Have you ever tried growing tomatoes yourself?
Nothing like those that grow organically in our garden. Want to know my secrets?
If you don't have the possibility to sow, you still have the option of planting feet in the garden or in pots on the balcony.
Yes, why not? Especially if you have a south-facing balcony. Make it profitable!
This year, I'm going. It's been a long time since I made a very beautiful, all natural tomato. I started a little late and missed the seedling season. So I popped into the garden center.
At €5.10 for 3 tomato plants, which will give me at least 5 kilos each, that makes me per kilo of tomatoes at... 0.34 €! In trade, they exceed €1.80 per kilo at the moment, it all depends on the variety. The season lasts 5 months, if I consume 1 kilo per week, I save at least:30 €.
And here I am with my 3 tomato plants that will ensure my little family's consumption until the fall. I unearthed them pretty pots, big enough, and large stakes, to grow them under my awning, sheltered from the rain and the wind.
The leaves and fruits of this beautiful red do not like showers. It brings them all kinds of misery and other diseases such as powdery mildew .
In Brittany, all the same, I could have been lazy about watering, but no, not with tomatoes!
They are delighted: directly south ! If they don't give me tasty fruit, I quit. And since they are next to the front door, I am not likely to forget them. A little watering every 3 days, and who is the big fruit for?
You can also plant marigolds and lavender. Installed in the ground before them, it seems that it diffuses I don't know what in the ground which protects them. I note for next year. As with basil , which I placed next, it seems that it makes the tomatoes less acidic. Yum. I'm going to gorge myself on gazpachos.
To discover: The Practical Guide to Combining the Vegetables in your Vegetable Garden.
It reminds me of my friend Jacqueline who puts 4 feet of cherry tomatoes every year on her balcony in Paris in planters. The balustrade acting as a tutor. Too funny the aperitif by pecking directly on the foot, at the source.
But that's not all, before eating them, you might have to feed them.
So now that I'm green (according to my kids!), I've got some schemes. I'm going to try nettle manure as organic fertilizer .
Anaïs keeps saying it:"The nettle is your friend!". So I dragged my unconvinced children in search of the lost nettle... or almost, on the sides of the roads before they were mowed down by the municipal employee.
Discover here the nettle manure recipe that your vegetable garden will love!
She has what to please, the nettle? Nitrogen when it decomposes. So you have to put chopped nettle at the bottom of the hole when you plant your tomatoes and water with nettle manure:once a week , 10 ml of nettle manure in 2 liters of water. Then every 2 weeks when the flowers come out.
I just thought I'm going to have to steal some copper wire from my handyman kid.
And why do ? To pierce my tomato stalks at the base, because legend says it protects them against downy mildew . And me, when I can avoid pesticides and other nutty chemicals I take!
On this subject, I came across a book that might hook you up, too:"Nettle slurry and company:plants to the rescue of plants".
No I'm not talking about my kids, but about these kinds of branches that grow under the armpits of the leaves. Well, rather above. Because on a tomato plant, there are leaves and stems on which the tomatoes will grow. If stems grow at the base of the leaves , you have to cut them.
They are the greedy. They exhaust the plant. Oh yes, they will give tomatoes, but all the tomatoes on the plant will be very small. Pity ! So you have to check every day that it doesn't grow back, and we cut it if it does.
I will also cut off the head at my tomato feet, when the fruit stalks will be 5 in number, no more. This way I will have good big fruits.
I noted in my gardening notebook:
- All the leaves are removed when the tomatoes are no longer growing, at the end of the season.
- We no longer water when the fruits turn red, to enhance their taste.
- We keep the seeds of a few tomatoes to make 100% free organic next year.
- We start a little earlier to sow the seeds in a bucket:January in a heated greenhouse, March in an unheated greenhouse
I did not sow this year, so I will not give a figure. But it's bound to be even more interesting.
But even by buying my tomato plants late, I find myself there. Based on 1 kg per week tomatoes, my food budget is reduced by €30 for the year. And much more by saving the seeds for the year after.
To the delight of my taste buds!
