growing tomatoes coffee grounds
Whats Wrong With My Tomato Plants?
Now that your seedlings are big enough to be planted outside they need to be hardened off. This is done by bringing them outdoors gradually. The first day leave them NOT in direct sunlight for about an hour. 2nd day expose to a little sun for about one hour keeping in mind that you need to keep the soil moist to help them acclimate. Start adding an hour a day until they are up to a full day in the sun.
Space your tomatoes approx 25” to 30” inches apart and dig that hole nice and deep burying them up to the first set of leaves. This will insure a deep strong root system. To help with the shock of transplanting more quickly I like to mix two parts water with on part sifted compost. Then I mix together two tablespoons each of fish meal and cottonseed meal. I work both mixtures into the soil at the bottom of the hole. You can even add a crushed up egg shell for extra calcium.
After planting your tomatoes they should be mulched once the soil has warmed. Mulching helps keep the soil moist and helps keep the fruit from sitting directly on the ground. Mulch also acts as a slow release fertilizer and helps keep down the weeds.
Great mulch contains lawn clippings, fall leaves that have been shredded down with the lawn mower or shredder, egg shells, coffee grounds, sawdust, wood chips etc.
Okay now you’ve given your garden everything you know to do….So why are the leaves wilting at the bottom of my plant? Does my tomato plant have a disease? Here’s a couple easy organic fixes for many tomato plant diseases (like early and late blight diseases): I prune off the affected leaves and destroy them (you might have to do this every couple of days until under control). Then I alternate a copper based fungicide one week and a sulfur based spay the next. There are plenty of websites to find good fungicides but I like www.YardLover.com because they specialize in organic products.
Another good tip is to water your plants in the mornings versus evenings…this give the plants time for the sun to dry them off.
Gardening is supposed to be nice and relaxing… so let’s go find a nice comfortable lawn chair and watch those tomatoes grow.
Happy Gardening!
Penny
About the Author
http://pennystomatoes.com/meetpenny.html
Is there any benefit to mixing egg shells and coffee grounds into the soil around tomato plants?
What would they be? Any other advice or suggestions for growing tomatoes successfully.
Yep, I add egg shells and coffee grounds to the soil to help add nutrients to the soil and maintain a good pH level in the soil. A common problem with tomato plants is blossom end rot on your fruit. This can be corrected by putting a small amount of lime in the soil or putting some epsom salt in the soil. Always water plants in the morning.
What Happens To The Coffee Grounds?
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