When my Dad was a young boy in the Depression his family worked on a tomato farm as part of the government’s relief program. You can imagine he was a great one for giving tomato gardening tips and advice. The fact remains that there were always tomatoes in our garden, so that juicy tomato flavor that only comes from a freshly picked tomato, is something we dream about all winter. Especially after eating those horrible winter tomatoes in the stores! This article discusses some of the problems growing tomatoes can bring.

Garden tomatoes are actually easy to grow and most people will have few problems growing tomatoes. There are some common things that pop up each and every year.

Here is a list of five problems and some tomato gardening tips and solutions.

Problem 1: If you accidentally buy cherry tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes, you have big problems with thousands of little tomatoes! The only way to tell the difference is with the little tabs in the tomato plant packs. You must read the tabs carefully and hope they are right.

Problem 2: Staking the tomatoes. It all starts out nice and simple, and neat. As the tomatoes plants grow, it is harder, since you will run out of stake to keep up with the growth. The art of staking, pruning, tying will keep you busy all summer. Do not be surprised if they fall over anyway!

Problem 3: Tomatoes need lots of water. Believe all tomato gardening tips you read on water . Tomatoes will not produce, and will get fungus and disease when there is not enough water. Even the time of day you water makes a difference. Water in the hot sun, it evaporates, and water too late, in the evening, you run the risk of fungus.

Problem 4: The end of the growing season brings bugs, worms and tomato rot. If you planted enough plants, you should get enough tomatoes, even with this bad stuff. The good news by this time in the summer, you are getting tired of caring for your plants, so it does not matter!

Problem 5: Tomatoes will grow wild! After awhile thing just get plain crazy. The tomato plants just keep making new shoots and they keep on growing all over the place. One tip is to calculate when there is not enough time left before the first frost for a new tomatoes to grow to full size, and just chop off the new flowers. This lets the tomatoes that are left get all the nutrients.

These problems growing tomatoes do not result in destroying your plants, so you still get a nice juicy sweet tomato to put in a salad or on a sandwich through the summer. It is never a bad idea to read up on tomato growing tips each spring, so you can start dreaming about that juicy tomato on your summer hamburger.

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I have been growing tomatoes in patio containers and pots this year with some success. I also have my beloved plot with tomatoes growing in the ground. I know the ones in the ground will work fine – they have done for thirty years. But growing my tomatoes in containers is anew departure for me.

The comparison between the pot grown tomato and those in the ground.

I grew 2 varieties this year moneymaker and an Italian cherry tomato variety. I cannot remember the name but they came free with a magazine. I sowed the seeds in March 2008 and grew them on in my conservatory in 6 inch pots. As Always I grew too many tomato plants and gave 20 away. I planted them out as 2 – 3 foot high plants in early June and a month later picked the first tomatoes. As I speak in late august I still have many fruits to pick so it has been a good year. The plants grown in containers have had similar results but I have noticed 2 differences.

Firstly the moneymaker tomatoes were slightly smaller than the ones grown on my plot.

Secondly there were not quite as many cherry tomatoes in the containers.

Other than that the results were very similar. The taste is uniformly excellent and the texture and colour very appetizing. For the container grown tomatoes I did treat them differently and with a bit more care.

1. Make sure you put tomato plants in a really big pot.

I like the root systems to have plenty of room and not become pot bound. You also need a big container to have enough depth for the support canes. I use standard clay terracotta pots but any wide and deep container will work fine.

2. Water your tomatoes even if it rains.

We have had a dreadful summer in the UK this year and it has rained constantly. I still found that the pot grown tomato plants were wilting a bit if I didn’t check them for watering. The plants in the veg plot did not need this. The reason for this is that the leaves of the tomato plants deflect much of the water away from the pot. Very little water gets to the root of the plants. This is why I check them daily.

3. Be ruthless with pinching out side shoots on the tomato plants.

I only pinch out once or twice a season when growing tomatoes in the ground because they seem to do fine. I have learned this through trial and error. The moneymaker plants in pots were pinched out once a week to ensure that the fruits I did get were big enough and juicy enough. I never bother pinching out cherry tomatoes. They take care of themselves and always give plenty of harvest.

4. Remove excess foliage once you have the tomato fruits.

I have always done this to tomatoes and do not know where I picked this tip up. Once you have all the tomatoes set on the plant remove any leaves that are hiding the fruit from the sun. I prefer the tomatoes to ripen on the plant and this helps speed up the ripening process. Removing the leaves also gives you slightly bigger tomatoes.

If you have missed this tomato season then I encourage you to plan ahead for your tomato growing in 2009. Grow some in pots and containers as well as in the ground. They are a lot of fun and be grown on any sunny spot you have.

Longtime gardener Larry Moore has been sharing his tips on growing your own food. www.kmbc.com

I live in Arkansas and have tried growing tomatoes before. Everyone seems to be able to produce tons of big juicy tomatoes. My vines will produce small to med size for a short while and then they just quit putting out tomatoes. How do I get Large juicy tomatoes? I need growers tips and secrets pleaseeee!!! Also is it possible that the weather can get too hot for tomatoes? This year I have 3 plants. All of them are Better Boys. Thanks to all who offer help to my poor brown thumbs.