On 20 Jul 2003 12:01:56 -0700, (Dawn) wrote:

The problem is my tomatoes have very little flavor. Is it just this
variety? I prefer to plant Romas, but couldn't get them this spring
and I had heard Better Boy was a good variety. Could it be something
in the soil? Is there something I could do to get better tasting fruit
next year? I'm not sure anything can be done this year....
-------
Dawn, I just did a search and found a post I made on this
topic from June of 2001 that should help you. In addition to
the info below, I have since added Ironite to my soil to
replenish the micro nutrients and last year I had the the
best tasting tomatoes ever. However, someone in this
NG told me informed me that Ironite has questionable
levels of lead and arsenic so you might want look into that.
(See 7/8/03 post titled... Good tomato fertilizer?)

Post by ---pete-- from June 2001...
I'm in NJ and a several years ago I experienced bland tasting
tomatoes.The first thing I did was to amend the soil at the end of
the growing season using dried leaves that I turned into the soil when
we had some warm weather in Dec/Jan. In Feb/Mar I added peatmoss
and turned the soil again. I also balanced the PH using lime. That
season it was somewhat better but it was still not right.

The next year,I got smart and performed a soil test using these simple
$4 test kits available at the local garden center and discovered that
my soil was depleted of nitrogen and potash and my PH was low.
As a quick fix, I amended the soil with, lime, chemical fertilizers
and a very limited amount of compost that I had begun to generate.
I retested the soil a month or so later and it was still slightly low
in potash but acceptable. After all that, my tomatoes tasted great
and the plants were a nice deep green and healthty looking instead
of a pale green. All my plants grew to twice the size of previous
years with more yeild too.

PS: In more recent years, I am composting more in an
attempt to eliminate the use of the chemical fertilizers.

As for watering vs taste, I've read that it is best to cut back or
stop watering just prior to harvesting to enhance the flavor
of tomatoes. What does "just prior" mean? I'd say about
a week prior.


What can you do at this late stage in the season?

1.) Test your soil now to see where you are at with
your N/P/K nutrients and soil PH.

2.) Ammend the soil using natural fertilizers if you
can research that topic well enough to know what types
to use to correct for speific deficiencies of N/P/K.

3.) If step#2 is too overwhelming at this late stage in the
season, then just for this year, use the recomended
amounts of chemical fertilizers to correct/ammend
your soil as directed on the soil test kit.


What can you do for next season?

1.) Start a compost pile now!
Check with your local municipality and see what
they do with their leaves collected. Some will offer
the partially composed leave for free. Some compost
it and sell it back to the residents.

2.) Perform a soil test in the FALL of this year.

3.) Ammend your soil with compost and fertilizers
as per the soil test.

4.) In the spring, do another soil test and repeat
step#3 above.

5.) Continue composting all season.


Har, Har, Har, I used to think you just planted the seeds
and things would just grow. Not true! It typically takes
3 to 5 years for the new gardener to get the soil in a
new garden plot optimized. Its a science, it's about
chemistry, it can be very complex and challenging.
But most of all, in the end, it is all worthwhile smile.

---pete---