Tomato season reaches its peak in late August-September!
The tomatoes we pick now are sweetest! I can never get enough!
Every year around this season I get readers asking the same question:
“My tomato plant suddenly looks dry or brown or droopy or otherwise sad! What should I do?”
The answer is: nothing!
Tomatoes are one-season annual. You plant them in the spring and all summer they grow, producing flowers and fruit. It’s a good idea to regularly fertilized them or top up with some new rich soil from a bag.
But whatever you do, by late summer they are on their way out.
Let the plant die a dignified death!
True, they look quite unattractive at this time of year, with dried leaves and withered stems. You can remove those that are completely spent.
But if you can handle the lack of beauty, the plants are usually worth keeping as long as they are producing flowers and fruits.
The leaves may look bad, but the fruits can look and taste amazing! I eat them fresh or process them into homemade crushed tomato passata.
I remember one year a reader told me that she was so concerned about her sad-looking tomato plant that she went to nursery to ask for help and they sold her an expensive liquid fertilizer!
Errr. That is ridiculous. Tomatoes will start to die at this time of year and that’s the way it should be!
As the wisest of men said; To everything, there is a season….
By October, the plant will be mostly dead and then it’s time for a respectful burial – in the compost heap.
Want to grow your own? Read my easy guide to growing your tomatos in Israel