When I plant tomatoes, I too, remove the bottom leaves and plant in a trench” laying the tomato plant on its side and cover with soil leaving only a couple of inches of the plant showing above the soil.
I grow cherry tomatoes in a container with basil - I grow for the basil and give the tomatoes to my nephews because I can’t eat tomatoes. This year I’ve planted the seeds - saved from a couple of tomatoes last year - directly into the container, and they’re shooting up quite quickly. I had forgotten about having a stake for them and best get that in before they get too settled. The basil seeds have yet to sprout, though.
My Indiana friend and I are grow cherry tomatoes in her greenhouse each year. We usually have tomatoes until February when the sustaining cold sets in.
Mollyann my old friend - hello!! I had a cherry tomato in our little glasshouse once - it grew like a spiders web in there! I hear it is getting colder. I am happy not to be facing down an Illinois winter this year!
Fantastic - lots of great tips here including removing tips - the epsom salts is new to me and I didn't know about planting them deeper - I will need to save this article or print it out - thanks so much Cecilia! 🤗☕
I was introduced to the epsom salt trick by an old lady in Illinois. Once again an old wives tale later proven by science. Interesting right? Though in the end a good compost pile wins the day - and mine is still a work in progress so I am leaning heavily on worm farm compost.
My favorite tomato dish is one from my Trinidadian roots called tomatoes choka. It’s made by roasting the tomatoes until they blister, then mashing them with onions, garlic, and hot pepper. It’s usually served with flatbread (we call it sada roti). Pure comfort food.
Thank you for this post, Cecilia! It’s been a while since I’ve grown remarkable tomatoes (a container of tiny cherry tomatoes struggling in my Brooklyn back yard were devoured by my dog, two Northern-Hemisphere summers ago!😖) But now we are living a Southern Hemisphere life, in Argentina, so tomato season is upon us and I can’t wait to put your tips to good use. Thank you for the recipe too. 💛 Kristen (@reusethematerialgirl)
I have tried, really I have, but I just cannot like tomatoes. Cooked they're ok but off the vine? Nope. Since John is gone I don't grow them at all. As a kid I can remember my uncle going to Illinois to bring back oleomargarine ( it was banned here in Wisconsin at the time). It came with a little packet to color it. Crazy for here in the dairy state with another aunt & uncle running a dairy farm!
A little packet to colour it!! Yuck!! My mother in law won’t eat butter she eats something called ‘I can’t believe it’s butter’ or something weird like that. Awful stuff. My Dad was of the margarine generation - they thought butter woukd make you fat! So he changed to spreading margarine thickly on his slice of cake. 🤮
Cheese was dreadful in the UK by the 70s - it was rubbery! Now the British produce more quality cheeses than France. Margarine was also prevalent - it's called vegetable butter these days 😳
Eating tomatoes in Malta in the 1600s, means they were early adopters - the French outlawed the use of tomatoes in/as food until 1772!
I grew Solanum Lycopersicum tomatoes this year - they are supposed to be the original tomatoes which all other European tomatoes have been bred from. They are excellent, but they need a long time to grow, so need to be started off indoors in January/February.
I have another growing tip, which is very important. Don't grow tomatoes in the same place every year or you will get blight ;-)
I grow my tomatoes in the same pot with the same dirt but enriched with a green crop over Winter, which I dig in, then some compost and replant with Tomatoes again. Been doing that for several years and 🤞🏻no blight.
Ribena is a British drink and still going strong, but there was no Tang here in the 60s and 70s.
British food (including cheese) was very good before the two world wars, but by 1940, children growing up with rationing, became used to tins and food sustitutes.
Cheese making was a cottage industry and those things suffered when people moved to towns during the Industrial Revolution. I remember listening to an edition of the Food Porgramme, where an Italian cheese expert stated that, during the middle ages, a wheel of Stilton or Cheddar in an Italian food market would have fetched a very high price.
