Tomatoes

When to Plant Tomatoes and Peppers
Favorites | Garden Planning | Gardening Tips & How-to's | In the Garden | Seed Starting | The Beginner's Garden Podcast | Tomatoes | Vegetables

When to Plant Tomatoes and Peppers

Do you grow tomatoes and peppers? If you’re like most gardeners, you do! These two plants are considered staples in most home gardens. Growing these plants from seeds indoors or transplanting these plants into the garden isn’t hard. However, getting the timing right when planting these crops outdoors isn’t always quite so simple. In our…

Straw Bale Garden Results after My First Season
Favorites | Gardening Tips & How-to's | In the Garden | Organic Gardening | Summer Garden | The Beginner's Garden Podcast | Tomatoes

Straw Bale Garden Results after My First Season

Did you try something new in your garden this year? Trying new things is so much fun! This year I tried the popular gardening method, straw bale gardening, for the first time. In a previous episode of The Beginner’s Garden podcast, I introduced the founder of the Straw Bale Garden Method, Joel Karsten. He and…

Gardening in the Heat – Frequently Asked Questions
Gardening Tips & How-to's | In the Garden | Summer Garden | The Beginner's Garden Podcast | Tomatoes | Vegetables

Gardening in the Heat – Frequently Asked Questions

No matter where you live, you will most likely have to deal with hot weather throughout the summer. Your hot season might be shorter than mine in the southeastern US, but you likely have one. It was a surprise to me when I first started gardening that not all of my crops handle the hot…

Troubleshooting Tomato Plant Problems with Joe Lamp’l
Gardening Tips & How-to's | In the Garden | Summer Garden | The Beginner's Garden Podcast | Tomatoes | Vegetables

Troubleshooting Tomato Plant Problems with Joe Lamp’l

When we begin our gardens, we imagine what our tomato harvest will look like. But most of the time, we don’t anticipate tomato plant problems that often arrive in mid-summer. Beginning gardeners blame themselves and sometimes give up. But they shouldn’t. Summer tomato problems are more common than you realize, and thankfully, there are steps…

Is Pruning Tomato Plants Necessary?
Gardening Tips & How-to's | In the Garden | Spring Garden | Summer Garden | The Beginner's Garden Podcast | Tomatoes | Vegetables | Vegetables

Is Pruning Tomato Plants Necessary?

Do tomato plants need to be pruned? In my first years of gardening, it seemed everyone told me, “yes.” But as I gained more experience and began listening to other gardening experts, I learned that the answer to this question isn’t as clear as you’d think. People get passionate about tomato pruning. But I started…

Is it better to stake or cage tomatoes?
Garden Planning | Gardening Tips & How-to's | In the Garden | Spring Garden | Summer Garden | The Beginner's Garden Podcast | Tomatoes | Vegetables | Vegetables

Is it better to stake or cage tomatoes?

My journey to the ideal tomato trellis system has not been an easy one. It started with using a flimsy round “tomato cage,” which couldn’t bear the weight of my vining tomato plant loaded with fruit. Then, I turned to the Florida Weave method. This worked beautifully for my Roma tomatoes but not the vining,…