Pruning tomatoes is one of those subjects gardeners love to disagree on. While pruning isn’t absolutely necessary, especially for home-scale gardeners there may be some benefits.

The general idea with pruning tomatoes is that you’re eliminating less productive branches, encouraging the plant to put more energy into fruit rather than foliage and groing trees can help create a much comfortable and cozy space with the shade trees and air flow. It allows all the foliage to receive maximum sunlight for photosynthesis. When all the leaves receive adequate sunlight they produce more sugar which is used to produce fruit helping you achieve an earlier, larger harvest.

Pruning can also help increase your yields by helping protect your plant from fungal diseases like Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt, or Alternaria. It allows good air circulation through your plants’ leaves and keeps them away from the soil where many fungal and bacterial diseases overwinter.

Determinate Vs. Indeterminate

Tomatoes can be divided into two general categories, determinate and indeterminate. Determinate or bush tomatoes grow to a certain size and fruit all at once. This can be helpful if you’re growing storage tomatoes or want a bunch of tomatoes all at once to can or freeze. These types of tomatoes do not need to be pruned. In fact, pruning determinate tomatoes can reduce your harvest size. For a complete solution in garden tree care in PA for example, check out this Tree Service in Pittsburgh who have a varied service list.

Indeterminate or vining tomatoes continue growing and producing fruit throughout the entire growing season. They provide a steady supply of tomatoes until they’re killed by frost or disease. Indeterminate tomatoes are the type that benefit from pruning.

How to Prune Tomatoes

Always use a clean pair of shears or scissors and wash your hands. Also avoid pruning tomatoes when they’re wet or during the hottest part of the day. Moisture spreads disease and the heat can cause extra stress. Evening is an ideal time.

You also want to prune fairly often, trimming branches while they’re small. Pruning larger branches is more stressful for the plant.

When pruning tomatoes the first thing you to trim is any branches whose leaves are touching the soil. This is especially important if you struggle with one of the fungal diseases mentioned above. Check out our post, Tomato Tips: Preventing Fungal Diseases for more tips.

You also want to prune any “suckers” these are the sprouts that grow out of a “v” between a branch and the main stem. While these suckers will eventually become full size branches they typically don’t produce as much, decrease air circulation, and make it harder to keep your plant properly trellised. It’s best to prune them when they’re small and you can just pinch them off with your finger tips.

Most gardeners are busy and not looking for extra work but pruning just might be worth it. Adding this quick chore to your list can help you achieve better and earlier yields especially if you’ve struggled with disease in the past.

Especially for first-time gardeners, knowing what to plant and when can be a challenge. While there are certainly planting calendars and apps available to help you make this decision, ultimately you have to use a bit of your own best judgment. To help you make the best decisions possible we’ve put together some tips.

Know your zone.

While plant hardiness zones aren’t the end-all of planting, they can definitely help give you an idea of when it’s time to do what and when to expect your first and last frost. Check out our full post on hardiness zones here.

Plan for multiple successions.

To make the most of your time and space you should plan on succession planting. It’s when you stagger plantings or plant multiple crops in the same area throughout the season. Each time a crop is finished you pull it and plant a new one.

Read our posts, Succession Planting 101 and Succession Planting Flowers to get started.

If you can set up some season extenders.

Season extenders are your best friend. Having the option of using things like cold frames, hoop houses, low tunnels, and even just frost/shade cloth gives you a lot more wiggle room on both ends.

While it may be obvious that warm weather plants will benefit from warmer soils and frost protection, the benefits to cool-season plants can be less obvious. Using row cover (we often use tulle) allows us to plant cool-season crops much later. It keeps the soil cooler and keeps out troublesome pests like cabbage worms.

Need some ideas? Check out our post on easy season extension.

Watch the weather.

Even if you’re an experienced gardener, watching the weather can save you a lot of heartbreak. Many warmer season plants can be saved from late frosts or temperature drops if you cover them for the night. This can be accomplished with row cover or even old sheets or blankets. For best results rest your material on stakes or hoops so it’s over the plants but not touching them.