Not a wheel, but a tiny wedge of Stilton cost an arm and a leg here in Japan last Christmas. I had to pass. 😢 Love real cheese, not the processed stuff, but it’s so pricey!
ooh, thanks for the tomato tips and the recipe, it truly does sound like comfort food! my daughter makes delicious shakshuka with fresh tomatoes and all the veg and spices, and puts and egg or two in at the end, so good!
GREAT info on tomatoes, Cecilia! Thank you. We’ve been growing tomatoes for years but there are a lot of tips I didn’t know. And will try next year.
How to handle drought and 40° weather for days at a time? I think our plants were so worn out, they couldn’t produce. Seems that way with a lot of what we planted this summer.
Tomatoes go into a kind of stasis when it is really hot then when it cools off again - like in late summer they often start to flower again. (And we have a lot of green tomatoes on the vine going into winter 🤨) At least that’s how it worked in Illinois in the extreme heat of summer. I look forward to seeing how these tomatoes do in the extreme heat of a Melbourne summer.
Ah, okay. Will leave them in longer next year. We get little boring insects and cherry tomatoes with little holes in them. In the comments, you all wrote basil next to the tomatoes is good, but our tomatoes overshadow the basil, so it doesn’t grow well. (We don’t have much space, as you know.) Anyway, maybe the tomatoes will produce again once it gets cooler. Now, that is the beginning of October here! Thanks again for the insights everyone. :-)
Yes, that’s a new concept. We do that with green onions, so why not tomatoes? I’m guessing that would give them a more robust root system to soak up water and nutrients!
I don't have a lot of room in my 2 terraced garden. It is on the south side of the house. A rain barrel provides fresh water when needed. I usually have 5 or 6 Celebrity plants and a cherry plant. The two of us can't keep up with the crop. Extras get frozen for winter cooking.
Freezing those cherry tomatoes is the very best. A person can just reach in and pull out a handful to throw into the pan. Your celebrity plants intrigue me.
When I first moved here I tried to grow toms. It gets too hot in the summer; the plants are perennials but won't produce flowers or pollen. Turn your back for a day and they die in the heat. Folks grow toms mostly in pots between December through April. My potted toms were small and tasteless, and it felt odd - indeed no fun - to be growing toms at Easter time. I used to grow 100s from June-September.
After reading this twice, once scanning, then going back to reread - I also say 'wow' > you ARE a fabulous teacher! I knew most of this from here and there and everywhere . . . but never so well put together . . . you know I only have my studio patio at the moment and am waiting for a high planter for the very necessary herbs . . . but methinks just one pot of late cherry tomatoes tucked on the side - from Bunnings of course :) ! best for the weekend and pat bub's bottom for me . . .
Celi - 2pm Thurs - Have just found the gal I was talking about re gardening - posts under 'gardeningwithmom' on Instagram. TikTok and YouTube - was just 'going on' about banana peel water as a fertilizer. Has 565K readers on IG alone - perchance having a look when, if ever, you get a break? . . . E
Wow Cecilia. My mouth watered reading that recipe. I have just planted tomatoes (Northern Rivers NSW)...they are growing (about 6 inches tall right now) and I am in that..."c'mon" stage of waiting. I have some from last year frozen and I am going to try your recipe tonight! Thank you.
I hate the waiting!!! I love this old recipe - it is a classic Mama recipe in that every Mama makes it slightly differently. The trick is to get a crunchy top and creamy centre. Let me know how it turns out!
I may hold off for tonight. We are getting the predicted heat wave and it is more salad and drink lots of water time rather than this beautiful hot dish. But I have the recipe now and will keep you updated. :)
Tomatoes grew so well in the dry Alberta soil, but not as well in soggy Vancouver. I did manage to grow cherry tomatoes in a large wooden brandy barrel cut in half on my patio. They were very tasty.
I am going to print this post! We set up our little garden last year (it is very little) and our tomatoes did better than I thought they would but could do with improvement. I did have a lot of crowded thin vines and felt bad to cut them off but it got dire. There really is nothing better than a homegrown tomato. I would like to do it again this spring and your tips will be helpful thank you!
