The Best Gardening Tip I Ever Got Was From My Neighbor, and My Harvests Grow More Every Year

Key Points

• Not planting tomatoes before Memorial Day was the best gardening tip I ever received.

• Staking and pruning tomatoes are key elements to tomato care.

• Mulching vegetables, working around seasonal pests, watering new plants daily, and selecting native species are tips I wish I’d been given as a beginner.

Twenty years ago, when I announced to our neighbor—a spirited Pennsylvania Dutch farmer and World War II veteran—that I was going to start a garden, the first thing he told me was not to plant my tomatoes before Memorial Day.

Given that tomatoes start to appear at local nurseries as early as late April—around the time when the last spring frost occurs in our area—that seemed a bit late, but I followed Ethelbert’s advice and never veered from it.

Thanks to his advice, I’ve been harvesting a bountiful crop every year for more than two decades.

The Best Gardening Tip I Ever Got

As I learned more about the growing conditions of crops, I understood that just because there is no more frost does not mean the weather is conducive to growing tomatoes yet.

Tomatoes thrive in warm temperatures between 65°F and 85°F during the day, and 60°F to 70°F at night. In northeast Pennsylvania, where I live, it is not unusual for temperatures to drop below 50°F in May. Cool weather does not often kill the plants, but even one night of cold stunts their growth.

I usually buy my tomato plants just before Mother’s Day and keep them in a small portable greenhouse. On warm days, I open the greenhouse all the way, and during the nights, I close it. On especially cold nights, I cover the entire greenhouse with a couple of old sheets.

As a result, I am spared what folks who planted earlier go through—they anxiously watch the weather forecast and scramble to cover their tomatoes in the garden on chilly nights. After Memorial Day, the tomatoes are out of the woods temperature-wise.

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How to Control the Growth of Tomato Plants

Tomatoes that are planted when the weather is warm start visibly growing after a few days to a week (in less-than-ideal conditions, it takes longer). Once that happens, it’s key to check on them at least every other day because the plants grow at an astounding pace and indeterminate tomato plants turn into a messy jungle and if you don’t support and prune them.

I am not a big fan of tomato cages because I find that they constrict the airflow within the plant too much, which encourages the spread of diseases. Instead, I drive a 6-foot steel fence post into the ground for each tomato plant and then tie the main branches to it individually. It’s more work but it pays off, also with easy harvesting.

The other element of tomato care is regular pruning. It is not optional—it’s an absolute must. In years when I was too busy to keep up with removing the suckers, I paid the price later when I struggled to tame an overgrown plant with excessive foliage and few tomatoes.

4 Tips I Wish I Had Been Given as an Amateur Gardener

Since I am indebted to Ethelbert for his great advice, I’ve compiled a list of four tips I wish I had been given at the start of my gardening journey to pass onto others.

Mulch Your Vegetable Garden

Hardwood chip mulch does an excellent job at keeping soil moisture in and suppressing weeds, around ornamental and edible crops. I only started it a few years ago when I was able to get free arborist chips from a local tree removal company that was happy to find a place to drop them.

Unlike commercial mulch that you purchase at a nursery or garden center, fresh arborist chips are less processed and packed with nutrients, and stay open enough to let in rain, but pack tightly enough to block weeds.

Keep Watering New Plants

As a new gardener, I followed the standard recommendation of watering immediately after planting, but would let a few days pass before watering again for a days after that. Now, when there is no substantial rain, I water new perennials and annuals every day for about a week, and longer in hot weather. Since I have been more diligent with watering, I have had fewer losses.

Focus on Natives

In my early days of gardening, I planted just about anything I found attractive that fit our hardiness zone. Looking back, I wish I had been aware of native plants earlier.

Today, I am only planting native plants. They are much better adapted to our local climate, have fewer disease and pest issues, have tremendous wildlife value, serve as homes to hundreds of insects important to our food chain, and they are just as beautiful as any introduced species.

Wait Out Seasonal Pests

Every spring, the wild arugula I was so looking forward to had hundreds of tiny holes chewed by flea beetles that it became inedible. Then I realized that the pest is less active in the fall, and voila! If I plant arugula for a fall harvest, there are almost no flea beetles around.

Similarly, I spent lots of time plucking Japanese beetles off my raspberry plants in mid-summer, not knowing that the beetles are gone by the time large and juicy fall-bearing raspberries ripen, so I can save myself that effort.

Read the original article on The Spruce