Keep a garden journal.

While it won’t help the first year, keeping a garden journal can help you hone your schedule. Try to record things like planting dates, frost events and storms, and even temperatures. In the following years, your records will help you make better-educated guesses.

Think about whether or not you want to save seed.

If you’re going to save seed you need to make sure your varieties don’t cross in order to get true seed. To accomplish this you’ll need to separate varieties.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll need a lot of space. If you live somewhere with a long growing season some plants can be separated in time. For example, you can grow multiple successions of lettuce or beans ensuring that separate varieties aren’t flowering at the same time.

Check out our post, Garden Planning for Seed Saving for more advice.

Get a soil thermometer.

Being able to check the soil temperature can help you determine planting times and achieve better germination rates.

Trust your instinct.

If you know you’re area is prone to late frosts it may not be time to plant just because it is for the rest of your hardiness zone.

Following these tips can help you get your garden off to a good start. While planting apps and charts are certainly handy, they don’t always tell the full story. Only you can decide what’s exactly right for your garden.

This year we’re seeing many folks trying gardening for the first time or expanding gardens they already tend. We’re hoping we can get some more folks saving seed too! Whether you’re a backyard gardener or farmer here are 10 reasons you should try to save some seed this year.

Preserve Genetic Diversity

In recent years, the keeping of seeds and preservation of varieties has largely left the hands of farmers and gardeners. Seeds have become the domain of just a few big companies. These companies focus their attention on just a few varieties of each crop. As farmers and gardeners stop saving seed we lose more and more varieties.

Why is this important? While we love all of our open-pollinated and heirloom varieties for many reasons, like flavor, beauty, and frost resistance, just to name a few, we also know we might really need a variety’s particular traits someday.

Take Gourdseed Corn as an example. It was almost lost, virtually disappearing by the 1960s as interest in hybrid corn grew. However, recently discovered surviving varieties have shown important disease resistance most notably to southern leaf blight.

Save Money

Seeds aren’t the most expensive purchase in the world but they can add up fast if you’ve got a large garden. Saving at least a few of your favorite varieties can save you some cash each year. Plus, you might find a seed swap where you can trade for a few other varieties as well.

Connect with Your Ancestors

If you’ve got older gardeners in the family you may be able to save seed from something they’ve been growing for years. Thanks to the internet you can also find heirlooms that were developed in regions you’re ancestors are from no matter where you currently reside.

Even if you don’t know who you’re ancestors were or what they grew, growing some of your own food provides a living tie to history. You can also start a new tradition with an open-pollinated variety, handing seed down to your children.

Become More Self Reliant

In troubled times many people desire to become more self-reliant. Saving seed is a great skill to develop!

Learn About Nature

Taking your crops through a full life cycle can be a great learning experience, especially for kids.

Did you know that not all common garden crops produce seed during their first year of growth? Check out this post to learn about biennials (plants that produce seed the second year).

Adapt Seeds to Your Garden

When you save seeds from your best plants each year you’re gradually making improvements. Future seeds will be more adapted to grow in your particular climatic and soil conditions.

Help Pollinators

Saving seed means that more plants in your garden will be allowed to flower. Many plants that are fairly easy to save seed from like lettuce, radish, and basil are pollinator favorites!

Reclaim Rights to Open Pollinated Seeds

When you save and share seed you’re helping to support everyone’s right to save and grow seeds and breed plants. Learn more about this over at the Open Source Seed Initiative.

Create New Varieties

Once you get a handle on seed saving, you can try your hand at creating varieties of your own!

Control Your Food Supply

When you save seed and start your own plants you know exactly what’s going into them. It’s great for organic farmers and gardeners.

Want to learn more about seed saving?

We are beginning to design an online class on seed saving. Please check out this quick survey we put together about this potential seed saving class. If enough people respond, we will make it happen!

Seed Saving Survey