How to Grow Your Tasty Eggplant

HOW TO GROW YOUR TASTY EGGPLANT
(Solanum melongena Linn.)

Growing your own eggplant is fun and a lucrative home gardening business Besides being nutritious, it could provide you with a real fresh fruits coming directly from your garden.
You can produce them the way you want it. Producing eggplant can be done without using chemicals because you’re the one controlling their growth processes.
If you’ll plant eggplant with other vegetables, the occurrence of pests and diseases attack could be totally minimized or even none at all. Companion cropping or multiple cropping can control pests and diseases attack since they’re protected by the other plants.

How to Grow Your Tasty Eggplant

1) Provide a seed box or germinating tray for sowing seeds. Sow the seeds 12 mm or .5 inch deep in the seed trays or germinating tray. Slightly cover the seeds with thin soil to cover them.
2) Cover the seed trays or germinating trays with newspaper or polyethylene plastic. Germination will take about 7-10 days from sowing.
3) After the seeds have germinated, remove the cover. Gradually expose the growing seedlings to the morning sunlight to harden them
4) Prepare a separate seed trays or germinating trays the same manner as when sowing seedlings. Fill with the growing medium and level at least 12 mm or .5 inch below the rim.
5) Use a dibber to form holes about 36 mm or .5 inch apart, the outer ones 12 mm or .5 inch from the sides.
6) As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick or transfer them to the individual holes in the prepared seedling or germinating trays. This is to provide the seedlings a wider space to avoid over-crowding while in the seedling or germinating trays.
7) Now set the individual seedlings to a growing bags or pots.
8) Support the plants with sticks tied with wires or strings to hold in place.
9) Feed the growing plants every ten days from planting up to the time when the first pork is formed.
10) Remove all auxiliary buds growing up to the pork. Also, gradually remove the lower leaves below the pork.
11) Harvest your fresh eggplant when they’re big enough, a desirable size is reached out, but still tender. You can give or sell your surplus harvest to your neighbors. And they’ll thanks for your generosity.
See, it’s very easy to grow your own chemically free eggplant for your family’s needs.
Why not try planting your own tasty eggplant. You’re sure you’ll enjoy it and you’ll have a continuous supply of fresh fruits in your kitchen.
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Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com

How to Grow Hybrid Hibiscus

(Hibiscus rosa-sinensis “Estrella F. Alabastro”)

An addition to the Hibiscus species, a new hybrid of gumamela was bred locally by the Department of Plant Breeding at the UPLB-IPB, UP Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines.

The plant was carefully screened for beauty, hardiness, ease of propagation, and vigor which are important qualities to attract buyers and plant lovers.

The propagation is the same to the other hibiscus species except that this new hybrid needs a thorough understanding of plant propagation techniques.

To have a successful hibiscus production, the following management activities should be properly given due consideration.

Cultural Requirements

Hibiscus plant thrives best in an open field with enough supply of sunlight since they are tropical in nature that need enough light. Full sunlight is essential to make the plant develop fully and bear flowers profusely.

Those grown in shaded place are lanky and only bears few flowers. So, avoid planting them in shaded place.

Soil Requirement

Hibiscus are not choosy in their soil requirements, especially in their productive period. However, at the early stage of plant growth, hibiscus should be grown in porous, sandy soil with manures and organic compost.

The soil should be in good drainage. Hibiscus don’t thrives best in heavy soil and poor drainage because they can’t stand in waterlogged areas.

Plant Nutrition

Hibiscus planted in pots should be fertilized regularly with complete fertilizer either granular or foliar. Dilute 1 tablespoons of complete fertilizer in a gallon of water and apply every 2 weeks.

For those planted directly in the field, the following amount of fertilizer requirement should be strictly executed: 5-10 grams for small plants, 20-25 grams for medium plants, and 30-40 grams for large plants. After applying the fertilizer, water the soil to dissolve the fertilizer.

To improve the quality of flowers of your hibiscus, you should mix the complete fertilizer with a high level of Potassium and apply the mixture once a month.

Water Management

Though hibiscus doesn’t like waterlogged areas, they are water lovers but not to the extent of over-watering them.

Regular watering of hibiscus gives you a continuous supply of flowers the whole year round. On sunny days, water them every 3 days. During rainy days, you should water only when needed to avoid root rot infestation. Root rot is prevalent during this period.

To conserve water and to control pests and weeds accumulation, put mulching materials especially in the open field. The ideal mulching materials are: plastic mulch, rice hull or rice straw.

