There is no summer taste quite as pleasing as a fresh, ripe, home-grown tomato. Gardening enthusiasts, and even those of us who know little of gardening, enjoy planting the first seeds inside when winter has not yet turned to spring. It is a thrill to see the tiny plants begin to shoot through the soil just days after we set them lovingly in a sunny window. We baby-sit them daily, watering carefully, watching for too-dry or too-wet soil, attentive to too much drying sun or too little shade. Raising young tomato plants from seeds feeds our desire for instant gratification. They grow quickly, spreading out new leaves daily and standing up tall and ready for outdoor planting as soon as the last frost watch is lifted.
Once your little tomato plants are transplanted into your garden, the fresh air, sunshine and consistent watering will encourage them to grow even more quickly; this is when the babysitting really begins. Tomato plants are vines that need guidance and direction from their gardener. If left un-staked, tomato plants will grow up, sideways, down and around, and in a heap of tangled mess. This can allow too much moisture to be retained, causing mildew or rotting. Use a tall sturdy stick to stake your tomatoes early, just after they begin to flower. Remember to use a soft cloth or nylon stockings; string or twine will often damage the main stem.
Tomato plants produce leaf after leaf, stretching toward the sun and looking like a veritable bush. But this is where the gardener must step in and do the hard work of pruning; hard work not because of the work involved, but because it goes against our better judgment. Pruning makes the plant look straggly and bare and not nearly as decorative, but pruning makes for a healthier plant and bigger fruit.
The pruning process begins shortly before the first fruit appears. Once the flowers have begun to fill in, it is time to prune. First, cut off all stems or shoots below the flowering line. Make a clean cut so it will quickly heal. Then, as more flowers begin to appear, more pruning is required. The fewer stems that are allowed to grow, the bigger the fruit will be, as the sugar in the stems will be diverted into the fruit. More stems might mean more tomatoes, but they will be smaller. Allow your tomato plant to grow 4-6 sturdy stems and then prune the stems just past the flowering line. When new shoots begin to pop out on the main stem, clip them off immediately, as well as any new shoots on the branching stems.
When a tomato plant is pruned, remember, it does not look as pretty. A thick, bushy plant may feed your gardening instincts, deceiving you into believing that a full, leafy plant is a healthy plant. But you simply must decide what you want your tomato plant spending its energy on: leaves or tomatoes.
Tomato plants must be tended daily. Warm, sunny days may cause new shoots to grow several inches per day, if untended; these will take precious sugar away from the cultivated fruit. If you go on vacation for a week or two this summer, teach the neighbors how to watch for unruly shoots when they come over to water your plants for you. In the end, pruning tomato plants will produce a harvest of larger and more plentiful tomatoes.
