Bigger Garden Tomatoes
I saw the latest “cool” tip on pinterest this week it was how to use Epsom salts on your tomatoes. Today as I was wandering around on our site I found this “cool” tip we have had on here for years.
We use this tried and true method for getting bigger tomatoes in our garden. When planting tomatoes, place one teaspoon of Epsom salts in the hole before placing the plant in it. Water the plant well afterwards. This will yield bigger tomatoes and longer life of the plant.
-Julia
We have so much many ideas I can’t keep up with them. I like to think of our site as the forerunner to pinterest because you can wander and wander on it and still not read it all. :-D
One last tomato tip.
We do have this tip in some of our articles, but one thing Tawra taught me on tomatoes many years ago and that is to strip the stem of the tomato plant of all it’s leaves except the top few. Instead of digging a deep hole straight down, dig a ditch like hole and lay the roots and stems length wise covering the whole stem with only the few top leaves are left showing. What this does is to cause the stem to give off roots where it is buried and gives the plant a really nice root system which is the secret to a strong nice tomato plant.
-Jill
Photo By: spablab
Hello Twara and Jill
I live in the south and we southerns use banana peels
when planting our tomatoes,Yes Banana peels! I know it sounds crazy but it works! I start saving my banana peelings about a month before planting tomatoes and when your hole is ready along with your top soil add the banana peelings! You will have huge tomtaoes and you will not see the tomatoes with black spots on them
Wish I had seen this before I put in my tomato plants on Good Firday. Do you think if I added it and then watered really good now it would help?
I have heard that banana peels work wonders for roses as well!
Banana peels are good for roses now you say tomatoes I polish my shoes with them. They are also good for warts I believe
Jill, I was thinking of the upcoming Farmers Market this summer and while I was looking through a cookbook last night I found 2 recipes I want to share with you and Tawra for tomatoes. I know Tawra gardens so you might like these recipes.
Green Tomato Bread
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
2-1/2 cups flour
2-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts
2 cups finely chopped green tomatoes
quartered cherries (optional)
Cream butter or margarine with sugar; beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in tomatoes, flour, nuts raisins, milk and dry ingredients. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 to 1/2 hours.
Fresh Red Tomato Bread
6 medium size Ripe red tomatoes
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp allspice
3/4 tsp grated orange rind
1 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dates (optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Place tomatoes in boiling water until skins loosen slightly, about 1 minute. Rinse with cold water and remove skins. Cut tomatoes into quarters; remove seeds and chop. Drain in sieve or colander; set aside. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl, cream margarine, sugar, allspice, orange rind, orange extract, and ginger until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in raisins, dates if used, and reserved tomatoes; mix well. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually add reserved dry ingredients; mix until completely blended. Pour into loaf pan. Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Bea, these recipes are really interesting. It looks like they are sweet breads and it’s hard to think of tomatoes in a sweet bread. :)
Have you ever heard of Tomato Soup Cake? I’ve ran across that depression era recipe but never tried it. It’s supposed to be a really good cake. I’ll have to try it sometime.
If anyone tries either of the tomato bread recipes, please post about it. I’m interested to know what they taste like. :)
I also heard that burrying egg shells with tomatoes helps.
Re banana peels: why not frappe them in the blender and pour them around your tomatoes to see if it helps?
I cut my banana peels, put them in a blender, and just cover them with water. I blend them on high and pour the mixture around my roses. Every morning I get the banana and my roses get the peel but now they will have to share with my tomatoes.
Angie M. I have made tomato soup cake. With the spices it contains, it comes out tasting great. Tomatoes are really fruits. We think of them as vegetables, but they are really fruits. I have made many STRANGE ingredient recipes such as chocolate sauerkraut cake, and also chocolate cake with mayo too, so the ingredients are masked by the sugar and spices and come out moist and delicious with the “weird” ingredients. The recipes for both the green and red tomato breads came from a Church cookbook, and the woman that entered them has made both breads many times and recommends them as delicious. Great way to use up plentiful tomatoes.
My sister makes a chocolate saurkraut cake and it is WONDERFUL..
She then tops it with a homemade chocolate fudge frosting..
funny. growing tomatoes was the subject then chocolate saurkraut came in.
Tomato soup cake recipe from PA Grange cookbook is awesome with homemade frosting.
Will def have to try the epsom salts and the banana peel suggestions on different plants & see which one works best. Thank you for the suggestions.