Vegetable gardening is so satisfying and home grown tomatoes are the best. There is nothing at all like those that you buy in the stores. Even the vine ripened ones can’t compare in taste to the sweetness of those you grow yourself. Here is a neat tip to get the most sweet tomatoes each year. Put normal baking soda to use.
Use Baking Soda to Get Sweet Tomatoes
Just sprinkle a small amount baking soda (less than 1/4 cup per plant) on the soil around your tomato plants being careful not to get the soda on the plant itself. (You can also use 1 tsp in a gallon of water and water the plants that way!)
The baking soda absorbs into the soil and lowers the acidity levels. This will give you tomatoes that are more sweet than tart. Be careful with young tomato plants and be sure to test on one plant before you try it on all of them. If your soil is already quite alkaline, you could alter it too much by adding too much baking soda.
Sprinkle the baking soda on the soil when the tomatoes are about 1 inch in diameter and then again when they are about half grown.
You can also do this with canned tomatoes when making sauce if you like. It will sweeten them without having to add extra sugar (and calories!)
See also: How to prune tomatoes for a big harvest
Another use of the baking soda and tomatoes is to make an organic tomato spray to treat tomato fungal disease.
Combine 1 gallon of water with 1 tbsp of baking soda and 2 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a spray bottle. Stir and add 1/2 tsp of castile soap. Spray this solution on the foliage of tomato plants until the fungal disease disappears.
Source: thegardeningcook.com
