Veg out! Tips Will Help Your Backyard Crops Take Off

As we prepare to plant many of our favorite warm-season vegetables for the year, here are some useful tips:

Tomatoes

• When selecting tomato transplants, choose healthy plants without any blooms. If the tomato plants have blooms or, worse, fruit before you transplant, pinch off the flowers or fruit. If tomatoes set fruit before the plant gets large enough - that is, produces enough leaves - the fruit is small and tasteless. Removing flowers or premature fruit allows the plant to produce more leaves that will make larger tomatoes throughout the growing season. The formula for successful tomato production is quite simple: Healthy leaves equal tasty fruit.
• Because they are hidden from view, roots are often ignored. The tomato transplant should have a healthy root system. Vigorous roots are white without any sign of decay. Ideally, a to- mato transplant should be grown in a 4-inch pot. If you use a peat pot for transplanting, place the rim of the pot below the soil line, and tear the pot slightly to aid in decomposition of the pressed peat.
• Deep planting of tomatoes can be beneficial. Research has shown that planting up to the first true leaves of a tomato transplant can improve yield.
• If you are using cages to train your tomatoes, mulch before you place the cages around the plant. Also, spacing can vary depending on the method of training. If you choose to individually stake each plant, space 2 feet between each plant. Plants in cages can be spaced 3 feet apart.
• Prune off the lower 6 inches of leaves. This will improve air circulation around the plant and prevent certain harmful diseases that develop when the tomato sets fruit.

Peppers

• Remove any flowers that have formed before transplanting and for a week afterward.
• Do not apply too much nitrogen before peppers set fruit. This will encourage leaf growth at the expense of pepper production.
• Peppers are shallow-rooted, so mulch them to conserve soil moisture.

Sweet Corn

• Sweet corn is wind-pollinated. Therefore, to facilitate pollination, plant several short rows rather than a single row.
• Isolate yellow and white varieties and also yellow varieties from bicolor varieties. In the garden, this is accomplished by planting varieties 2 weeks apart.
• Planting early will avoid worm and bird problems.

Squash, Melons and Pumpkins

• Plant squash and melons in a well-drained area of the garden. Mulching will improve the yield and quality of squash melons.
• Do not plant pumpkins too early. A suitable time for planting is mid-June in central Missouri.
• Use yellow sticky traps to monitor for cucumber beetles.

Lewis Jett, Assistant Professor & State Vegetable Crops Specialist, UMC (573) 884-3287