Don’t limit only the above materials as mulch, but you can use other mulching materials  available in your country as a substitute of the above materials.

Plant Maintenance

As a gardener, you should be observant to your plant needs. Though they don’t talk, their physical appearance will give you signs for your immediate attention. Hibiscus are showy plants. They response productively when they are properly taken cared and pruned at least once a year.

 Pruning hibiscus encourages the development of new plant growth from the pruned area from which new flowers will bloom for the next season. The best time to prune hibiscus is from May and September (under Philippine conditions these are dry months).

In your country they may not be the same with the Philippine conditions. Just observe the dry months in your country when you apply pruning to your hibiscus.

To produce healthy growth and beautiful flowers the succeeding season,  cut the plant approximately 1/3 of its height.

You have to remove dead branches and those lying near the ground. Also thin out branches on the center of the plants to have a balance branches and flower distribution. This will add the appearance of the plants attractiveness once the flowers starts to bloom.

Pests and Diseases Control

The presence of pests and diseases in your hibiscus plants affects their growth performance and flower production. Therefore, always check your plants for possible attack of the pests and diseases.

The most common pests of hibiscus are…

1.    Flower worms. This pest usually infest the leaves, flower buds and flowers.

2.    Aphids. Aphids causes the curling of the young foliage which may be unattractive when the attack is serious.

3.    Spiraling white flies. This pest attack the leaves which causes the malformation of the entire foliage.

4.    Green hoppers. Serious attack of the pest to the leaves will results to cupping and yellowing of the leaves.

5.    Black flea beetles. Also attack the leaves and the result will lead to shot holes in  the entire leaves.

To control the damage of your entire hibiscus plants, apply the recommended insecticides specifically for the specific pests. Ask from any agriculture store in your area the specific pesticides for the insect pest.

The most common diseases of hibiscus identified are…

1.    Leaf spot. The plant affected with leaf spot causes the browning and black spots on the leaves.

2.    Root or collar rots. This disease attack the root and stem which results to the rotting of the entire stems and roots.

You can control these diseases by controlling water application and improve soil drainage. Check your pots if the water are properly draining out after watering. If planted in the open field, check the drainage canal of any obstacles for the free flow of water.

To chemically control these diseases, use Dithane 45 by drenching into the plant base of the plants to kill them.

But, if you can avoid chemicals, use the natural control methods by applying some plant repellants or homemade insecticides.

Get a copy of my FREE articles “Natural Control of Flowering Plants’ Insect Pests” at: www.articlesbase.com /category home improvement –gardening.

Visit my website: www.crisramasasa.com for more tips and Free resources about home gardening or mailto: cris@crisramasasa.com for more details.

Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”. You can also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com

How to Grow Bromeliads the Easy Way

HOW TO GROW BROMELIADS THE EASY WAY


Bromeliads are native of South America. Growing them are quite easy as long as they are provided with the basic growth requirements. They have several genera. Some are giants while some are tiny. Many of them though are in between.

Bromeliads are very versatile and sturdy plants. They can be grown even without soil. They require very little insecticides and minimal fertilization.

They are also prized for their colorful foliage. Some have also very long-lasting flowers that are not only colorful but also have usual shapes.

Common genera of Bromeliads

• Aechmea
• Billbergia
• Cryptanthus
• Neoregelia
• Nidularium
• Tillandsia
• Guzmania
• Vriesea
• Ananas or ornamental pineapple

How to Propagate Bromeliads

The most common way of propagating bromeliads is through separation of their suckers or pups as soon as they are 1/3 the size of the mother plant. Usually, bromeliads produce a lot of pups (sometimes more than 10 pups) as soon as they flower. Others produces suckers or pups before the produce flowers.

To produce more suckers from your mother plant, you have to remove the suckers or pups as soon as they are ready for separation. If you’ll not remove them, only few pups will come out.

Other method of propagating bromeliads is by seeds. But not all bromeliads produce seeds. Some Aechmeas readily produce seeds which could be grown in fine chopped fern chips or chopped coconut husk that are constantly kept moderately moist.

The problem with those grown by seeds, because it will take more than a year to grow the seeds into a medium- size plant. This will delay your venture for a faster way of producing more plant especially if you’re on commercial production.

Use the right potting medium

You should select a potting medium that easily drains and does not easily deteriorate. If you have a fern tree in your country, you can chopped them. They are ideal as potting medium.