We had lots of little Angel cherry tomatoes last night in our dinner, part of a leftovers/fresh platter (leftover “rustic bolognese” type sauce with tinned tomatoes, corn, avo, wild rice, salad, cucumber). Our older two love 🍅 and will eat them all day; youngest only likes ketchup but I’m hopeful her taste buds will evolve.
I feel like your youngest was only born just the other day! 😂 I have always been interested in how many little people don’t like fresh tomatoes though will cover their faces in tomato sauce in their hurry to eat it.
When I plant tomatoes, I too, remove the bottom leaves and plant in a trench” laying the tomato plant on its side and cover with soil leaving only a couple of inches of the plant showing above the soil.
Oo! That is an excellent tip. Thank you Sandy - those plants would be so sturdy!
I grow cherry tomatoes in a container with basil - I grow for the basil and give the tomatoes to my nephews because I can’t eat tomatoes. This year I’ve planted the seeds - saved from a couple of tomatoes last year - directly into the container, and they’re shooting up quite quickly. I had forgotten about having a stake for them and best get that in before they get too settled. The basil seeds have yet to sprout, though.
Apparently the scent of the basil confuses insects that prefer tomatoes. So your companion planting is perfect..
Leave it to the Italians to figure this out! ❤️
My Indiana friend and I are grow cherry tomatoes in her greenhouse each year. We usually have tomatoes until February when the sustaining cold sets in.
This one plant has taken over!
Mollyann my old friend - hello!! I had a cherry tomato in our little glasshouse once - it grew like a spiders web in there! I hear it is getting colder. I am happy not to be facing down an Illinois winter this year!
Fantastic - lots of great tips here including removing tips - the epsom salts is new to me and I didn't know about planting them deeper - I will need to save this article or print it out - thanks so much Cecilia! 🤗☕
I was introduced to the epsom salt trick by an old lady in Illinois. Once again an old wives tale later proven by science. Interesting right? Though in the end a good compost pile wins the day - and mine is still a work in progress so I am leaning heavily on worm farm compost.
Our soil is sand so I’ve been using pots when I can although the strawbs loved the soil
Potatoes would love it too!
They grow everywhere in our garden and we just let them
Sounds like the perfect arrangement!
Re epsom salts and animal poo, do you add it to the top of your soil or dig it in?
Sprinkle on top for the epsom salts - dig in for the compost.
Reading your articles makes me happier, Cecilia.
My favorite tomato dish is one from my Trinidadian roots called tomatoes choka. It’s made by roasting the tomatoes until they blister, then mashing them with onions, garlic, and hot pepper. It’s usually served with flatbread (we call it sada roti). Pure comfort food.
Happy weekend to you ....
‘With lots of hot pepper’ of course! 😆 sounds really simple and delish!
Happy New Week Cecilia
We never forget the peppers lol
Thank you for this post, Cecilia! It’s been a while since I’ve grown remarkable tomatoes (a container of tiny cherry tomatoes struggling in my Brooklyn back yard were devoured by my dog, two Northern-Hemisphere summers ago!😖) But now we are living a Southern Hemisphere life, in Argentina, so tomato season is upon us and I can’t wait to put your tips to good use. Thank you for the recipe too. 💛 Kristen (@reusethematerialgirl)
Argentina! How exciting! How did I not know this. Argentina is huge. Is it warming up yet? So many questions. What kind of tomatoes will you grow?
I have tried, really I have, but I just cannot like tomatoes. Cooked they're ok but off the vine? Nope. Since John is gone I don't grow them at all. As a kid I can remember my uncle going to Illinois to bring back oleomargarine ( it was banned here in Wisconsin at the time). It came with a little packet to color it. Crazy for here in the dairy state with another aunt & uncle running a dairy farm!
