Tomato Dirt Newsletter
Volume 7, Number 12

Dear Tomato Dirt reader,

Welcome back to Tomato Dirt! A couple of times a month, we’ll send you this newsletter packed with tips about growing tomatoes and using them.

It’s Feeding Time!

Tomato Dirt is on Pinterest!

FEATURE: What to Feed Your Hungry Tomato Plants: A Guide to Tomato Fertilizer

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Enter fertilizer. Most fertilizers are a combination of the three nutrients commonly fed to plants: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (referred to as the “N-P-K ratio”). The three numbers represent those three nutrients.

The first number represents the proportion of nitrogen in the fertilizer. Nitrogen encourages leaf growth (rather than blossoming or fruit development.) In tomatoes, excess leaf growth discourages blossoms and fruit. A lower number of nitrogen in this fertilizer is a good indicator that it is suitable for midseason tomatoes.

Phosphorus (the second number in the N-P-K ratio) encourages flowering, and therefore fruiting. This benefits midseason tomato plants.

Once a tomato plant starts flowering and fruiting, it needs a higher ratio of potassium for fruit to develop (the third number in the N-P-K ratio). The strong third number in this fertilizer indicates that it will help tomato plants produce healthy, quality fruit mid- to late season.

Find out more about kinds of tomato fertilizer so you can have healthy, productive fruit all season long. … and check out other options for feeding tomatoes on our FertilizingTomatoes Pinterest board.

Best Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Tomato Growing Tip: Epsom Salts are a Good, Low-Cost Tomato Fertilizer

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Get more tips for growing tomatoes on our Tomato Growing Tips Pinterest board.

Feed Your Tomatoes Well

Tomato Tone and other tomato fertilizers	Garden hand tools like Fiskars to work tomato fertilizer into soil	Sturdiest garden gloves from Pine Tree, more

More Tips for Fertilizing Tomatoes