You can also use a mixture of coconut coir fiber and coconut coir dust. You have to use more coconut coir fiber so that the medium will not breakdown fast. You should repot the plant once the medium becomes soggy.

If the above potting mediums are not available, use a chop dried coconut trunk. If you’ll use the fresh ones, dry them before using.

Where to place your bromeliads?

To get a more attractive foliage colors of your bromeliads, place them under proper light conditions. You can attain this by placing them under a three layers of fishnets. Guzmanias and vrieseas generas requires more shady conditions.

You can readily see if your bromeliads are under proper light conditions. If under too much shade, the colored ones will become green. If placed under too much sunlight, their leaves becomes scalded or bleached.

Another important requirement in growing bromeliads is proper air ventilation. Good air circulation will bring out the best color of the plants and will also prevent fungal infection that could eventually result in rotting.

To attain a proper ventilation, place your plants atop a bench. If that is not possible, seat them atop inverted clay pots so they will be at least one foot above the ground.

Plant nutrition

Fertilize your bromeliads so they will grow faster and healthier. Don’t over-fertilize them in order not to lose their bright colors.

A sign of over-fertilization, the leaves becomes too long and they will not look attractive.

Use a slow-release fertilizer. If not, use the ordinary urea or complete fertilizer and apply them to the potting medium. Or you can apply foliar spray.

Remember this, to get a better result, fertilize only at half the usual dose.

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Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. Get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: www.crisramasasa.com

How to Grow Chrysanthemum for Fun and Profit

HOW TO GROW CHRYSANTHEMUM FOR FUN AND PROFIT

Chrysanthemum is one of the most popular cut flower by most florist and flower arrangers. They are identified through its flower classifications…

1)   Single. This includes varieties which approximately has five rows or ray florets and a visible central disk still prominent.

2)   Semi-double. This has two or several rows petals but with the central disk still prominent.

3)   Double. This includes such categories as…

·         Incurves. Its heads are nearly globular in outline with no visible disk florets. The ray florets are curved upward toward the center of the flower. This is the most popular of the market-type large flower because of ease of handling since it’s not easily bruised.

·         Reflex. Its head is similar to the incurves in outline but the ray florets are curved downward toward the base of the flower.

·         Pompon. It has either globular or flat head but they ray florets are short and firm.

·         Decorative. It has he4ad with many flat ray florets and its outline is flat rather than globular.

·         Novelty type. Flowers with tubular ray florets. Novelty has four types…

-  Spider. Also called “Fuji Chrysanthemum”, it has hidden disk florets with long arching ray florets hooked upward at the tip.

     -  Quill. Similar to spider type but the tip of the ray florets  are not 

      hooked.

     -  Spoon. The end of  its tubular ray florets is spatulate and,

      unlike the spider and quill types, its central disk may be distinct.

     -  Anemone. This type has blooms that are either single or double with 

     a pincushion-like center as the most prominent part. The ray florets    

     play only a minor role.

Environmental requirements to grow Chrysanthemum

Soil. Chrysanthemum grows best in a well-drained soil with high moisture holding capacity. It should have a pH between 5.8 to 6.8, but the ideal one should be 6.0 to 6.5. The percent  organic matter content must be at least 4% or higher.

Climate. Chrysanthemum being an open plant grows well in areas with plenty of sunshine but should be cool during the night. They grow well and bear productive flowers in a cool place.

Too much rainfall is not favorable for chrysanthemum because the attack of some pests and diseases is prevalent during this period.

But this can be remedied by providing protective structures to the growing plants.

If you have the financial capability, constructing a greenhouse is the ideal solution to protect your flowers from serious damage.

Water. Adequate water supply is vital during the growing period of this plant. Don’t ever attempt to plant your flower plant if you think there is no available source of water.

You’ll be frustrated if you’ll limit the supply of water to your chrysanthemum, because they love water during their growing period.

Light. Although chrysanthemum thrives best to sunlight, they are also tolerable in an artificial light bulbs. This is true when you grow them in greenhouse where sunlight is limited.

You can supply artificial light during the months where sunlight is critical. Under Philippines condition, it’s from July to March where light is critical.

The best site location for Chrysanthemum

You have  to consider a good location especially if you’re for commercial production.

The following 7 considerations should be your best choice for site location…

1)   Accessibility to good road. Good road is an important area of concern if you’re into commercial production. Naturally, customers wants a good road network to have an easy access to your garden.

