On this week's Good Growing podcast we dive into one of America's favorite garden vegetables, the tomato! Katie, Ken, and Chris enjoy growing tomatoes and describe how they grow tomatoes in their backyards. We tackle common tomato problems, some of our favorites, and how to save the harvest. All this and more!

Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/MmkBN8tqLOs

3:30 How does Katie grow tomatoes?

4:00 Deer eating tomatoes?

5:40 What tomatoes does Ken grow?

7:33 What tomatoes does Chris grow?

8:20 Do we start tomatoes from seed or buy transplants? And why?

9:42 Is it too late to plant tomatoes?

10:40 The unofficial WIU tomato trial using bi-colored tomatoes. Finding a purple and gold tomato.

12:28 How do we trellis and train our tomatoes?

17:40 Tomato care - fertilizer?

18:18 Tomato care - mulch?

21:24 Killing the existing grass - does cardboard work?

23:04 What problems is Ken encountering with his tomatoes? Caterpillars and foliar disease

29:35 Why are tomato leaves curling up?

31:00 What is blossom end rot? Is it a calcium problem or a watering problem?

33:00 Can you harvest unripe tomatoes?

34:47 Why are my tomatoes splitting and cracking?

35:50 How do we preserve or save tomatoes for use after summer?

37:20 What are our favorite types of tomatoes to grow?

39:05 Does determinate stop producing tomatoes?

42:17 Chris' rant of bad restaurant tomatoes during tomato season.

Read more about growing tomatoes:

How to Grow Tomatoes https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-04-29-how-grow-tomatoes

Hornworms on Tomatoes https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-08-07-hornworm-caterpillars-tomatoes

Troubles with Tomatoes https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-05-01-troubles-tomatoes

Different Types of Tomatoes https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2020-04-30-different-types-tomatoes

___

Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.