What's your secret ingredient?

[Gigi]

marydean
crop rotate ESPECIALLY with tomatoes (to avoid tomato diseases).

when the tomatoes stop cropping, plant a nitrogen fixer like beans, peas, where you grew the toms, they will replenish the soil for you

a guild to plant WITH tomatoes, to fight bad pest and attract good ones, is basil, marigolds, chives.

bloodnbone, manure, compost and a layer of peastraw on top, will help your tomatoes grow happily. the peastraw will act as a weed mat also, and you'll get some peas sprouting up, adding nitrogen to the soil *yay*

pruning of the young tomato plant is crucial, cutting off the low down HORIZONTAL growth (to avoid fungal diseases)
staking of the young tomato plant is crucial

i'm not going to go into the getting rid of the infertile leaves and keeping the fertile ones, cos i cna't explain that in words, need diagrams. then all the nutrients go in the fruit bearing parts, not wasted.

needs good sun in the morning
shade in the afternoon
if you're in a spot that gets too much afternoon sun, rig up temp shade over the top if you can

water the tomato plant in the straw mulch (at ground level), not on the leaves

water when plant is in shade

that's all i can remember
you prolly do that already, but - heck - it's all i got.

[LimeSlice]

The grey water from your washing machine.
It is the only thing that waters ours and I have had literally kilos of tomatoes, from 2 random trees ( they sprung up in the compost bin lol). It also waters the random pumpkin that sprang up also, we have 3 on it now.

[Mak]

The oldies at work were saying plant some asprin with the tomatoes....no idea how/why tho!

[Artechim]

My grandfather blends up his food scraps and digs them in to the bottom of his fruit trees.

[AnyDream]

Thanks everyone, some good tips there. I think I'll stick to the coffee grounds though, Party of five

I've decided to ditch the tomato bushes and start again with a late season variety & fresh potting mix, etc. I might try the asprin thing this time too, I've read you can also dissolve it and pour/spray it on.

Gigi, I was mystified by your statement about fertile and infertile leaves, so I went out there today and had a good look and I think you mean get rid of the dead-end leaves, not the ones with a growing bud which is where the flowers form?

[BhoysGirl]

Gigi - your tomato advice is gold ( or maybe red ), answered a heap of questions I've got about why my toms are so ordinary. Oh well, I'm getting some, and there's always next year.

Now, if only i could grow bananas in Vic...

[meow]

Now, if only i could grow bananas in Vic...

You can! My nursery (in Melb) sells a banana plant called "Cool Bananas"