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Show Supplement to the Sun Chronicle, Courier, end Beacon April 20, 1 977 Paps Love Fresh Tomatoes? Then Grow Your Own! omatoes are easy to grow and taste great when they are harvested from I your backyard! A dozen healthy tomato plants will yield tomatoes throughout the summer for salads, main dishes and even canning. Juicy red tomatoes are available in many different varieties developed by hybridizers to adapt to various soil and weather conditions. Many varieties of tomatoes are resistant to diseases and nematode woims. Tomatoes can be planted lrom seeds or from seedlings available at local nurseries in late spring. Seeds should be planted in flats and allowed to sprout indoors in a warm place that receives good light. When t he seedlings are six to twelve inches high, they can be planted outdoors if all of frost is past. Seedlings should be planted 0 inches approximately danger 18-2- apart. Protect planted seedlings from cutworms by covering the base of the plant with a stiff collar made from cardboard or juice cans with the tops and bottoms removed. The collar should extend one inch into the soil. Sucker leaves which appear at the joint of a regular leaf and the plant stem should be removed. If allowed to grow, the sucker leaves will produce a bushy plant with undersized fruits, as most of the will be plants energy diverted to leaf growth. Tomato plants can be tied to stakes or grown along a trellis. The plants can also grow along the ground in the style of melons or pumpkins. However, even the heartiest of tomato varieties is less resistant to diseases and worms than pumpkins or melons, so this is not a recommended procedure. Tomatoes require and an occasional dose of fertilizer high in potassium and phosphorus, but low in nitrogen. Seveial fine plant foods created foi tomatoes are available at nurseries. The fruits will ripen slowly or fast, depending on the variety planted, the temperature and soil conditions. They are ready for harvesting when they are a bright red with no green areas remaining on the fruit. When you have harvested all of your tomatoes, remove the plants and plant new seedlings again next spring. daily-waterin- Jf Designer 2331 Washington A ITCHENS Phone 393-845- 1 7 |