So this year I grew some tomatoes for the first time. They were small but tasty.
In November they began to die, so I cut all dry/dead parts and they got better. But they still look very unhealthy.
Do tomatoes survive the winter? Does it make sense to keep watering them? Like once a week, when it doesn’t rain.
Or maybe I should let them die and seed again next spring?
(Ignore the dog. She refuses to let me alone in the balcony lol)
IMPORTANT EDIT: Determinate or indeterminate: A hard frost murders all tomatoes. Bring them inside for the night if thats a risk.
Edit: Lo siento, mi espanol muy malo, pero: Alguno tomato no muerte, alguno muerte. Es possible sus plantas no produca comida durante navidad pero mas fuerte en verano. Ten mucho cuidado durante un noche con nieve o otro.
First, there are two types of tomatoes: determinate and indeterminate. The words mean exactly what you’d think in terms of life cycle. A determinate plant will grow, flower, produce fruit, then die. An indeterminate plant will keep living and keep flowering, although they sometimes need “cues” to flower.
If you’re plants are still alive my guess is they’re indeterminate, or a hybrid. They may not produce fruit over the winter but you’ll have a head start in the spring! You may need to pay extra attention to fertilizing though as they may have used up all the good stuff in that soil.
Also, check out some youtubes on tomato pruning. There are branches that don’t make fruit, and especially with an indeterminate, you can increase the yield by having a long living plant that you’ve pruned into mostly fruit baring branches over the years!
I don’t expect to get subzero temperatures. But if I do I will get them inside. Hopefully they’ll survive the cats.
I know the soil won’t be as nutritious as last spring, but didn’t know about special pruning. Now I know what I don’t know, and can search info about it.
Thank you very much!
You bet! and yeah, it would just suck to take care of them and have that one night with a hard cold kill them!
Also: given your climate and the fact you got enough sun to keep tomatoes happy… you may want to try capers! They’re very pretty, very drought tolerant and LOVE the summer heat. One note if you do though: Make sure the soil drains VERY well. They are border-line allergic to water. I’m in the states in NY, and despite not watering a single time over the summer, the rain was to much for them.
You can either pick the buds to get the usual capers, or let them flower (they make beautiful, semi-fragrant flowers!) and pickle the berries, or a little of both! They just go really well with tomatoes obviously, and despite being a picky plant, in the right conditions (which you have) they’re incredibly resilient.