Tomato Growing Structures
Tomatoes are a tropical plant and need two things to ripen fruit - warmth and
light. There's no problem inland, heat and sun are abundant. Along the
coast, even a light fog is satisfactory for growing tomatoes, but because of the
marine influence, heat is sorely lacking. You'll have to use all the tips given
in another page to help the fruit ripen. If this is not enough, it is time
to consider a structure to enclose the plants.
Some years ago a fellow in Redcrest, a small town on the
Avenue of the Giants, proudly showed me his tangerine trees. The fruit was
quite tasty even though the trees were growing hundreds of miles north of its
limit. How did he do it? He had an inflatable cover over his swimming pool, and
the trees thrived inside, planted in large containers.
That's an extreme but excellent example of creating a
microclimate to help a plant bear fruit. If you live in an area
where the average temperature remains in the 60s or low 70s, you'll
need to give the tomato plant as much help as possible for it to
ripen fruit. Choosing low heat tomato varieties will help, but good
tasting tomatoes come only with the higher temperatures created
within a growing structure. They can be homemade or they can be
elaborate structures, and that's covered on
the next page.
Continued
on the next page
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