==== ==== REVEALED: 3 Age-Old Secrets to Growing Mouth-Watering Organic Tomatoes: www.robert-recommends.com/organic-tomato-magic ==== ====
Hello again friends, I'm sitting down soundly by my fire-place tonight, it's dark, cold, and windy on this December night in Vancouver. There is a storm brewing off to the North West from the Pacific tonight, and the wind is howling at 50 Knots. Now... what kind of person knows the wind speed of a storm you might ask? A sailor! That's right, not only am I prudent at tomato gardening, I'm also a die-hard sailor. Which means, I check the marine weather forecast every day, even if I'm not sailing... It's a habit one picks up after learning the lesson of not checking weather before going out into the Ocean. Now, the stories of me fighting for my life at sea are another thing and belong in a different blog... onto tomato gardening. It just so happens that our question today deals with howling wind and cold weather... It comes from Karen from Houston City, Karen writes: "About a month ago I planted four tomato plants (2 varieties) in containers hoping that I might be able to grow tomatoes thru our cold weather in Houston. I have a tomato that's been green for several weeks and it keeps getting a little bigger but it doesn't appear to be ripening. The other 3 plants have flowers but they don't seem to be making tomatoes. This is my first attempt to grow tomatoes in containers. I have pulled a few leaves off as you suggested. Do they need any food? I bring them under the patio cover at night and cover them with plastic bags as the wind is blowing pretty good. Help!"
Karen, your dilemma reminds me of the time I planted Zuchinni squash in September and tried to get it to grow :) I was just getting into gardening and was so excited about my little garden I didn't want to wait t'll spring and hoped for a warm October. What you may be hoping for is a little short of a miracle, as growing tomatoes in these environments is just too difficult with those conditions, here's why: Tomatoes don't like cold weather, and they definitely don't like to be moved around too often. Moving them every night like this will either get them sick, or, it will just result in them not growing very much more than they have already. Tomatoes CAN withstand a great deal of cold weather, even below freezing temperatures, but they won't grow in them. Which is why so far you've only got one tomato. It is possible that down in Houston you have enough sunshine during the day to create a nice greenhouse effect. So here is my immediate suggestion to save your plants, and get those few flowers you have now to turn into tomatoes. 1. Go out and get a small green-house for under $100. You can probably find one on eBay. If it fits on your patio, great. The green-house will provide shelter from the wind, and warmer temperatures during the day. If you can keep the temperature at 20 Degree Celsius on average during the day, this is good. 2. Lay some fresh soil in the greehouse with tomato food in it. 3. Put the pots in the greenhouse on the soil, BUT, cut out the bottom from the pot. This will allow the plant's roots to go deeper and suck more nutrients. Yes, you should also feed the plants tomato food at least twice a week during water. If you go to the local gardening store, there should be pre-made "tomato food" there. This is the best quick solution for the situation. Finally, if you want to maximize your tomato harvest I highly recommend you learn about tomato grooming, it's what I mainly concentrate on in my book as it is THE biggest secret to success with tomatoes.
Kacper Postawski is that author of “Organic Tomato Magic” (www.JoyfulTomato.com) an eBook that Reveals The Most Over-Looked Secret That Grows Mouth-Watering Organic Tomatoes In Half The Time, With Less Effort, And Doubles Your Harvest...
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kacper_Postawski
==== ==== REVEALED: 3 Age-Old Secrets to Growing Mouth-Watering Organic Tomatoes: www.robert-recommends.com/organic-tomato-magic ==== ====