KG+Trouble-free tomatoes - Kitchen Garden Magazine

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The trusty tomato is undoubtedly Britain’s home-grown crop. But pitfalls to success are never far away. Be aware and take preventative action, and you’ll be in for a trouble-free harvest.

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Benedict Vanheems writes in the Kitchen Garden March issue (Pages 32-35) on common issues affecting tomatoes such as tomato blight, failure to ripen and poor fruit set.

Here is the bonus copy….

Blossom end rot

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Dark sunken areas appear at the base of the tomato. It is caused by lack of calcium but there needs to be a good supply of water to all parts of the plant to enable good calcium uptake and so sometimes irregular watering can play a part and is more often to blame than an actual lack of calcium supply. Some varieties seem more prone to this and it is not always easy to completely eradicate.

It helps to keep the soil moist and avoid it drying out and then soaked and then drying out again. Apply a good liquid tomato feed. Water the soil well before applying the fertiliser.

Tomato leaf problems

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Curling leaves: Often caused by variable temperatures especially later in the season when it can be very warm in the day and cool at night.

Yellow mottling of older leaves

This is quite normal and can be caused by nutrient deficiencies especially magnesium. Make sure you are feeding and a dose of Epsom salts (20g per litre of water) can help every couple of weeks.

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.