A Hard Thing for New Gardeners

Not because it’s complicated—but because it’s emotionally difficult at first.

When I first started growing tomatoes, I didn’t realize there were two different types.

I ordered pretty black and red cherry tomatoes from a catalog and grew them out, setting big box store tomato cages around them. 

Over the summer they grew into a veritable jungle—taller than me—and tumbling back down to the ground. I spent all summer dealing with stem breakage; I was worried every time it stormed.

Here’s proof from back before the days of gvlgardening:

Once I learned these treasured tomatoes were indeterminate, and started learning how to care for them properly, things improved. I’ve been saving seeds and replanting these every year for 8 years now. 

So what was the big thing I learned? 

To give them a bigger trellis, for one.

But even more importantly: to prune them regularly. 

I wrote about how to do it a few posts ago, but as I tend philosophical in my gardening, I have a few more thoughts to share.

Pruning seems to be one of the most difficult things for new gardeners to learn. Not because it’s complicated—but because it’s emotionally difficult at first.

You feel so accomplished by the large thing you grew! All that healthy looking foliage! Look how full it is! I can do this!

But pruning is the secret to healthy plants, abundant harvest and maximizing longevity: removing the unhealthy branches, yes, but also healthy ones, strategically, to promote more of what you really want. 

• We prune to bring in air and light.

• To remove old growth and promote new growth that will produce fruit.

• To uncover lurking pests that could turn into bigger problems.

• For beauty.

• For manageability.

• To protect against unnecessary damage and loss.

This lesson applies to more than just tomatoes—in the garden, as in life.