You Say Tomato I Say Tomato: A Simple Guide to Growing Flavorful Tomatoes in Varying Climates From Seed to Pruning, to Harvesting, and Preserving

By Percy Sargeant

It's time to stop settling for bland, dull, pesticide-covered tomatoes and start growing your own-in just a few simple steps!

 

Have you ever wondered what happens to your food, say tomatoes, from the moment it's harvested to the time it arrives in a store?

 

Two words: human intervention - and a great deal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highest Hill Publishing
• Release date: Apr 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869328618

Book preview

YOU SAY TOMATO I SAY TOMATO

A SIMPLE GUIDE TO GROWING FLAVORFUL TOMATOES IN VARYING CLIMATES FROM SEED TO PRUNING, SUPPORTING, HARVESTING, AND PRESERVING

Percy Sargeant

HIGHEST HILL PUBLISHING

© Copyright - Highest Hill Publishing - 2024 - All rights reserved.

The content contained within this book may not be reproduced, duplicated, or transmitted without direct written permission from the author or the publisher.

Under no circumstances will any blame or legal responsibility be held against the publisher, or author, for any damages, reparation, or monetary loss due to the information contained within this book. Either directly or indirectly. You are responsible for your own choices, actions, and results.

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Please note the information contained within this document is for educational and entertainment purposes only. All effort has been executed to present accurate, up-to-date, and reliable, complete information. No warranties of any kind are declared or implied. Readers acknowledge that the author is not engaging in the rendering of legal, financial, medical, or professional advice. The content within this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book.

By reading this document, the reader agrees that under no circumstances is the author responsible for any losses, direct or indirect, which are incurred as a result of the use of the information contained within this document, including, but not limited to, — errors, omissions, or inaccuracies.

Contents

Epigraph

Dedication

Introduction

1.Appreciating the Humble Tomato

2.Starting Off Right with the Ultimate Tomato Seeds

3.Eagerly Awaiting Those Tomato Sprouts

4.What Your Tomato Plant is Telling You About the Soil

5.The Fine Art of Watering Tomato Plants

6.Techniques to Support Tomato Plant Growth

7.Choosing the Best Moment to Harvest Your Tomatoes and Store Them

8.You Can Grow Tomatoes Anywhere

9.Overcoming Troubles with Your Tomatoes

10.How to Protect Tomato Plants from Pests and Diseases

Conclusion

Percy Sargeant

Afterword

Acknowledgements

"Seek roses in December – ice in June;

Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff;

Believe a woman or an epitaph,

Or any other thing that's false, before

You trust in critics, who themselves are sore"

Lord Byron 1778 - 1824

For my dear mother and father.

In life, we loved you dearly, in death we love you still.

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The raw tomato, devoured in the garden when freshly picked, is a horn of abundance of simple sensations, a radiating rush in one’s mouth that brings with it every pleasure...a tomato, an adventure. – Muriel Barbery

There are two wonderful experiences that can make anyone fall in love with tomatoes, known as gustatory memory and olfactory memory. These two memories are what kick in when you taste a delicious fresh tomato, and your mind is taken back to the pizza you had on holiday or the sauce your grandma used to make. No matter how hard you attempt to replicate the recipe, the senses fail to evoke those intense memories.

When you eat a tomato, you want the adventure!

I wanted the adventure, so I set on one. I had heard that failures lead to success, but in my tomato-growing journey, I've experienced numerous failures, leading me to doubt the validity of this statement.

My failures weren't due to a lack of effort. In fact, I belonged to the group that extensively studied books and watched educational videos on achieving successful tomato growth.

And by the way, if you are thinking He might have done the research but not taken actions accordingly, I would very much like to correct you. I belonged to the 2% of folks out there who implement what they learn.

And yes, I had the same question in my mind, you might be having right now.

Why did nothing seem to work?

Why didn't I get the flavorful healthy tomatoes that I wanted?

Despite my urge to give up, I kept trying, and, after a number of trials and errors and failures, I found the answers to my questions. And this book contains everything I learned the hard way.

But before you go ahead and gain the knowledge from the comfort of your room, ask yourself:

Why bother growing your own tomatoes?

Nowadays, a vast majority of people have no idea where their food comes from. They are unaware of where their food is grown and how it is processed. They have no clue what CHEMICALS are being used to grow the food they spend tons of their money on.

