Tomato likely done producing this year

Q: The tomato plant we planted produced fruit like gangbusters this season! The plant hasn’t set any tomatoes for a few weeks now, so we’re wondering what’s up? — F.T., Albuquerque

A: More than likely the variety of tomato plant you are growing is defined as a determinate type. Meaning its job is to set, grow and be harvestable all at once. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you put up or can your harvest for use later in the year.

If you are wanting to harvest tomatoes all through the growing season, then you’ll be looking for a variety of tomato called indeterminate. An indeterminate tomato’s job is to bloom near continuously through the growing season, so you’ll get the fruit for a much longer period of time.

I don’t have a listing of the two types handy, and will put it on the list to mention in late winter so you can make proper choices when choosing which type of plant you’re going to want to grow. I’m glad you got a gangbuster crop this year.

Meanwhile, if the plant is finished and is starting to look puny — the color of the plant is changing to a yellowish green or the whole plant is fading rapidly — it’s time to remove it from the garden and tidy up. Nothing will keep your garden healthier than keeping it cleaned up so any pests won’t have a place to hunker down for the winter months. It’s time to tidy.

Q: Last week, you taught about laying a lawn from sod. Our lawn that we planted late last year has grown well, and we’re wondering what we should, if anything, be doing for our lawn now. Also, do you know of any tricks that can tell us if it’s time to water the lawn? — G.G., Albuquerque

A: It is time to offer your cool season grass one more fertilization with a fertilizer containing a high nitrogen content. What it will do is feed the turf so it is able to regenerate itself after all the trials and tribulations of having dealt with the heat of the year.

By offering a fertilization now, done by mid-month, the blades will feed the roots and help develop a stronger, more encompassing system, making it all healthier in the long run.

Now, as to a trick to tell if it’s time to water? I was taught that how you can tell is to take a walk out on the lawn. If your footprints are still showing on the lawn 30 to 45 minutes later, then it’s time to water. There isn’t enough water being pulled up by the roots to plump up the blades. So you’d want to water.

Also, traditionally, it is time to start ramping down the waterings your cool season turf lawn is receiving. That said, if we stay hot and dry, then you should water. Just remember to water in the early morning or well after the heat of the day has passed. Never water during the heat of the day.

The city recommends before 11 a.m. and after 7 p.m. as the best times to water here. I’ll go one better and suggest that if you are a morning waterer, you have it completed by 8 in the morning. That way, the plant life uses the water and it doesn’t evaporate or potentially burn leaf blades as the day heats up.

So take a walk on the turf, check to see if it doesn’t plump back up to see if the lawn needs water. If it plumps right back up, then push your watering back another twelve to twenty-four hours and recheck. If it doesn’t need it, wait.

Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson St. NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.