Tomatoes for tanginess, taste and health
Grow tomatoes for tangy foods, taste and health:
Food festivals are held in India and around the world, many of those tasty vegetarian snacks and foods have tomatoes in them as a ingredient in some or other form. While there are many vegetables that have importance in many ways but tomatoes are one of the most important ingredients in all foods, specially in Indian vegetarian curries, vegetarian dals/lentils and tasty Indian snacks. Foods/snacks that are made with home grown Organic tomatoes can be very tasty and healthy.
From tangy snacks whether it be Indian or American snacks tomatoes add that special flavor that can make snacks very tasty and can be a mood changer. It is myth that only non-vegetarian foods can become comfort foods, even vegetarian foods can also change the mood and can make one feel good. Thus even tasty vegetarian foods can satisfy your hunger and change your mood without having to eat meats or eat more. Following are some of the vegetarian foods that use tomatoes in them which can be change the mood and can be good for depressing weather:
Indian snacks: masala papad and other snacks like bhel puri, sev puri.
Indian vegetarian dishes: Vegetable curries & vegetarian lentils/dals.
Vegetarian Pizza's: Healthy Italian, American and Indian vegetarian pizza's including preparation of pizza sauce.
Vegetarian baked beans
Pasta's: Vegetable pasta & pasta sauce
Tomato pickle
Healthy vegetarian Salads: Indian, American, European and mediterranean salads also use fresh tomatoes which are healthy.
You can grow tomatoes in containers/pots be it a ceramic container or plastic container, choose the right container and right size. Tomatoes thrive in warm/hot weather. You can choose a good organic potting soil for your tomato plant. You can add support/tomato cage for the plants in the initial stages before it grows big, it will help become strong. While growing, you can prune it few times, it will help it's growth and ultimately help developing flowers and fruits. Tomatoes can take some time to mature on the vine, you can regularly apply the tomato fertilizer along with some epsom salt. This will help mature the tomatoes sooner.
Harvesting and maturing tomatoes off the tomato vine:
Tomatoes can be harvested when they are mature and red on the vine. Tomatoes need lot of sun shine days so that tomatoes ripen. If for some weather conditions if the tomatoes are taking longer to ripen, you can harvest them and then place them in paper bags for few days, this will help the tomatoes become mature/ripen from Green/brown to red.
Some of the common remedies for your green tomato plants:
You can spray the tomato plant with Neem oil spray on the tomato plant leaves regularly. This will keep some of the garden pests away and keep the plant leaves shiny. Tomato plants are easy to grow and need little care except for in hot summer places, pests can become a issue. Using neem oil spray can help save the leaves and fruits.
Banana peel powder is a good fertilizer and helps is producing bountiful flowers and tasty tomatoes.
Ginger is warming, Indians normally use ginger for making Indian chai and while making this, ginger peels that remain from this can be used for making ginger water for the plants. If the peels from your cooking/tea/chai are too little, you can add more ginger to it for making boiled ginger water. Boil water and ginger for 20 minutes and then let the water cool down for sometime. Once cooled you can use this boiled ginger water for your green chilies. This is a excellent remedy for the plants in winter time when the weather outside is cold. We have seen it has helped the plants to keep producing vegetables/flowers through cooler weather. If you live in a country where the temperatures drops to freezing, it may be a good idea to move the plants indoors and still feed it with boiled ginger water, it may still help producing green chilies through cold temperatures.
Share your harvest or food:
Today hunger is one of the most crucial problems in the world whether in India, America or Africa. In India, for the hindu's, giving food or Anna Daan is considered to be a good act. Hence if you are in a position, grow your own food and share your harvest or food among the needy whether you live in India, America or any other country in the world will be a good thing to do.
Healthy vegetarian pizza using home grow tomatoes
Roma tomatoes
