By Joanna and Roy MacCutcheon

Guest Columnnists

Home gardening is in full swing and the following tips should help you raise a great crop of tomatoes this summer.

If you have not planted your garden yet, that is alright, as you can plant right up till the end of June for late summer produce.

At The Black Barn, we sell and plant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini through the end of June.

The most important thing with tomatoes is using a good fungicide.

Fungicides keep disease from attacking the plants, prevent blossom end rot, and increase yield and size of the fruit.

Spray every 10 to 14 days when they start blooming.

Insecticides can be used early in the growing season to keep off aphids and other bugs.

I would recommend a new product called Eight. Eight is similar to the old Sevin, but kills aphids.

To keep the deer out of your garden, I like Liquid Fence.

I believe most of these products can be found at Brants Hardware in Lebanon.

Tomatoes need a lot of water and fertilizer and we recommend Miracle Grow, which is easy to use.

I would also suggest using Calcium Nitrate fertilizer. The rate is ¼ cup per plant, and it will help keep blossom end rot off your tomatoes and make them have nice color and sheen.

You can also use Calcium Nitrate on all your vegetable plants except beans as they do not need the extra nitrogen. You can pick up Calcium Nitrate at the Trupointe Turf Store in Lebanon on Ohio 42.

Get your tomatoes staked or caged. Tomatoes do not like lying on the ground as they get disease very quickly and it ruins the fruit.

I recommend stakes over cages as they are easier to use, tomatoes are easier to pick, and the fruit gets larger.

Following these easy steps should make a difference this summer and as always feel free to call or stop out to The Black Barn if you have any questions. Happy gardening!

Joanna and Roy MacCutcheon operate The Black Barn in Lebanon.