A little packet to colour it!! Yuck!! My mother in law won’t eat butter she eats something called ‘I can’t believe it’s butter’ or something weird like that. Awful stuff. My Dad was of the margarine generation - they thought butter woukd make you fat! So he changed to spreading margarine thickly on his slice of cake. 🤮
Cheese was dreadful in the UK by the 70s - it was rubbery! Now the British produce more quality cheeses than France. Margarine was also prevalent - it's called vegetable butter these days 😳
Eating tomatoes in Malta in the 1600s, means they were early adopters - the French outlawed the use of tomatoes in/as food until 1772!
I grew Solanum Lycopersicum tomatoes this year - they are supposed to be the original tomatoes which all other European tomatoes have been bred from. They are excellent, but they need a long time to grow, so need to be started off indoors in January/February.
I have another growing tip, which is very important. Don't grow tomatoes in the same place every year or you will get blight ;-)
I grow my tomatoes in the same pot with the same dirt but enriched with a green crop over Winter, which I dig in, then some compost and replant with Tomatoes again. Been doing that for several years and 🤞🏻no blight.
You are lucky. It's not a good idea to grow any crops in the same place or soil year after year.
Crop Rotation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_rotation
It is wonderful how good has improved so drastically since the 70’s - remember Tang and Ribena? We were brought up on the stuff!
I have copied this last and most important tip and popped it into the body of the post - I can’t believe I forgot that!
Ribena is a British drink and still going strong, but there was no Tang here in the 60s and 70s.
British food (including cheese) was very good before the two world wars, but by 1940, children growing up with rationing, became used to tins and food sustitutes.
Cheese making was a cottage industry and those things suffered when people moved to towns during the Industrial Revolution. I remember listening to an edition of the Food Porgramme, where an Italian cheese expert stated that, during the middle ages, a wheel of Stilton or Cheddar in an Italian food market would have fetched a very high price.
Not a wheel, but a tiny wedge of Stilton cost an arm and a leg here in Japan last Christmas. I had to pass. 😢 Love real cheese, not the processed stuff, but it’s so pricey!
It is awfully expensive here too though we can get a really good cheddar at a reasonable price. Now I am going to look for some good Stilton here.
Yes to good Stilton! (And a sturdy wine to go with it!)
Oh I loved Stilton. And Christmas Stilton with cranberries in it? I loved that cheese. Am I remembering correctly?
There is a white stilton with cranberries in it, though I'm not fond of fruit in cheese.
I have been told that tomato plants enjoy breezes, anyone else heard/know this?
Tomato flowers are fertilized by the breeze and movement so this is probably why. I guess also - most plants like a little breeze
ooh, thanks for the tomato tips and the recipe, it truly does sound like comfort food! my daughter makes delicious shakshuka with fresh tomatoes and all the veg and spices, and puts and egg or two in at the end, so good!
I have never added eggs at the end before.- it makes it all so light and creamy.
GREAT info on tomatoes, Cecilia! Thank you. We’ve been growing tomatoes for years but there are a lot of tips I didn’t know. And will try next year.
How to handle drought and 40° weather for days at a time? I think our plants were so worn out, they couldn’t produce. Seems that way with a lot of what we planted this summer.
Tomatoes go into a kind of stasis when it is really hot then when it cools off again - like in late summer they often start to flower again. (And we have a lot of green tomatoes on the vine going into winter 🤨) At least that’s how it worked in Illinois in the extreme heat of summer. I look forward to seeing how these tomatoes do in the extreme heat of a Melbourne summer.
Ah, okay. Will leave them in longer next year. We get little boring insects and cherry tomatoes with little holes in them. In the comments, you all wrote basil next to the tomatoes is good, but our tomatoes overshadow the basil, so it doesn’t grow well. (We don’t have much space, as you know.) Anyway, maybe the tomatoes will produce again once it gets cooler. Now, that is the beginning of October here! Thanks again for the insights everyone. :-)
I think the extra deep planting will work for you too 😀
Yes, that’s a new concept. We do that with green onions, so why not tomatoes? I’m guessing that would give them a more robust root system to soak up water and nutrients!
