Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Time to take the tomatoes to task


July has been so good to my garden. We've had rain every day and no hail! The flea beetles that were munching on my spinach have now been sent to that big lettuce leaf in the sky.
And last night I dined on fresh beets from the garden.

Things are going so well, in fact, that the tomatoes I planted are quickly getting too big for my garden. They're spilling out of their containers as if they were auditioning for Baywatch.

So I started wondering, is it ok to prune tomatoes?
It didn't take much searching on the old 'Net to find out it's not only ok, it is recommended. A pruned tomato yields larger fruit that mature more quickly.
Most garden sites recommend pinching off lateral suckers when they are a few inches long.
For tons of info on how and when to do this,
click here.