2)   Relatively flat or slightly rolling land with adequate windbreak. Your area should be a little bit flat but slightly rolling and of course with a reasonable windbreak to protect the plants from strong wind during storm or typhoon.

3)   Chemical-free location. Your site should be far from possible sources of harmful chemicals like factories, refineries, and other hazardous objects.

4)   Source of organic manures. As much as possible locate your garden near the source of organic materials, such as poultry farms, piggery, barns, etc.

5)   Source of electric power. As mentioned earlier, chrysanthemum is a sun-loving plant. In the absence of sunlight, artificial light can be supplemented. It’s therefore important to locate your garden near the source of electric power for emergency purposes.

6)   Proximity to market. Near to the market place is an advantage in your part because you’ll minimize handling cost in transporting your flowers.

7)  In demand in the market. Survey the market and observe what cut flowers are in demand. Knowing the demand in the market, will give you an idea and in turn minimize your losses in the production cost because you know before hand which flowers will give you the best return on your investment.

Your site initial preparation

Before you start your actual cut flower operations, you should provide the following infrastructures…

1)   Rooting plots or beds. You should construct your rooting beds about 50 square meters for every hectare of effective land area to be planted.

2)   Nursery. Your nursery is the place where you’ll stock your plants prior to market. It’s also the place where you’ll groom and do some finishing touches before delivering them to the market or garden shows.

3)   Electrical and misting fixtures. Electrical fixtures are connected to the misting fixtures for automatic water mist supply to the plants. Irrigation system requires for the supply of water  to the stock nursery. This may includes the installation of water tanks, light timer and other facilities needed.

4)   Packing area. The packing area is your place for the preparation of the plants for marketing. This is also your rest area for farm workers and utilities.

5)   Storage room. Your storage room serves as the place for storing your farm implements, chemicals, and other farm supplies.

6)   Farm block. If you’ve enough space in your garden, you should have your area blocked into quarters. One quarter of the area is always in bloom and the rest are in various stages of operation, one quarter being transplanted or at seedling stage and the other quarter near flowering.

This way you’ve a continuous supply of flower the whole year round.

How to prepare the land

After the major farm operations was performed, such as clearing, leveling, terracing, plowing and harrowing, the construction of raised beds follows.

You should construct raised beds with a size of .5 to 1 meter wide with a lengths from 25 to 50 meters.

After bedding, you’ve to spread organic manures like chicken ,hog, horse, or bat manure, whatever is available in your country. These manures should be spread over the bed at a depth of about 2 – 4” then incorporate into the soil 1 – 1.5 months before transplanting. This will depend on how fresh your manures will be.

If you can get an aged manures, it’s much better because the decomposition process is much faster, and can be utilized by the plants earlier.

Together with the manures, you’ve to apply basal phosphate fertilizer which usually consists of a single super phosphate (20 P2O5) at the rate of 0.1 -0.2 kg/sq. m. and liming material to adjust the soil pH and to ensure that calcium level in the soil is adequate.

How to propagate chrysanthemum

Most often chrysanthemum is propagated by stem tip cutting if you’re into commercial production. For home gardens or small cut flower ventures, you can use suckers, stem cuttings and seeds.

Usually, you can obtain your cuttings from your stock/mother plant which you should perpetually keep in vegetative state by providing supplementary lighting.

No more than 5 – 6 flushes of stem tip cuttings should be obtained after which the stock plants are replanted with a new one.

Here’s what you’ll do…

1)    Construct a rooting beds using sand or volcanic cinder as support rooting medium, about 1 foot thickness.

2)    Cut the stem tip at least 2 – 3” long or irrespective of length, there must by at least 2 to 3 fully developed leaves.

3)    Soak cuttings in a root hormone to hasten root development.

4)    Set cuttings in misted rooting beds distanced at 1 inch apart.

5)    Rooting beds should be misted to ensure high growth survival of the cuttings.

6)    Cuttings treated with rooting hormone are ready for transplanting in about 10 – 14 days.

7)    You can plant the rooted cuttings when the roots reached a length of .5 – 1”.

8)    If the cuttings are ready for planting but the area is not yet prepared, you can dry-packed and store them in cold-storage at 0°C for 3 weeks, longer if unrooted.

How to transplant chrysanthemum

In your prepared raised beds, transplant the rooted cuttings at a density of 16 – 24 plants per square meter depending on the variety and the quality of the flowers you desired.

