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| "TomatoTime" by Joerg Metzner |
Somewhere someone once told me that tomatoes like dry soil. That's nuts. If you think of the amount of fluid inside a tomato, then you realize that the soil must stay consistently moist. It's been dry in Chicago the past few days. The forecast says three or four more days until rain. So haul out the hose or can today and give the plants a long, cool drink.
2 comments:
This is where I get confused. I've always watered a lot when my tomato plants were young, with growing vines, developing flowers, and then baby green fruits on their way to becoming big fat grown-ups. But once the surface area of the mature tomato is set, and the tomato is red, I've noticed that *too much* water creates cracks in the skin. So I pull way back on the watering when the mature fruits are full-size but still ripening on the vine. I don't think there's anything wrong with cracks -- beyond bad aesthetics -- but I'm not sure. Does the flavor take a hit when the internal size gets too big for the external surface area? What are your thoughts on this, Bob?
Like my wife's grandfather, who took one shot of whiskey before lunch and dinner – no more no less, the trick is consistency. Cracks develop when the interior absorbs water that's suddenly available in the soil. The skin is slower to respond. If it's dry, water moderately every day or two. If it's rainy, don't water at all.
Flavor shouldn't be affected.
Again, keep soil uniformly moist throughout the growing season. More on cracks tomorrow!
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