Monty Don shares quick job to ‘do now’ to ‘extend’ tomato harvesting period

Monty Don shares quick job to ‘do now’ to ‘extend’ tomato harvesting period

08/01/2022

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Tomatoes are ideal for growing in containers both indoors and outdoors, making them a popular option for gardeners. The fruit starts to ripen from mid-summer onwards, depending on the variety chosen and weather conditions. Smaller tomatoes tend to ripen more quickly than larger crops and greenhouse tomatoes usually last for longer. According to Gardeners’ World host Monty Don, there are a few things gardeners “should do now” when it comes to tomatoes.

In his recent blog post for August, the gardening expert wrote: “Tomatoes are coming up to their prime harvesting period.

“To extend this and make sure that all the current green tomatoes fully ripen over the coming month, there are a few things a tomato grower should do now.

“The first is to strip off the bottom half of the leaves on each plant.”

According to Monty, this will let in light and air.

He added: “The growing fruits will get more sun and also extra ventilation.”

This will help to “reduce the risk of disease” such as tomato blight.

This process should be continued weekly until there are no leaves left at all.

Monty continued: “Reduce the watering unless it is very hot to avoid the fruit splitting.

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“Keep up a weekly feed of liquid seaweed or, if you can make it at home, homemade comfrey feed.

“Both are ideal for maximising flower and fruit production.”

Gardeners should check plants every few days and pick tomatoes individually, with the stalk still attached.

Tomatoes are ready to be picked when they are fully coloured.

In a warm summer, tomatoes can face a number of problems when the ideal conditions are not met.

This includes blossom end rot, tomato blight, tomato leaf mould and splitting.

Gardeners should monitor their fruit regularly to ensure their crop is not struggling.

If growing plants in containers, Monty recommended regular feeding and watering throughout August.

He wrote: “August can be the hottest month of the year and although the nights are starting to be cooler, the days can be sweltering.

“Many gardens start to show the strain of drought.

“Any plants in pots do need regular watering and feeding to sustain the extravagance of their late summer display.

“I feed all our containers weekly with liquid seaweed and homemade comfrey feed.

“Both are high in potash which encourages flower formation and helps keep the display going strongly right into autumn.

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