If you’re aiming for better quality flower and more vigorous varieties, you can set them at a lower plant densities.

Once cuttings have produced roots, the become responsive to photoperiod, so your rooting beds should be lighted.

Light should also be installed in the flower production area even before transplanting.

During the first 3 – 5 days from transplanting, you should maintain mist  to avoid wilting. Or you can use an overhead sprinkler irrigation. But you’ve to discontinue this as soon as the plants are already established to minimize leaf diseases.

Maintain your plants’ sanitation by removing some weeds up to flowering stage.

Remember! Weeds are the number one competitors for plant nutrients.

Always keep the soil moist at all times but not too much water accumulation.

How to initiate fertilize application

Although your plots have been applied basally with phosphate fertilizer, you should apply supplementary fertilizer after the 4^th week from transplanting.

Dissolve the fertilizer in water at the rate of ½ lb per one gallon of water.

On a square meter area, the transplants requires at least .04 - .05 kg/sq. meter of nitrogen and potassium. This amount may be applied in three equal installments or weekly as follows…

1)   Prior to pinching (about 2 weeks after transplanting).

2)   Prior to start of short day or lights off.

3)   Shortly after appearance of petal color.

Weekly application of fertilizer should start about a week from transplanting.

How to pinch, prune, and disbud

Pinching is the removal of the terminal shoot to force the break out of the auxiliary buds.

Consequently, several lateral stems are produced per plant. To have a quality flowers, it’s not advisable to allow these lateral stems to grow.

The ideal number should be 3 – 4 lateral stems per plant. In this numbers, you’ll be having some quality flowers – a case where you’ll flowers commands good price.

In reducing the number of stems, you should select those vigorous laterals that are distanced from each other preferably those at a more basal location.

By pruning the unnecessary laterals, you’re minimizing  over-crowding and competition among laterals which will ultimately affect the quality of the flowers.

The more the number of laterals, the greater the competition for the food manufactured by the leaves.

You should pinch the plants about two weeks from transplanting. You should pinch about .5 – 1 inch the terminal either by a pruning shear or simply by pinching between your finger nails.

The use of the finger nails is preferred to minimize the transfer of diseases through the infected cutting instrument.

However, you should wash your hands properly with ethyl alcohol or, if available with fresh milk before doing the operation to make sure your hands are clean.

Your disbudding operations should start as soon as the terminal flower buds appear and have reached a bigger size and is easy to handle.

Usually, there are about 4 – 5  number of buds that appears at the terminal. The standard recommendation is, only one bud is allowed  to mature. The rest should be removed by disbudding.

The ideal size of the buds to be removed should be about the size of a mongo seed. If disbudding is made earlier than the prescribed time, the remaining bud might be injured, and will affect the flower quality.

On the other hand, if you’ll disbud when the buds too big, the possibility of big scar left is too big and unsightly thus affecting flower quality.

Large wounds scars also take longer to heal and they may also serve as entry point for disease microorganisms.

For spray mums, disbudding is usually not necessary. However, the removal of the central terminal crown bud usually ensures a more uniform development of the remaining lower buds.

Take note, that long straight stems are among the desirable features of a quality flower of chrysanthemum.

Therefore, you should provide support for the growing plant. You can use any support, say a nylon cords or anything available.

The first layer should be placed when the plants are about 1 foot high and the next layer are about 2 feet high or the first layer may be raised to about 1.5 feet, when the plants are about 2 feet high.

How to control pests and diseases

The most common insect pests of chrysanthemum are…

1)   nematodes

2)   leaf roller

3)    mites

4)   thrips

5)   aphids.

They’re not serious types of pests. In fact, they can be controlled easily by Companion cropping with other aromatic herbs and other biological control methods. If the infestation is beyond control, you can use chemical insecticides as the last recourse, but you’ve to follow the manufacturer’s recommendation to totally eradicate them.

But, my position is still on NATURAL CONTROL METHODS.  If you can avoid it, don’t ever use any chemical to control pests and diseases.

On the other hand, some of the common diseases of chrysanthemum are  the following…

1)   Cercospora leaf spot

2)   Fusarium stem rot

3)   Powdery mildew

4)   An unidentified bacteria

These diseases can be easily controlled by the use of the following fungicides, following the recommendation from the manufacturers…

1)   Difolatan

2)   Daconil

3)   Dithane

4)   M45

5)   Maneb

6)   Delsene MX

As I have said before, and this will be my position, by all means…

IF YOU CAN AVOID IT, DON’T EVER USE ANY CHEMICAL TO CONTROL PESTS AND DISEASES.