Plus they last longer as the weather cools. Getting those last tomatoes to ripen
Marigolds are a good companion plant. Keeps away some insects from tomatoes
We planted them in pots near the tomatoes. Should we plant them directly next to the tomato plants as they're growing?
I don't have a lot of room in my 2 terraced garden. It is on the south side of the house. A rain barrel provides fresh water when needed. I usually have 5 or 6 Celebrity plants and a cherry plant. The two of us can't keep up with the crop. Extras get frozen for winter cooking.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xxpRnWNHpGfhQEuUA
Freezing those cherry tomatoes is the very best. A person can just reach in and pull out a handful to throw into the pan. Your celebrity plants intrigue me.
The photo is great and you gave exactly the water barrel set up I want to put in. But you know how I am with tools! Working on it though.
I sorely miss growing tomatoes. It is one of the things I regret most moving to Arizona. Oh to grow some again! I had so many heirloom types.
That is the saddest comment this year! I have never been to Arizona - too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter?
When I first moved here I tried to grow toms. It gets too hot in the summer; the plants are perennials but won't produce flowers or pollen. Turn your back for a day and they die in the heat. Folks grow toms mostly in pots between December through April. My potted toms were small and tasteless, and it felt odd - indeed no fun - to be growing toms at Easter time. I used to grow 100s from June-September.
Well you gave it a good try. And keeping potted plants alive in the drying heat is so hard.
After reading this twice, once scanning, then going back to reread - I also say 'wow' > you ARE a fabulous teacher! I knew most of this from here and there and everywhere . . . but never so well put together . . . you know I only have my studio patio at the moment and am waiting for a high planter for the very necessary herbs . . . but methinks just one pot of late cherry tomatoes tucked on the side - from Bunnings of course :) ! best for the weekend and pat bub's bottom for me . . .
Yes! Absolutely. Don’t have someone who can carry in a big lush pot for you? Cherry tomatoes are so good to just eat straight from the plant!
Celi - 2pm Thurs - Have just found the gal I was talking about re gardening - posts under 'gardeningwithmom' on Instagram. TikTok and YouTube - was just 'going on' about banana peel water as a fertilizer. Has 565K readers on IG alone - perchance having a look when, if ever, you get a break? . . . E
Wow Cecilia. My mouth watered reading that recipe. I have just planted tomatoes (Northern Rivers NSW)...they are growing (about 6 inches tall right now) and I am in that..."c'mon" stage of waiting. I have some from last year frozen and I am going to try your recipe tonight! Thank you.
I hate the waiting!!! I love this old recipe - it is a classic Mama recipe in that every Mama makes it slightly differently. The trick is to get a crunchy top and creamy centre. Let me know how it turns out!
I may hold off for tonight. We are getting the predicted heat wave and it is more salad and drink lots of water time rather than this beautiful hot dish. But I have the recipe now and will keep you updated. :)
Good thinking. Heat waves and ovens are not a good mix! 😀
Tomatoes grew so well in the dry Alberta soil, but not as well in soggy Vancouver. I did manage to grow cherry tomatoes in a large wooden brandy barrel cut in half on my patio. They were very tasty.
I remember soggy Vancouver. That incessant rain!
I am going to print this post! We set up our little garden last year (it is very little) and our tomatoes did better than I thought they would but could do with improvement. I did have a lot of crowded thin vines and felt bad to cut them off but it got dire. There really is nothing better than a homegrown tomato. I would like to do it again this spring and your tips will be helpful thank you!
We had lots of little Angel cherry tomatoes last night in our dinner, part of a leftovers/fresh platter (leftover “rustic bolognese” type sauce with tinned tomatoes, corn, avo, wild rice, salad, cucumber). Our older two love 🍅 and will eat them all day; youngest only likes ketchup but I’m hopeful her taste buds will evolve.
I feel like your youngest was only born just the other day! 😂 I have always been interested in how many little people don’t like fresh tomatoes though will cover their faces in tomato sauce in their hurry to eat it.