This is my first year as a gardener. I think it’s going well, especially considering I have a history of killing every houseplant I’ve tried to keep alive (even air plants). Soon I will have grown corn, tomatoes and a truly absurd amount of tomatillos, and I’m excited.
Although I’ve learned a lot, I’ve been hesitant to write anything about gardening, because it’s such a complicated subject, and the people who are into it are so into it (and I don’t want to piss them off). But yesterday I saw this little tip about tomatoes on Twitter, and honestly it was too good not to share it.
I don’t know who plant expert Sean is, but his advice matches what my neighbour tells me: It’s all about energy. According to Sean, “a fat tomato near the bottom of the plant will take most of the nutrition coming up. So if it’s close to maturity, pick it and finish ripening inside a paper bag with a banana/apple, and more energy will go to the tomatoes higher up.”
This coincides with what my neighbour told me about the branches of tomato plants: trim the big ones – as long as they don’t have flowers – at the bottom of the plant to help it grow more.
Again, this is my first year with any kind of garden – and my first year keeping the plants alive – so I haven’t done side-by-side gardening studies to test all this new information, but I’m going to remove the big boys from the bottom of my tomato plants as soon as they approach peak maturity. (I want all my tomatoes to get as many nutrients and as much energy as possible, but I’m also very impatient).