There are so many natural control methods you can apply. Just look around, you can find them.

How to harvest a quality flowers

Chrysanthemum flowers are the ones that are sold to the market. It’s therefore vital that proper harvesting should be done with care to get an attractive and good looking flower appearance.

Here are some recommendations that you should follow…

1)   The flowers should be nearly  fully opened when harvested.

2)   The spray type, should be cut when the central flower is open and the surrounding flowers are well developed.

3)   For varieties that shed pollen badly, should be cut before  they become unsightly.

4)   The standards should be cut before the center florets are fully developed.

5)   The stems should be reasonably soft where the cut is made since very hard woody tissues may not absorb water. However, the entry of water into the hard woody stem can be facilitated by slightly crushing the tip end.

6)   The lower 1/3 portion of the foliage on the stem should be stripped off to prevent the leaves from fouling the water or holding the solution.

7)   For standards that are to be opened artificially, the flowers should be cut in the bud stage (about the size of a quarter coin).

How to do post-harvest handling of chrysanthemum flowers

In order to extend the life span of your flowers, the following steps should be strictly followed…

1)   Shortly after harvest, they should be held in water at 5°C.

2)   Post harvest life may be extended by dry storage at 0 - 1°C for 3 weeks.

3)   When the flowers are to be stored, they should, however , be conditioned by recutting the stem end, then soak their stems in warm water (about 37 - 42°C) to facilitate rapid dehydration.

4)   An opening solution which may be used consists of 5 – 10% sucrose + 200 ppm 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate or sulfate (200 ppm Physan 20 or Likosan which may be a substitute for 8-hydroxyquinoline). The flowers opened in 7 – 9 days and the maximum flower diameter for Albatros at full opening is 12.5 cm.

Source: Rimando, Tito J. 1989. A courseware of the Technology Correspondence Program, Technology And Livelihood Resource Center, Module III, UPLB, Laguna, Phil.

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Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and   Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in  Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses  at: www.crisramasasa.com

How to Grow Your Homemade Tomatoes

HOW TO GROW YOUR HOMEMADE TOMATOES

                                          

Growing tomatoes is fun and a lucrative home  gardening business. Besides being nutritious, it could provide you with a real fresh fruits coming directly  from your garden.

You can produce them the way you want it. Producing tomatoes can be done without using chemicals because you’re the one controlling their growth processes.

If you’ll plant tomatoes with other vegetables, the occurrence of pests and diseases attack could be totally minimized or even none at all. Companion cropping or multiple cropping can control pests and diseases attack since they’re protected by the other plants.

Steps in growing tomatoes…

1)   Provide a seed box or germinating tray for sowing seeds. Sow the seeds 12 mm or .5 inch deep in the seed  trays or germinating tray. Slightly cover the seeds with thin soil to cover them.

2)   Cover the seed trays or germinating trays with newspaper or polyethylene plastic. Germination will take about 7-10 days from sowing.

3)   After  the seeds have germinated, remove the cover. Gradually expose the growing seedlings to the morning sunlight to harden them

4)   Prepare a separate seed trays or germinating trays the same manner as when sowing seedlings. Fill with the growing medium and elvel at least 12 mm or .5 inch below the rim.

5)   Use a dibber to form holes about 36 mm or .5 inch apart, the outer ones  12 mm or .5 inch from the sides.

6)   As soon as the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick or transfer them to the individual holes in the prepared seedling or germinating trays. This is to provide the seedlings a wider space to avoid over-crowding while in the seedling or germinating trays.

7)   Now set the individual seedlings to a growing bags or pots.

8)   Support the plants with sticks tied with wires or strings to hold in place.

9)   Feed the growing plants every ten days from planting up to the time when the first truss (bunch fruit) in formed.

10) Remove all shoots growing in the angles of the leaves-snap them sideways. Also, gradually remove the lower leaves to induce ripening of the fruits.

11) Harvest your fresh tomatoes when they’re ripe. You can give or sell your surplus harvest to your neighbors. And they’ll thanks for your generosity.

See, it’s very easy to grow your own chemically free tomatoes for your family’s needs.

Why not try planting your own homemade tomatoes. You’re sure you’ll enjoy it.

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   Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and      Internet  marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “Discover How to get started in  Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses  at: www.crisramasasa.com