Growing Tomatoes Year Around in South Florida

Credit: HotBlack at Morguefile.com

Imagine having fresh-picked, vine-ripened tomatoes from your garden in February when most of the north is covered in snow. Having gardened in Florida for over 15 years, I've learned more about growing tomatoes in a tropical climate than I ever thought I needed to know. One of the best things I learned, mostly through trial and error, was how to keep tomatoes growing year-around. Oh sure, sometimes there is a freak freeze, and you have to cover them all up and hope for the best, but most of the time, there is nothing to keep you from harvesting luscious, juicy tomatoes in South Florida for 12 months of the year.

Tomato plants provide easy propagation material by putting out shoots called "suckers" in the leaf nodes (where the leaf meets the stems). Called suckers because they suck nutrition from the main plant, it's best to remove them so your plant will produce the largest and healthiest fruit possible. Read Full Article...