Webinar: Tomato Growing Basics

Join us as our own veggie expert Dan Alexander, shares tips and tricks for a successful tomato growing season and harvest. Dan will talk about soil amendments, tomato varieties, fertilizer, watering, and he’ll troubleshoot solutions for the most common tomato growing challenges. A perfect class for all levels of tomato gardeners.

A little tomato botany and history
Is it a fruit or a vegetable?
Days to Ripen
Determinate/Indeterminate
Tomato leaf/Potato leaf
Heirloom
Open pollinated
Hybrid
Organic or conventional
V, F, VF, etc.
“Suckers” (branches)
Bay Area climate and microclimates
Varieties
How to plant – in ground – in containers/raised beds; spacing, support
Grafted tomatoes – how to plant – identifying the graft
Fertilizer – types and frequency – calcium
Disease and pest problems, prevention, solutions

Resources:

Pam Peirce, Golden Gate Gardening
Mel Bartholomew, All New Square Foot Gardening Marin Master Gardeners: www.marinmg.ucanr.edu.
plant-world-seeds.com (descriptions of varieties)
www.sloatgardens.com
growbetterveggies.com
worldtomatosociety.com
tomatofest.com
The public library has lots of resources and a seed exchange.