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What to do this week<br />
ON YOUR FRUIT & VEG PLOT<br />
Care for<br />
tomatoes<br />
Make sure you keep on top of<br />
watering for plenty of fruits<br />
It’s a vital time for your tomatoes – care for them<br />
properly now and you’ll reap the rewards come<br />
late summer. They need a lot of consistent care,<br />
particularly if you’re growing them in pots or in a<br />
greenhouse. Pinching out sideshoots – the laterals that<br />
grow between the main stem and fruit-forming stems – as<br />
well as regular weekly feeding with tomato food, are key<br />
to more trusses.<br />
But the most important part of summer tomato<br />
maintenance is watering.<br />
Just as many of your other frazzled plants may wither<br />
and wilt in high temperatures and little rainfall, they<br />
need topping up, but it’s also necessary to water evenly<br />
whenever you feel the compost is dry. If you neglect them<br />
then ripening may be affected, or rotten brown patches at<br />
the bottoms of fruits may appear. Splitting, unsightly fruit<br />
may also indicate that your watering regime is lacking.<br />
But be careful not to overwater as this can lead to boggy<br />
soil, which your tomatoes won’t like, and fruits may not<br />
be as tasty.<br />
Your best bet, if you can, is to water a little every day for<br />
best results and lots of juicy fruits.<br />
Step<br />
by step<br />
Water little and often to ensure<br />
1 plants get even moisture and<br />
avoid blossom end rot.<br />
Bauer<br />
Once a flower truss has<br />
2 formed, be sure to feed your<br />
tomatoes with a high-potash feed.<br />
Remove sideshoots regularly<br />
3 to direct more energy into the<br />
fruit and flowers.<br />
Help fruit set by gently shaking<br />
4 indoor plants to loosen pollen,<br />
and by misting flowers.<br />
Picture Credit Picture Credit Shutterstock<br />
Cut back overgrown<br />
gooseberries<br />
When gooseberries put on rampant growth, bushes can<br />
soon become untidy and tangled. Congested growth<br />
reduces air circulation, which increases the risk of disease.<br />
Lightly prune overgrown plants now, thinning out<br />
overcrowded stems and pruning back drooping stems to<br />
an upright sideshoot.<br />
In addition, trim all new sideshoots back to five leaves<br />
during the first week of <strong>July</strong> on plants that are three years<br />
or older with a core framework of main branches and two<br />
or three leading stems. Only prune the leading stem tips if<br />
they’re showing signs of mildew.<br />
40 <strong>Garden</strong> <strong>News</strong> / <strong>July</strong> 1 2017
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