Heat your soil: Tomatoes will only grow if soil temperatures are above 70º. Make sure that you plant your starts in a warm spot. It helps to warm the soil before you plant by placing black plastic over the soil for a few days prior to planting. You can also leave the plastic down and simply cut a hole where the plant will be placed. This helps to control weeds around your plants. Once the plants are in the ground, keep them warm with some type of cloche. You can achieve great results by placing a concrete chimney flue around each plant. The concrete soaks up heat during the day and continues to radiate warmth at night. Another option is a Wall-o-Water --cloches made from corrugated greenhouse material. Empty plastic milk jugs filled with water and placed around the plants will also work. Once temperatures are warm enough at night, the cloches can be removed.
Get to the root of the matter: Your tomatoes will be much happier and healthier with a good root system. When you put your plants into the ground, bury them so that only a few sets of leaves are left above ground level. Any part of the stem that is below the soil will develop new roots. Alternately, you can bury your plant on its side so that the submerged stem and roots are running parallel to the soil surface, thus keeping the roots close to ground level where the soil temperature is warmest. If your plant has flowers on it when you plant it, you may want to consider removing them. Once a tomato has set fruit, all root growth stops. Removing fruit and the first set of flowers will allow your plants to develop healthy roots and give you a bumper crop. Any delay in harvest will be offset by larger, better quality fruit.
Feed Them: Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Make sure you have a rich fertile soil for your plants when you begin. Once they are established, feed them with a good organic fertilizer. You can give your plants Epsom salts, an organic fertilizer tomatoes love. Sprinkle two tablespoons around the base of each plant and water thoroughly. Be aware of blossom end rot. You can help avoid this problem by giving your plants lime or liquid calcium, available at most nurseries.
Less water for better flavor: Once your tomatoes approach maturity, start to cut back on watering the plants. This will stress the tomato plant, signaling it to work on ripening fruit rather than growing leaves. It also serves to concentrate the flavor of the tomato – which is why you’re growing your own tomatoes, right?
Have fun with your garden!
TOM WINTERROWD, of Pitkin-Winterrowd Farms in Canby provided our tomato tips. Tom's excellent tomato and other vegetable and herb starts can be found at the downtown Saturday PSU market.
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Eastside Portland gets its Portland Farmers Market fix starting Thursday, May 17, when the Eastbank market opens for its 5th season. The quality and abundance of produce at this neighborhood market gem makes it a must-do for all market aficionados. From 3:30pm to 7:30pm throughout September, eastside Portlanders can unwind from work and school as they sample foodstuffs, shop for produce and listen to live music. Find us adjacent to Hinson Memorial Church on SE 20th and Salmon, between Hawthorne and Belmont Streets. Off-street parking is abundant and easy to find. The Eastbank Market is generously sponsored
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If you happen by the Taste the Place Portland Farmers Market booth on any given Saturday, May through November, you can sample one of the market’s ‘underappreciated’ vegetables. Bok choy, anyone? Brussel sprouts, Jerusalem artichoke, kohlrabi, Japanese turnips and a host of other exotic-sounding or -looking vegetables that oft go ignored are embraced by the “Food Squad” and made into delicious side dishes that market shoppers can easily make at home.
Join Wendy and the rest of the Food Squad at Taste the Place and add a new vegetable to your culinary repertoire. If you don’t get an opportunity to pick up the weekly Taste the Place recipes at the market you can also print them from our web site. On 5/5 the Food Squad prepared Radish and Arugula Salad with Brown-Butter Vinaigrette and Arugula Pesto, click here for the recipes.  We thank Regence for generously sponsoring the Taste the Place booth this season. Regence is the leading health care service contractor in Oregon, providing health care and medical and dental insurance to individuals throughout the Pacific Northwest. |
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Grazefest! It’s time to bring the market’s premiere meat producers together with the city’s top chefs to celebrate the flavors and health benefits of pasture-raised meats. It all happens on Saturday, May 26, at the downtown PSU Portland Farmers Market. Cooking demonstrations, tastings, samples and recipes will turn the spotlight on meats from the region’s most dedicated small-scale ranchers and farmers. |
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New Cascadia, Portland Farmers Market’s first all gluten-free bakery. Make sure to taste their hazelnut cookies! 
Amelia Eveland, Gathering Together Farm (GTF) from Philomath, Oregon, |
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