Tomato Types
Here at Bauman’s Farm, we’d like to make it as easy as possible for you to decide which of the many varieties of tomatoes are the right tomatoes for you. To help you with this, we put on our signs whether each variety is a determinate or indeterminate tomato. A determinate tomato ripens all at the same time, and the indeterminate tomato ripens a little bit along throughout the whole season and usually into the first frost. Of course, there’s always the option of having a few varieties of each so you have fresh tomatoes all season long.
Planting Tomatoes
When you plant your tomato, you’re going to want to plant it nice and deep to make sure it stays nice and sturdy. Tomatoes can actually sprout roots all the way up along the stem. So, you’re going to want to take off all the lower leaves, dig a nice deep hole, and plant it all the way up. The other option is to dig a trough and then plant it sideways and train the top of it upward. As it grows, you’re going to want to use a tomato cage or a stake to ensure it stays nice and sturdy. That’s the best way to make sure it gets a good start growing.
Keep Tomato Plants Healthy
If you develop blossom and rot on your tomatoes, that little black spot that keeps them from ripening in the summer, it’s probably because you’re deficient in calcium in the soil. You can add calcium with lime, but you can also add calcium with a product Bauman’s carries from Espoma called Tomato-tone. Not only does it have lime or calcium in it, but it has other nutrients for your tomatoes. It also has mycorrhizae that will get in and around that tomato root system to make that plant grow even stronger. This is the best way we know to get a good crop of tomatoes even when it has been wet and cold.
Eating Tomatoes
We love our sauce. The Sheena is a Roma tomato that is perfect for making sauce, partly because they have a long shelf life once they’re picked. They also have very few seeds. We mainly love the Sheena Roma tomato because of its taste; it has the perfect blend of sweet and sour.
Growing tomatoes is a great addition to a salsa garden. Because of the wet spring, you may want to start with some tomatoes that mature quicker: the Early Girl and the 4th of July. They’re both around 49 to 59 days to maturity. They each produce a four-to-five-ounce fruit that’s really sweet, and they’re both indeterminate tomatoes. These pair good with our Burning Bush Habanero to make a really spicy floral salsa. We also have jalapenos and poblanos for a milder flavor.
Besides the sunshine, one of our favorite things about summer is all the fresh fruits and vegetables that you can get, including tomatoes. There is nothing better than Caprese with a freshly picked vined tomato. Whether it’s an heirloom tomato or just a regular slicer, take a little bit of fresh mozzarella and some freshly picked basil, a little bit of balsamic, and you’ll taste the true meaning of summer!
Watch as employees from Bauman’s Farm & Garden talks about planting tomatoes, keeping them healthy, and their favorites to eat.