Besides, there has been a noted increase in the shortage of tomatoes. (olmedaorigenes, 2022). There are several reasons for this, some of which are political reasons influencing the supply of different edibles, including tomatoes. One of the reasons for the shortage of tomatoes is the climate change and the natural hazards affecting the production of tomatoes.

Inflation is acting as the cherry on the top and making it difficult for everyone to get healthy fresh tomatoes. For all these reasons, learning how to grow juicy, succulent, flavorful tomatoes of your own has become a need these days.

If you learn and master the art of growing tomatoes, things happening around the globe will not be able to affect your kitchen's supply of fresh tomatoes. Besides, you will have peace of mind knowing where your tomatoes are coming from.

The health benefits of the fresh homegrown tomatoes will leave you amazed and you will thank yourself for growing them. Nothing in terms of flavor, aroma, and nutritional value can compare a homegrown tomato with that you would buy in a store.

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There are never-ending perks to homegrown tomatoes, and if you want to enjoy them all, this book is for you.

This book is not going to provide you with the superficial theoretical knowledge of how beautiful tomatoes are and how they are red in color and their leaves are a beautiful shade of green.

Instead, you will learn how you can get those healthy plants in your garden and witness the green little fruits turning into red healthy tomatoes.

You'll start with learning the basics, then you will go ahead and acquire understanding of the requirements for robust tomato plant health. You will then get well-versed in the suitable conditions for growing the juicy reds.

The chapters of this book are a step-by-step guide towards growing your succulent fruits. I'll walk you through the journey of planting a little seed and looking after it until it becomes a luscious plant.

But that's not it. There are a number of things that can go wrong. What about the pests and diseases that your plants might come across? Don't you worry! You will be learning to address them as well.

While providing you with the knowledge of steps to take to achieve your outcome, I’ll guide you about the steps to avoid as well. In other words, you'll learn about the mistakes to avoid on this adventurous journey.

With initial hands-on experience as a novice tomato grower, I've accumulated years of expertise and research-supported insights. I can share valuable, lesser-known tips and tricks to enhance your tomato-growing journey. I have studied and practiced gardening various food crops for most of my life. In my experience, I have learned the gems I wish everyone to know about, and implement, in their home gardens.

Growing tomatoes is not a tough job but growing high-quality tomatoes rich in flavor and aroma is something very few people are capable of. This book will simply help you gain that knowledge to learn and master the skill of growing flavorful tomatoes successfully.

Interestingly enough, being a couch potato can be the biggest hindrance in growing tomatoes. Be ready to invest time in learning and applying knowledge, putting effort into properly caring for your tomato garden.

As you set on the journey, you will find times when you'll enjoy the process a lot whereas sometimes you will not feel like going in your garden. But remember it's about consistent effort and patience. If you are willing to put in consistent effort and be patient during the journey, this book is surely going to help you obtain your objective.

So, let's start the journey and discover the charm of growing tomatoes and experience their appetizing benefits.

You can download a free pdf of 21 diverse recipes from various cuisines worldwide that use TOMATOES in their ingredients

https://bit.ly/43hUFt6

Chapter one

Appreciating the Humble Tomato

According to the 2021 statistics, the market showed that tomato consumption was at 37 million metric tons. That’s the equivalent of around 4.9 million elephants! (Consumption: 2021 in the Wake of 2020 - Tomato News, n.d.)

This is a lot of tomatoes. Producing this large number of tomatoes to meet the needs of consumers is a huge task and is generally accomplished commercially by the use of some chemicals and genetically engineered seeds and seedlings of tomatoes.

When this huge fact dawned upon me years back, and I discovered the potential dangers of commercial tomatoes compared to the health benefits of homegrown tomatoes, I vowed never to buy another tomato again.

If you think I would give up on fresh salads and my favorite tomato sauce, you would be very wrong. So, I went with the only sensible and logical alternative, which was to grow my own tomatoes.

Yeah, my initial batches didn't even look anything close to tomatoes. But slowly, I got the results I wanted.

But before we get into the dos and don’ts of growing the plant, let's first get into the basics. Some of the topics we'll discuss in depth are the benefits of growing your own tomatoes, an overview of their types, and the basics of what tomatoes need.

What Exactly Is a Tomato?

Tomatoes have been on our kitchen counters and in our meals for a very long time, and it's almost impossible to imagine them growing in the wild. But there was a time when our ancestors used to forage for them in the wild.

Tomatoes have experienced centuries of cultivation and