with the fresh herbs you grew yourself, how wonderful it tastes. It Makes your mouth water just thinking about it.

There are many Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re planning to use your greenhouse all year round, there will be a time that you are going to need some lighting in your greenhouse. If you have thought about it and done some research then you will have discovered that it isn’t really easy to select the best lighting for your greenhouse. But there is a simple way to select your greenhouse lights and I am going to show you how. The first thing you need to do when thinking about lights for your greenhouse is to ask yourself what kind of a greenhouse do you have and what is it that you want to  do when you have greenhouse lighting.

The Types Of Greenhouse Lighting.

You have two types of greenhouse lights: one is supplementary and the other one is growing. Lets start with the supplementary lights. Read the rest of this entry »