Tomato Tuesday: Picking Blossoms

Today's tip is dependent upon when your tomato plant was planted, the weather, and the variety of the plant.  I've found through talking with fellow gardeners in the Seattle area, that most everyone is between the stages of :
1. No tomatoes growing yet, only blossoms.
2. Ripening tomatoes, but there are a few weeks until they ripen.

If you are number one you probably don't have tomatoes growing yet because you either planted too late, which is very easy to do in our short season climate, or your plants aren't receiving enough sun. There are other reasons for tomatoes not developing, but I'll need to save that for another post. For now, try adding some red plastic around the base of the plant to encourage your plant to grow. Oh shoot, that's another post too. I might have to make a Tomato Thursday.

If you are number two (tomatoes ripening), which is where I am, you need to pick some of the blossoms off of your plant. I have a large amount of tomatoes that I'm waiting to ripen on each of my plants. By picking off the blossoms that are on the plant, the energy and nutrients will be put towards the ripening tomatoes! You don't need to pick them all off, but at least three-fourths of them. Focus on the ones at the top of the plant since those most likely won't develop anyway.

We're almost there Seattle.

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