These green tomatoes are waiting for slightly cooler weather to ripen

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- What they don’t tell you when you start a tomato garden (or for that matter, when you get married or have a baby) is that the beginning is the easy part. Right about now is when the going gets tough. But with grocery prices increasing every week, a bit of persistence can pay off.

So with that in mind, here are some midsummer tips and tricks to keep your tomato plants thriving and productive through fall.

Early blight. Early blight in tomatoes is extremely common in humid areas like northeast Ohio, but it is relatively easy to avoid with good hygiene and pruning practices. Early blight is a fungal infection causes the bottom leaves on the tomato plant to have yellow and brown spots that eventually cause the entire leaf to die and then moves up the plant.

The fungus spores live in the soil, which is one reason that experts recommend rotating your tomato plant locations every year. Another way to avoid blight is to consistently remove the bottom leaves on your tomato plants, all the way up to the first flower cluster. This prevents the fungal spores from splashing onto the bottom leaves, which is the primary way that tomato (and pepper) plants become infected. I prune weekly throughout the growing season, simply by pinching growth off with my thumbnail.

If your tomato plant is already infected, don’t despair. Early blight affects the leaves and stems only, so the tomato fruits will be healthy and delicious. Eventually the plant will succumb, but by then we will be carving pumpkins and stocking up on road salt.

Fertilizing. Tomatoes and most garden vegetables are heavy feeders, and after the initial burst of spring growth in fresh soil and compost, their productivity can peter out in midsummer. For some people, concocting the perfect blend of bone meal, worm castings, and pixie dust to feed their plants is a hobby in itself, and while I admire their determination, it’s simply too complicated for me.

On the other hand, garden stores have colorful boxes of prepared (expensive) fertilizer with a specific formulation for each plant and application instructions that will have you reviewing your math skills. I’ve used these fertilizers but have found that while they are effective in boosting leaf growth, it can be at the expense of actual vegetable production. In addition, all that lush green foliage seems to attract pests and disease. I think of prepared fertilizer as the sugar of home gardening—it will definitely give a quick boost of energy but I regret it in the end.

What I’ve settled on is called “side dressing” with compost, which is sprinkling aged compost—either your own home compost or purchased—around each plant about once a month through the growing season, and topping it off with some fresh straw mulch to suppress weeds, retain moisture, and prevent disease splash back from the soil. No measuring or math is needed, and it provides long-term nutrition to the plant. If prepared fertilizer is like sugar for the home vegetable garden, then compost is like a well-balanced meal.

Watering. It is easy to overwater tomatoes, which then causes problems ranging from fruit splitting to fungal diseases. Unfortunately, tomatoes like moderate, consistent water, preferably in the morning, and our summers tend to deliver the exact opposite—sudden, sporadic deluges, often in the afternoon or evening. I generally let nature battle it out and only water when it’s been a week or more since the last rain and focus watering the base of the plant only to discourage disease.

Ripening. If you have a garden full of green tomatoes that refuse to ripen, you’re not the only one. The likely culprit is yet another factor you have no control over—the temperature. Although we think of tomatoes as heat-loving plants, they prefer an even 70-75 degrees, so our recent heat waves have stalled ripening. It is tempting to try and hasten the process by watering and fertilizing, but that will do more harm than good. A little benign neglect can go a long way. Cooler weather will come and ripening will resume.

Although these are some common tomato troubles, many other problems can arise. For expert help, you can ask a Master Gardener Volunteer through the Ohio State University Extension program at http://extension.osu.edu/ask-an-expert and they will be happy to help. If you have other gardening tips or questions, contact me at sbrownstein216@gmail.com.

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