Tomato explosion!

It's the beginning of tomato season, and every time I swing by a garden I haven't seen in a few days, it seems like the tomato plants have exploded and been producing fruit like crazy. (The cherry tomato plants around the office have been doing particularly well, and I've been guilty on snacking on more than a few while working out there. Job perks, right?)

Beefsteak tomatoes in their baby phase

A Valencia tomato, which is ready for pickin' because of its orange skin

Although tomatoes are not the most difficult crop to grow and take care of, they tend to need a little more TLC than hardier crops like salad greens and radishes. Trellising tomatoes is key if you want to easily see the plant's development and keep pests at bay, so don't forget to tie up your tomatoes regularly as they grow. Sprinkling eggshells into the soil around them keeps them healthy and strong because the tomatoes benefit from eggshells' calcium. Pulling off suckers, or the branches that grow at a 45 degree angle between the main stem and the branches that grow perpendicular to the stem (especially on lower branches), is important because the plant can then direct more energy to the flowers and eventually fruit. And if you have access to compost tea, be sure to spray it generously all over your tomato plants, as compost tea can give your plant an extra boost with fighting off nasty diseases such as blight, which can really hurt tomato plants and is difficult to reverse.