This segment is a collection of tips and suggestions for growing three popular and botanically related crops: tomatoes, peppers and potatoes.
Tomatoes
The assumption has always been that you can get more tomatoes per square foot of gardening space by growing them vertically. In some instances, tomatoes will produce more by simply rambling along the ground, but these tomato patches will be a bit of a mess, and harvesting will be difficult.
Which method is best--stakes or cages? Staked tomato vines must be pruned because of little sprouts that develop between the main stem and the leaf axils, and it's a tedious process. It also means there's less foliage to protect the developing fruits from "sun scald." To provide the support a full-sized tomato needs, you need a real cage. The best are made from a material known as remesh, also used to reinforce concrete surfaces. It's sold in 50- and 100-foot rolls (figure A).
Use bolt cutters to cut the wires in sections seven feet long. Once cut, roll the wire to form a circle, and fasten it together by bending the loose ends with pliers to create a hook. Some like to cut the bottom horizontal wire to create tines to stick in the ground, thus securing the cage. You may also drive a wooden stake at least two feet into the ground and attach the cage to it with a heavy-gauge wire. Then, lay some mulch, thereby reducing the likelihood of blossom-end rot. Mulch also keeps weeds in check and results in a healthier plant and heftier harvest. One excellent form of mulch can be prepared by using regular black plastic and painting it with red latex paint. Once the paint dries, lay the plastic around the base of the plant (figure B). So, just how does the red plastic mulch increase yields? When the sun hits the plastic, the light bounces back onto the tomato's leaf surfaces, and the red rays enhance photosynthesis, which makes for a more productive plant.
Peppers
Aluminum foil is an unusual mulching material that can increase yields and reduce pest problems in peppers. When laid around the base of pepper plants (figure C ), it acts like one giant reflector, bouncing sunlight onto leaf surfaces that otherwise would have been absorbed by the surrounding soil. Peppers love the extra rays, and all that reflected light drives insects away because they can't tell which way is up.
Potatoes
Flowers are the first sign that the potato harvest is about to begin. In fact, start digging new potatoes as soon as the flowers fade. The term "new potato" merely refers to the fact that they're the first potatoes harvested. But rather than pull up the entire plant, carefully dig around its base for a few plump tubers--enough to boil for dinner--and leave the rest to harvest as old potatoes. Another way to determine when to harvest potatoes is to watch for changes in the foliage. When it fades, begin to harvest; at this stage it's usually better to go ahead and pull up. A few potatoes may still be clinging to the roots, but many more are likely hiding in the soil. So use a pitchfork to gently lift the soil and reveal the tasty tubers. For storing potatoes, let the foliage fade completely, wait another week or two, then harvest. By that time the potatoes would have cured underground and as a result will last longer in storage.
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